It’s been well-documented that the GOP is in the middle of an aggressive rebranding campaign intended to woo African-American voters, and in the midst of this, yet another Republican congressional candidate has provoked cries of racial insensitivity.

In a post on his Facebook page that was—in theory, anyway—about federal spending, Jim Brown, who’s running in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, compared modern-day “entitlements” to slavery. But even more disturbing, perhaps, he denied that slavery was, first and foremost, a brutally violent institution:

Back in the day of slavery, slaves were kept in slavery by denying them education and opportunity while providing them with their basic needs .. Not by beating them and starving them. (Although there were isolated cases if course) Basically slave owners took pretty good care of their slaves and livestock and this kept business rolling along.

This flies in the face, of course, of all credible historical accounts, including the recent Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. Brown’s comments, therefore, not only make him sound woefully ill-informed but—more troubling for Republicans—also make him and his party sound extreme, rendering him a potentially toxic candidate in a winnable district.

More: Arizona Republican Compares Government Spending to Slavery - the Root