Drums Along the Macaca?

[BurtWorm]

:eyes:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081400589.html

Sen. Allen's Remarks Spark Ire

By Tim Craig and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 14, 2006; 3:16 PM

Democrat James Webb's Senate campaign accused Sen. George Allen (R) of making demeaning comments Friday to a 20-year-old Webb volunteer of Indian descent.

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. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. We're going to places all over Virginia, and he's having it on film and its great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he's never been there and probably will never come."

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."

...



http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_08_13_atrios_archive.html#115558801832716030

Wadhams said Allen campaign staffers had begun calling Sidarth "mohawk" because of a haircut Wadhams said the Webb staffer has. "Macaca was just a variation of that," Wadhams said.

Mohawk.

[flvegan]

1. Alternet.org has the video, too.

I was JUST reading about this.

:shakes head:

On the homepage, under Video, the latest clips...
http://www.alternet.org/

[BlooInBloo]

2. No worries - DUers are ingenious....

... They're certain to find a way to explain this without resorting to the oversensitive brown people's familiar whine of "racism".

It's not about race, it's about class - never forget that.

[me b zola]

4. "oversensitive brown people's familar whine of racism"

:wtf: You either forgot the sarcasm tag or you've just said one of the nastiest things that I have read on DU.

FYI, "macaca" is a word that racist use now as the new "N" word. There was an article that WAPO did that was posted yesterday, and last night Sam Seder talked at length about this incident, the word macaca, and racist blogs/message boards that use the word.

[AspenRose]

7. If you're familiar with Bloo's past posts

...you'll know (s)he was being sarcastic

(next time use the sarcasm thingy Bloo)

[BlooInBloo]

17. To do that would be to imply that DUers are too stupid...

... to recognize obvious sarcasm when it smacks them in the face. Far be it for moi to imply such a thing.

[PA Democrat]

9. More info on the term macaca from Wikipedia

The word 'macaque,' refers to a type of monkey and has occasionally been used as a racial slur against dark-skinned Africans. The word could also be interpreted as "macaca" or "mukakkah," a French and Belgian slur for dark skinned peoples of North African descent.<6> Allen's mother immigrated from French Tunisia and is of French descent.<7> Allen speaks French and obtained excellent grades in French as an undergraduate.<8> Allen's campaign maintains that the word was used in reference to Sidarth's apparent mohawk.<5> However, Sidarth said that his haircut is a mullet, not a mohawk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Felix_Allen#Macaca_Controversy

[BurtWorm]

11. Since when is "macaca" another word for "mohawk" anyway?

:wtf:

[unpossibles]

15. well, when you're an Idiot (R)

all them brown folks looks the same. seriesly.

what the f**k?

[countingbluecars]

5. This was about race

not class.

[sandnsea]

10. I'm seeing less and less of that

3 years ago that was a really popular opinion here, way more people insisted it was all class than do now. I think Katrina really ripped the cover off that canard, and comments like Allen's and others over the last year have either changed the minds of those race deniers or sent them packing.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Then count my remarks as the "eternal vigilance"...

... which is the price of freedom.

:)

Assuming you're right, that is, which I don't think you are. I think the racism-deniers have just shut up - just like the racists they enable. I don't think they've actually "gone" anywhere, or have changed their opinions on whit. Racist people and racism enablers rarely change. They just die, thankfully.

[BurtWorm]

3. kick

[Beetwasher]

6. "...calling Sidarth "mohawk" because of a haircut "

What exactly is it about his hair that says "Mohawk"?

Lying douchebags. What a bunch of fucking racist nitwits.

[NewJeffCT]

12. He seems to have a fairly "conservative" hairdo to me

Nothing outlandish or "mohawk"-like about it.

[BurtWorm]

13. I ask again: Since when is "macaca" a synonym for "mohawk?"

Since yesterday, I'm guessing. :eyes:

[NewJeffCT]

14. You mean?

It's not common street lingo & George Allen is just more hip than everybody here on DU?
:sarcasm:

By the way, I'll have to find a pic of myself... but, I'm white and my hairdo is similar to Sidharth's hairdo.

[mikeytherat]

8. Oh, I'm sure they called him a name that started with the letters M-O-H-

Mohammed.

And I'd bet money on it.

mikey_the_rat

[Jara sang]

16. Is Allen just a complete idiot?

Ummmm... Wasn't the camera obvious? He mentions being on film, is that his cue to make racial slurs?

[BlooInBloo]

19. lol! That's a rhetorical question, I presume :)