She even told the Centinal, "you may not be aware of the fact that your image of a rural person is white..."

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This article has been updated to include a statement from Mayor Moran regarding her comments at the meeting.

Antonia Moran, the Mayor of Mansfield, Connecticut, is under fire after arguing during a town meeting that the term "rural character" had racial overtones.

During the March 12th meeting on Mansfield's Vision and Strategy Plan, Moran encouraged the community to read and share feedback on the plan.

"We will listen to that," Moran said.

That's when a man speaks up, saying, "well my big concern is we're turning our town into a city and I think the residents in this area all feel that same way--we're turning Mansfield into New Haven."

He complains about removing the term "rural" from the plan.

"The concern about the term "rural character" is that it's code word for "white"," explains Moran. "The term "rural character" is a code word and we don't want to have that code word because it means a white Anglo-Saxon population."

Moran assumes when people say "rural character" it has this particular "unspoken meaning."

The man who made the comment was so disgusted at Moran's response, that he walked out of the meeting.

The Centinal contacted Moran to ask why she felt the term "rural character" was a racist "code word".

"Let me ask you this. When you hear a place described as having rural character, what images of people leap to mind?  Do you think of Jamaican migrants picking apples?  Guatemalan dairy workers?  Indigenous farmers?" wrote Moran in her email.

"Not likely," she said.

"You think of Grant Woods American Gothic or some other white person," argued Moran. "You may not be aware of the fact that your image of a rural person is white, but Black people are. And my examples, btw, are from Eastern Connecticut."

Perhaps Moran was merely projecting her own views onto our reporter?

We also contacted Aaron Bowman, who ran for State Rep in Mansfield in 2024, for his reaction.

"As a Frederick Douglass Republican, I believe in self-determination, community, and individual merit—not racial division. Claiming that ‘rural character’ is a racial code word is divisive, misleading, and an insult to our community. It undermines our shared values and distracts from real issues," explained Bowman. "Mansfield’s identity is built on its farms, community, and shared values—not race. Leadership should unite us, not push false narratives that create unnecessary division."

He also shared similar sentiments on X, lamenting the "kind of absurd thinking" running his town.

🚨 Mansfield’s Mayor Wants to Erase "Rural Character" 🚨

Why? Because they claim it’s a "code word" for a white Anglo-Saxon population. Seriously?

This is the kind of absurd thinking running our town. "Rural character" isn’t about race—it’s about our farms, open spaces, and… pic.twitter.com/fJHljEIQa4

— Aaron Bowman (@Bowmanfor54) March 13, 2025

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