A Republican candidate in Gwinnett County, the most diverse county in the state, questioned the value of diversity in two Facebook posts last year.
In the friends-only posts, published in April and May 2019, Laurie McClain asked people "what is inherently good about diversity?" and "Is diversity always a good thing?"
McClain is running for a seat on the Gwinnett County commission.
In the first post, McClain, who is white, said she wanted to understand why there was “always a push to have more ‘diversity’ because it’s assumed to be a good thing.”
In the second post, the question was tied to a story about a neighbor who had accused McClain of letting her dog pee in the woman’s yard because she is Black. McClain asked if the reticence was “a cultural thing,” saying “she was not African-American. More likely Jamaican or Haitian.”
Nearly a quarter of Gwinnett County residents were born outside the United States and fewer than half of all residents are white. The area McClain is running to represent, District 1, includes the cities of Duluth, Suwanee and Sugar Hill. In Duluth, a third of residents were born abroad and 43% are white; in Suwanee, 20% of residents are foreign-born and 65% are white; and in Sugar Hill, 22% were born outside the U.S. and 70% are white.
Wednesday, after the dog-related post was shared in a public Facebook group, McClain said the woman had “tickled my brain” when she made her comment and led her to ask the question of her Facebook friends.
“I am certainly not racist, but I would love to have some conversations,” McClain said. “What I meant was, should we always try to mix cultural differences together? …I’m saying there are instances when the two cultures clash and they shouldn’t be next to each other.”
In her Facebook post, she suggested the woman might want to live in a more isolated house that wasn’t in a neighborhood with families.
Edward Muldrow, the chairman of the Gwinnett County Republican Party, said he has a hard time supporting anyone who doesn’t think diversity is necessary. Muldrow, who is Black, said it was “crazy to me” that a candidate could have that point of view.
"I would hope she realizes, a year later, that those statements are inappropriate and offensive," he said.
Muldrow said he planned to reach out to McClain, and that the party would meet to decide whether to support her. Muldrow said he would give McClain the opportunity to make amends or change her mindset, but that he needed her to understand that the sentiment was not OK.
“That says that the people you represent will probably question whether or not you have their best interest at heart,” he said.
The posts echo those made by County Commissioner Tommy Hunter on his personal Facebook page in 2017. Those posts included derogatory comments about Democrats and racial accusations about U.S. Rep John Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement. Since then, Muldrow said, the party has "written Tommy Hunter off." He is not running for reelection.
“It’s beyond troubling because it doesn’t even make sense now,” said Stephanie Cho, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice and a Gwinnett resident. “The word diversity shouldn’t even be a question.”
Cho said Gwinnett's diversity is "part of the new fabric" of the county, and one of the best things about living there.
McClain’s opponent in the race, Democrat Kirkland Carden, said the posts show McClain is a “tone-deaf, out-of-touch woman.” Bianca Keaton, chair of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party, said the posts were “disgusting.” She said McClain wasn’t trying to learn anything from the posts, but was seeking to validate her own beliefs.
“Laurie McClain is definitely not reflective of this Gwinnett,” Keaton said. “I don’t know why she’s running if she has questions about the value or the benefit of diversity. It’s just racist, period, point-blank. …There’s not a place for people who think like Laurie to represent the people of this county.”
McClain said diversity “has become a new buzzword,” but that she thought everyone should be treated the same. She said she asks a lot of questions because she is less culturally educated than many others.
When asked if she could name any benefits of diversity, a year after asking the question on Facebook, McClain said, "I'd have to sit down and really think about it."
She mentioned the Hindu mandir in Lilburn and said the annual Japanfest event is “so totally cool.”
“That’s why I put the question out there,” she said. “Are there benefits to diversity? I don’t know.”
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