Dan O'Donnell

Dan O'Donnell

Common Sense Central is edited by WISN's Dan O'Donnell. Dan provides unique conservative commentary and analysis of stories that the mainstream media...Full Bio

 

Democratic Senate Candidate Admits Harboring Racist, Homophobic Thoughts

Democratic State Senate candidate Adam Murphy admitted in a Facebook post last year that he harbors racist and homophobic thoughts when he encounters minorities and same-sex couples.

"My friends are predominately white, and I would be lying if I said my pulse doesn’t quicken or my sense of awareness doesn’t increase when I’m in a minority neighborhood, or a group of black kids or Hispanic kids walk past me in the mall," he wrote. "Do I tug my coat a little tighter? I do.

"Should I look away at two men kissing or two women kissing? No. Might I? I’d be lying if I said no."

Murphy, 49,is running in the 28th Senate District against Republican candidate Julian Bradley, who is black. Murphy's lengthy post appears to have been attempting to make a point about unconscious bias and systemic racism, but in it he readily admitted to being "racist, sexist, ageist, [and] insensitive or oblivious to the challenges which others face."

In an interview with "The Dan O'Donnell Show" Tuesday, Murphy doubled down on the post and explained that he acknowledged his own personal biases in an effort to overcome them.

"If I'm in a particular neighborhood, I will be honest with you that I don't feel safe there," he said.

"You said that you tug your coat a little tighter when I walk in a minority neighborhood," O'Donnell replied. "Knowing nothing else about this hypothetical neighborhood other than it is predominantly a minority neighborhood, you said, and I quote, 'I don't feel safe.' Sir, with all due respect, that is the very definition of racism. You're making a value judgment on how dangerous people are knowing nothing about them other than the color of their skin."

"You are absolutely right," Murphy agreed. "100 percent. If we cannot first recognize and then acknowledge our own shortcomings and biases--which means not pointing them out in others but actually seeing them in ourselves--then we will never overcome them, and I would like to overcome them."

In his post, Murphy pledged to "continue to listen. And I will answer and explain as honestly as I can, and I will continue to pause, and think, and ask more of myself and others, and then listen more. And I will study and I will learn and I will seek out ideas and answers to questions I did not know I had."

Still, he concludes by admitting that he does have racist and homophobic thoughts but promises that he "will change. And sometimes I may affect a change. And sometimes I will just be an asshole. And oftentimes I will be sarcastic.

"If we can not first recognize and then acknowledge our own shortcomings and biases, then we will never overcome them," Murphy concludes. "And I would like to overcome them."

On his campaign website, however, Murphy claims to be a champion of civil rights.

"Let’s stop punishing black people for being black, immigrants for fleeing tyranny and war, our neighbors for loving each other, and women for having sex. Honestly, how is this still an issue in 2020?!" he writes, adding that he finds "it baffling and tragic that the same battles my parents’ generation fought are still being fought today in cities and protests around the state.

"There is no math to this one. There is only respecting our fellow citizens. It is not sufficient to 'not be racist.' Instead, we must embrace being 'anti-racist.'"


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