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Racist Republican senator?
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George Allen, a Republican senator from Virginia (who consistently ranks high in polls of '08 republican presidential nominees) appears to have used a racial epithet in a recent speech to supporters [Video right].
The speech was being videotaped by a volunteer for Allen's opponent -- 20-year-old Indian-American S.R. Sidarth. The Washington Post writes: "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... Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."The Webb campaign speculates that he may have meant "monkey" or a town in South Africa and others have connected it to the spanish word for excrement but I think it's just good old fashioned "wow, them funny foreign names is danged hard to pronounce"-style racism. A cheap shot by a loser. UPDATE: It looks like I may have given the senator the benefit of the doubt.
The word, "Macaca," refers to a species of monkeys in the Eastern Hemisphere, and is alledged to be a prejudiced term used in Tunisia in reference to blacks and dark-skinned people. Allen's mother is from French Tunisia.Sidarth, noting that the audience of Republicans was lily-white, speculated: "I think he was doing it because he could and I was the person of color there and it was useful for him in inciting his audience..."
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