A Charlotte County, Florida, commissioner has acknowledged he used the N-word in a conversation with a Black county official, claiming he believed the slur was a term of endearment and meant no offense.
The complaint was filed by D’Juan Harris, executive director of the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization. An investigation was conducted in January by an independent law firm which found Stephen Deutsch used the N-word while the two were meeting.
Harris told investigators the two men were discussing the 2024 presidential election when Deutsch, a Republican, relayed a story from his childhood, “saying that when he was a child, his childhood friend’s mother would call for her son by calling him” the N-word.
Harris said he told Deutsch to stop using the term.
Deutsch’s bio indicates he grew up in the early 1960s, when civil rights protesters across the South were met with racist resistance. If he ever watched the news, he would’ve known the N-word was anything but a genteel colloquialism.
The internal investigation found Deutsch violated county policy by engaging in offensive behavior. The report recommends Deutsch face a public reprimand.
But at their Thursday meeting, some of his fellow commissioners called on Deutsch to resign.
“Such actions are not tolerated under any circumstances,” said Commissioner Bill Truex. “It brings shame to this entire board, and it will not be tolerated.”
Commissioner Ken Doherty agreed, saying he would resign if he were in Deutsch’s position.
Richard Patrick, the vice president of the Charlotte County NAACP, also called on Deutsch to step down.
“Commission Deutsch’s actions were reprehensible, and his actions and conduct cannot be condoned but should be met with the harshest punishment possible,” Patrick said.
Deutsch, in his first public comments on the controversy, offered a non-apology apology favored by public figures whenever they’re caught doing something improper.
“The statement I shared with him, I probably should not have, obviously, in retrospect,” he said.
Addressing the use of the racial slur, Deutsch acknowledged, “I shouldn’t have done that.”
He told the commission he had no plans to resign. Deutsch will have to complete mandatory on-site training before the next commission meeting.
