Washington state senator apologizes for slur; many blacks want him to resign

Jet, Feb 23, 2004

A Washington state senator apologized for using a racial slur during an argument with another legislator, a blunder that prompted some Black leaders to press for his resignation.

"I realize this has been very hurtful to members of the African-American community and for that I am truly sorry," Republican Sen. Alex Deccio said on the Senate floor. "I feel if the Rev. Martin Luther King were here today, he would accept my apology, so I'm asking you to do the same."

Some Black leaders said they would accept the 81-year-old lawmaker's apology only if he resigned.

"This individual is not deserving of being a representative of the people," said Carl Mack, president of the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. He traveled to Olympia at press time to demand Deccio's resignation.

Alton McDonald, a Black leader of the National Action Network's Tacoma branch, also confronted Deccio after his apology on the Senate floor and pressed him to resign.

Deccio used the slur during a heated argument with Rep. Tom Campbell, another Republican, about health insurance reforms.

He called Campbell a "nigger in the woodpile." Both men are White.

Deccio said he instantly realized his mistake and apologized during the meeting. The following day he apologized to Democratic Sen. Rosa Franklin, Washington's only Black state senator.

Franklin tearfully accepted his apology during a speech on the Senate floor, though she said the slur "sears like a branding iron."

Afterward, Deccio crossed the Senate floor and hugged Franklin.

The senator said he does not intend to step down. "This should be put behind us."