Was George Allen being racist?
August 14, 2006
I don’t know. But let me suggest that using nicknames isn’t the brightest idea in any circumstance, especially if you are trying to be disparaging about someone’s presence. Just because Bush calls people names (like Turd Blossom) doesn’t make it a good PR move.
From the Washington Post
S.R. Sidarth, a senior at the University of Virginia, had been trailing Allen with a video camera to document his travels and speeches for the Webb campaign. During a campaign speech Friday in Breaks, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, Allen singled out Sidarth and called him a word that sounded like “Macaca.”
“This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent.
After telling the crowd that Webb was raising money in California with a “bunch of Hollywood movie moguls,” Allen again referenced Sidarth, who was born and raised in Fairfax County. “Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia,” said Allen, who then began talking about the “war on terror.”
Actually, you know, after reading that it does sound a little racist to me. Not so much the name part (which I am sure Allen came up with to make him sound Islamic), but saying “Welcome to America” bit to a native-bred son of Virgina. That is at least a little shady.
Update: I had completely forgotten about the flag, the noose, and Confederate Heritage and History Month:
But, while Allen may have genuflected in the direction of Gingrich, he also showed a touch of Strom Thurmond. Campaigning for governor in 1993, he admitted to prominently displaying a Confederate flag in his living room. He said it was part of a flag collection—and had been removed at the start of his gubernatorial bid. When it was learned that he kept a noose hanging on a ficus tree in his law office, he said it was part of a Western memorabilia collection … He issued a proclamation drafted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans declaring April Confederate History and Heritage Month. The text celebrated Dixie’s “four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights.” There was no mention of slavery. [ The New Republic ]
Hat tip to Mac, who shames me by covering politics in my home state better than I do.
Posted in Race
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August 15th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
the name part was most certainly racist in that ‘macaca’ is the scientific name for a monkey found in the eastern Hemisphere, calling someone a monkey is a common racial slur in Europe against African immigrants, AND Allen’s mother is french-tunisian, and it is surely not farfetched to imagine he might have heard the term before in a racial context!
PLUS he couldnt even get his racial slurs right. I mean, Sidarth is an Indian, and you are trying to put him down with an african slur? ah well, brown, black, yellow, all the same to you, huh, senator?
August 15th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
I spent some time reading the research reports on Allen on the web today. Looks like this guy was a classic white redneck
in his high school days and drove a mustang with a confederate flag on it and also in his law office displayed a confederate flag and hung a noose outside his window. I am not surprised in the least that he gaffed in a predominantly white southern
crowd thinking that it would never be an issue because of the laughs it prompted. What is possibly the most demeaning is that he said, “Welcome to America, Welcome to the real world of Virginia.” First of all, Sidarth is born and raised in Fairfax County, so he is an American citizen to begin with. Does this mean that every person of brown skin who enters Virginia
should be afraid of being lynched?
Just curious. I say we start a rally. Racists should not be in the Senate. Bye bye Senator Allen, go kiss Trent Lott.
August 16th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
As an Asian-American Republican, George Allen makes me ill. What an ignorant, racist comment to make followed-up by a weak, half-assed apology. If the Senator called him out in front of a crowd, the least he could do is be a man about it and apologize face to face.
Who is Senator Allen to claim his comments weren’t racist? He apparently has to be told that his comments were offensive for him to even think about an apology. His apology was that people perceived his remarks as offensive. His comments were offensive. For anyone who’s a minority, Senator Allen’s comments remind us of some jackass who made comments like this to us on the playground.
Every year I get complimented by at least one cretin on how good I speak English. I want to tell them my SAT verbal score and tell them I was born and raised in Chicago (BTW, maybe Sen. Allen and White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen should get together sometime). However, I’ve found satisfaction in returning the compliment, “you speak good English, too.” I agree with KKK Begone that racists shouldn’t be in the Senate. If I lived in his district, I’d vote Democrat. There are too many substantive issues to debate, ignorance shouldn’t be one of them. Senator Allen, be a man about it - own the offense and show some contrition.
August 16th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Well Georgie’s personality has finally been discovered. That noose hanging, confederate flag waving, shotgun toting, tobacco chewing (or snuff snorting - whatever his pleasure is now) former Governor of Virginia has proven that racism is still alive and doing very well in Virginia. Not only did he make the stupid remark, but did you hear his constituents in the background laughing like the idiots that they are. Is it no wonder that the republican party has a hard time recruiting blacks. Is it no wonder that the republican party has to hold private functions to recruit minorities. Whenever Allen’s racist practices were challenged in Virginia, he gave that famous howdy doody grin and spouted something negative about the person making the remark. None of this is anything new, it’s just that he has now made the comment on camera. Thank you Mr. Sidarth for capturing Allen in his natural habitat in his natural state. I have waited a while for his ignorance to be captured and shown to others. I have worked with other republicans like him who referred to blacks as the “n” word and people of indian descent as ‘ragheads.’ My elders have taught me from a young age that calling someone out of their name was not only a rude abomination, but could possibly cause you harm - well Allen has harmed himself and he has no one to blame but HIMSELF, not the news media, not people that misunderstood. Rest assured, no one misunderstood his remark and I just want to thank him for showing his true color BEFORE the presidential campaigning begins.
August 24th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
This is interesting: George Allen’s son is named Forrest. If you remember your Civil War history, Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate general, successful slave trader and started the KKK. Quite interesting that Allen included that extra “R” in the name.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am
[...] not nearly the whole story. The racism charge stuck to Allen because (intentionally or not) he’d been cultivating that image for years with his penchant for Confederate flags, declaring a controversial Confederate Heritage Month in [...]