WASHINGTON, 17 August 2006 — A leading US senator with presidential ambitions says he had no idea what it meant when he called an Asian-American of Indian descent a name that roughly translates into “monkey.”
Virginian Republican Sen. George Allen was campaigning in his state when he signaled out S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old volunteer who was videotaping Allen for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.
“This fellow over here...Macaca or whatever his name is,” Allen said Friday.
Macaca is a genus of monkeys, including the rhesus monkey.
Sidarth was filming Allen, a standard campaign practice that opponents often use for research purposes, as the senator campaigned throughout the state for a second term. He captured Allen’s comments on camera, and the Webb campaign provided a link to the video in its e-mail.
“This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is,” said Allen, who at times pointed directly at the camera. “He’s with my opponent. He’s following us around everywhere.”
After suggesting Webb had not visited many parts of the state as well as criticizing his opponent for meeting with “a bunch of Hollywood movie moguls,” the senator turned back to the camera and addressed Sidarth.
“Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here,” Allen said. “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.”
After Webb’s campaign distributed the video and it became a hit on liberal blogs, Allen apologized to Sidarth, who was born in Virginia.
“I never want to embarrass or demean anyone,” Allen said. He denied the remark was racially charged, saying in a statement that the media misunderstood his comments.
Bloggers pointed out “macaque” is a French Tunisian slur for people with dark skin, and Allen’s mother is of French Tunisian descent. Campaign spokesman Bill Bozin acknowledged the senator’s heritage, but insisted Allen did not know what the word meant.
Another of Allen’s campaign spokesmen, Dick Wadhams, tried a different spin. He said the name was derived from “Mohawk,” the nickname that Allen campaign staffers called Sidarth because of his Mohawk haircut. The University of Virginia senior’s does not consider his hairdo, closely cropped around the temples and above the ears but full, as a Mohawk.
In an interview with CNN before Allen released his statement, Sidarth said he had introduced himself to the senator days before he made the remark.
“I think he was just trying to point out the fact that I was a person of color, in a crowd that was not otherwise,” Sidarth said.
Sidarth later said he did not view Allen’s statement as an adequate apology. “First of all, if he is going to single me out in a crowd of 100 people, he ought to apologize to me personally,” Sidarth said.
Reaction was swift. In yesterday’s Washington Post, editorialist Joel Achenbach wrote: “Perhaps George Allen needs to spend more time in America and less in the United States Senate. Allen sees a person of color in an otherwise all-white crowd, singles him out and calls him ‘macaca.’ Any attempt to probe Allen’s brain in search of the etymology of this term would surely be a perilous journey. He may have overheard it at a kegger back in college. Maybe he invented the word on the spot. It doesn’t have the ring of a compliment, whatever it means.
“More revealing is his remark, ‘Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.’ Perhaps the senator is of the belief that anyone who looks Asian or exotic just stepped off a boat. S.R. Sidarth, however, was born in Fairfax County. He is an American,” wrote Achenbach.
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato told the Associated Press that Allen’s remarks could hurt his campaign for a possible presidential bid in 2008.
“This is a comment that will be regurgitated a thousand times,” Sabato said. “It was a clumsy, stupid gaffe, and it’s this kind of thing that destroys presidential candidacies.”
