Rhode Island AG candidate under fire over racial slur

October 25, 2018 2:29 am

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WLNE) — A testy debate took a turn Tuesday, as attorney general candidates, Democratic former U.S. attorney Peter Neronha and Compassion Party candidate Alan Gordon, sparred at North Kingstown High School.

“It is a curse to my people,” Gordon said to Neronha. “Knock it off!”

Gordon was upset over Neronha’s use of the word “marijuana.” Gordon called the term racist and compared it with the n-word, before loudly spelling out the n-word in front of the student audience.

Shortly after, Gordon stormed off stage, saying, “I’m done.”

If Gordon’s name sounds familiar, he and his partner were arrested this month, for having nearly 50 pounds of pot at their West Greenwich home, which also houses The Healing Church, a sect that holds the belief that cannabis is a holy sacrament.

Gordon defended his choice of language Wednesday night and said he does not regret anything he said.

“His use of the m-word was as offensive to people of my church who were there in the audience, as if he had used the n-word in front of a person of African descent,” said Gordon.”

Pointing out that Gordon used the n-word in front of those same people, I asked him what made that okay. “That was in demonstration and I spelled it out with great caution. The audience roared their approval. They got it my point,” said Gordon.

Civil rights leaders disagree.

“There are times when we have to use it within context. This wasn’t one of those times,” said Jim Vincent, president of the Providence chapter of the NAACP.

Vincent says there’s no excuse for using the n-word in front of any audience.

“We don’t want to see the word. We don’t want to hear the word. That word is inappropriate in any analogy. Period,” said Vincent.

Meanwhile, Gordon tells me he was ready to do a lot more than yell at Neronha over the “m-word.”

“If I wasn’t such a God-fearing man, I would have knocked him out cold right there in front of all those kids,” said Gordon.

We spoke by phone to North Kingstown’s superintendent of Schools Phil Auger. He says Gordon should have chosen a more appropriate way to get his point across, and he will not be welcome back.

We reached out to Neronha, but his office declined to comment.