Speaking to reporters at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Thurston said Artiles’ “racist rant” was “deeply offensive to people of color” and that his actions “demand no less than removal” from the S
Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, who is black, ridiculed Artiles’ implication that a variation of the “n-word” is less offensive.
“To say that the ending of the word changes the connotation of it … may be asinine,” Braynon said. “There’s been a history of that word, whether it be `er,’ `a,’ `z.’ Whatever it is, it’s offensive. It’s not something that anyone should be saying. … No one should be called that word.”
While Artiles appeared remorseful while asking Gibson, Thurston, Negron and the entire Senate for forgiveness, he was defiant when asked by reporters if he intends to step down.
“If every time a senator made a mistake, or someone made a mistake, that they had to resign … we’d have half the Senate gone for whatever reason. I did not insult anybody directly. What I did was have a heated debate with a colleague, and I basically apologized for that,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I’m not only not going to resign, I’m going to file for 2018, and I’m going to win my election.”
