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Levelland's mayor has been embroiled in controversy over the past few days, after publicly sharing a post on her personal Facebook page that used a racial epithet.

Multiple screenshots of the public post in question were captured by KAMC News from Mayor Barbra Pinner's personal Facebook page. In the very first sentence of the post, the [N-Word] is used; it is blurred out. Pinner was first elected Levelland's mayor in 2015.

A photo of the first part of the controversial post is shown below, courtesy KAMC News:

Pinner_Facebook Post (Screenshot #01)
KAMC News via Facebook
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Levelland city officials released a statement saying in part, "The City of Levelland does not condone the offensive Facebook post shared by Mayor Barbra Pinner on her personal Facebook page over the weekend. The post that was shared used unacceptable language and was hurtful to many citizens in the community and employees in our organization."

Mayor Pinner also released a statement of her own on Monday:

For the past five years, I have had the privilege of being the Mayor of the City of Levelland, a city that I truly love and cherish. While I love and cherish many things about our community, the most important of all are the people. For this very reason, my heart aches as I have hurt many members of my own community by sharing a post from another individual on my personal Facebook page. It was never my intention to minimize the pain and suffering that African Americans have endured throughout history and are currently enduring. I love all people regardless of race or color. Please know I am truly sorry for the pain that I have caused many of you. The harsh words in that post did not come from my mouth or my heart, and it was my mistake to share them. Because I am a Christian woman, I stand before this community and ask for forgiveness. In my role as Mayor, I am held to the highest standard and there is no excuse for sharing the post that hurt so many of you. While I cannot change the past, I can impact change in the future. Moving forward, I vow to take extra time to think of all of the people that I have been elected to represent. I will consider the tone, language and validity of the information that I post or share on social media. I commit to being a positive part of the important changes we need in not only our community, but our nation. By coming together now and uniting as one, we can better our community and society for generations to come.

Reaction to Pinner's social media posts have been mixed. One purported Levelland resident, Janice Demons, said on social media: "Barbara Scott Pinner is a racist she said in her own words that she thought the article was well written," adding: "She is a disgrace!"

Barbara Scott Pinner is a racist she said in her own words that she thought the article was well written. Now she is...

Posted by Janice Demons on Monday, June 29, 2020

 

Being from Levelland It is very bothersome to see the display witnessed by an elected official and what’s even worse is...

Posted by Janice Demons on Monday, June 29, 2020

As of late Monday night, Mayor Pinner was still in office as Levelland's mayor.

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