Check out this story that is circulating around. It seems that Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia repeatedly called a campaign worker from the Webb campaign of Indian decent, "Macacca or whatever your name is."
What I find amazing is the feigned lack of understating of what Allen was doing. People are treating it like a bizarre, random outburst that was unfortunately likely to be misunderstood. But what if he had refered to an African-American with the words, "Hey, look at Sambo or whatever his name is..." or a Hispanic "Jose..." or a German "Fritz..." or a Russian "Ivan..." or a woman "Baby..." or something like that??? Would there be any misunderstanding of Allen's state of mind?
What Allen was doing was making it perfectly clear to the rural Virginian audience (he was somehwere along the Virginia/Kentucky border) that he neither knew much about nor respected people of color - especially if they APPEARED to be recent immigrants (the campaign worker in question is a native Virginian and a US Citizen). Allen's non-apology apology (see cnn.com article) is just an exclamation point after the fact.
This lays bare the underlying hatred and racism behind the current wave of rural nationalism and conservatism.
Vote Democratic in November 2006!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Republicans and Race: They Still Don't Get It
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 3:24 PM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
The quotes from Senator George Allen are these:
"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is..."
and,
"Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here," Allen said. "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."
The racial overtones are obvious. I think RbR is right: Allen knew exactly what he was saying. It is disgusting.
I'm sorry, stuff like this just gripes me. It is such small potatoes. I think this is one of those stories that draws people away from real issues. Who care what he says when, until recently, states in the South flew the Confederate flag over their capitals?
No, I don't care about what this guy said. I care that according to Human Rights Watch , 49% of the prison population in America is black. That's racists.
I care that the highest rates of poverty, unwanted pregnancy, and domestic abuse are found among black women. That's more than just racists. That is a social break down.
I care that academic performances is lowest among black students and that inner city schools with majority minority students are the least funded and maintained.
// posted by USWest
Good point US West. However, when one party is disproportionatly responsible it is good to point that out.
I think making a big deal about what Allen says is valid because so many people like to pretend that this sort of thing doesn't happen. That it's just about hyper sensativity etc.
Allen is running for reelection. His record matters and what he says to and about people of color is part of that record.
// posted by RBR
You are right. What the guy says is part of his record, but I'd prefer the actual record be the story, not the words. And in this media environment, that is never the case.
To prove that Republicans are racists, all you have to do is visit New Orleans. If that wasn't big enough to get people's attention, then calling someone after a monkey won't.
// posted by USWest
I still think this is a big enough deal to warrant some attention. What we have here is a Republican engaging in the infamous "Southern Strategy." We have a supposedly "big tent" Republican openly mocking a person of collor to score political points with rural, white, Southern voters. And it came so naturally to him to do it that he didn't even stop to think he was being video taped by the opposition at the time! I think if racist remarks pop out of Republican Senators' mouths so easily that it's news.
The racial overtones of Katrina etc got A LOT of attention at the time - and rightly so. But this is the Republican-Race story today.
// posted by RBR
I'm with USWest - this is small potatoes and is the sort of thing that make people think liberals are too politically correct. Allen was openly mocking the fact that whatever-his-name-was was trailing his campaign. The idea that "macaca" was meant to sound like a macaque is absurd.
The racist thing is in the "welcome to America" part, if at all, but it was probably not a reference to the color of his skin but to the conservative notion that liberalss don't get the heartland, the "real America." FYI, the real America is where most Americans live -in big cities.
// posted by LTG
It is small potatoes, but I think RbR has the right take on it: it was a racist remark made without thinking to scare up votes from a white, rural, Southern audience--and I don't think it would be bad to make a fuss about it.
Besides, the name "Macaca" must have meant something to Allen. Like calling a random mexican "Taco" or an Indian "Apu."
His campaign is saying that they call the guy "Mohawk" because of his hair, and that Allen never gets it right. I can believe that. The real lesson is to never acknowledge hecklers.
// posted by LTG
The guy was wearing a hat during the incident.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
I have to agree with you (LTG, USWest etc) that this is indeed small potatoes.
But then I have to point out that if you don't have small potatoes, you can't grow big ones.
Surely if this kind of casually racist attitude was stamped out, if there was a bad reaction every time it happened, the larger racism that led to horrors such as New Orleans would suffer and dwindle away? And it would certainly be easier to take the bottom up approach of removing these 'small potatoes' and allowing the effects to ripple through, rather than the huge top down approach of attempting to deal with every massive race issue across the entire country in one fell swoop, wouldn't it?
// posted by Pombat
Pombat makes a good point. Sometimes drawing attention to a small issue like Allen's appeal to racism can help fix a larger issue (like such appeals in general)--it provides a point of entry to discuss racial issues.
Of course it's not usually used like that. People often focus too much on the specific words (like I did, alas) and this is all to easy to portray as a "PC" attempt to modulate someone else's honest speech. But this is not about an accidental offense arising from a poor choice of words; it's about Allen making a deliberate appeal to latent racism. It's not what he said that matters but what he meant.
The other possibility is one of "crying wolf." If we say "racist! racist!" every time a little spud comes along, people will stop caring when a 20lb bag of russets comes tumbling down, like the "what-ever" response to Katrina.
// posted by LTG
Post a Comment