Though I live and vote in Pennsylvania’s 7th district, the big race for me — and probably most SM readers — was really the Senate in Virginia: the “macaca” race. In hindsight, it’s surprising that George Allen didn’t seem concerned that the person he called “macaca” happened to be carrying a video camera, and probably didn’t even dream that the event being filmed would immediately be seen by millions on news shows, talk shows, and of course, on video sharing sites like Youtube (go ahead, watch the video again, you know you want to). It’s possible that this will go down as the first “Youtube” election, just as 2004 was the first “blogged” election — though notably, the blogosphere (dominated by liberal blogs) didn’t seem to make a difference in the outcome of 2004, and I’m sure it’s an open question as to whether Youtube had any real impact in the tight Senate races in places like Virginia and Montana.
“Macaca” was one of those strange insults you don’t know what to do with at first. As with many ethnic slurs (remember “rat-eater”?), it was unclear at first that it even was a slur, since “macaca” isn’t a word commonly used to describe (or insult) people from the Indian subcontinent. That isn’t really new; ethnic slurs thrive on ignorance, and often misdescribe the people they are aimed at.
As people looked up various possible definitions of the word macaca, they discovered that none of them are complimentary. Like most South Asians in the U.S. (see Abhi’s post, and the reactions to it), I immediately registered “macaca” as an insult, though I wasn’t surprised that many others didn’t see it that way. Eventually the mainstream consensus seemed to be that it was in fact an ethnic insult, and the next question for most South Asian Americans was, “will this matter to anyone?” Will anyone else be as offended by this as we are? More is at stake in that question than first appears. Behind it is a deep anxiety about acceptance and integration, about being equally valued and respected in American society. Everyone is on board (usually) if a public figure makes a remark that could be construed as hostile to other, more settled minority groups — the hostile response to Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade this summer was essentially unequivocal. And Trent Lott’s political career was ended derailed by a comment relating to Jim Crow. But are Virginians, and Americans in general, going to care about “macaca,” which affects a newer, smaller, and less visible minority community? As the macaca story gathered steam, there was almost a sigh of relief as the answer appeared to be “yes.” And now, if Jim Webb’s slim lead holds following a probable recount in the coming days, it will be hard not to see this incident as a decisive factor in the election.But did “macaca” really make a difference? One CNN pundit suggested, based on exit polls, that “macaca” may well not have been finally as important to voters as issues such as the war in Iraq — 56% of voters said they did not think George Allen was a racist. But it’s hard to argue with the huge swing in the polls that followed the initial comment — even if in the end, exit poll results suggest that other issues may have been more prevalent in voters’ minds. In a race as close as this, it did make a difference.
There was a bit of gallows humor following the “macaca” gaffe that the use of racial slurs might actually help George Allen, but that turned out to be totally false: Virginia is changing. There are now a decent number of South Asians in Virginia — 77,000 — and a significant subset of them are voting American citizens. Assuming that the vast majority were voting for Webb, there are certainly enough desis there to have affected the final tally of the election in Webb’s favor (again, if the current 3000 vote margin holds after a recount). Other stats: according to the U.S. census in 2000, 4.3 percent of Virginia’s population is Asian. And close to 600,000 Virginia residents (8.5 percent, with a total state population of 7 million) are foreign born, well above the national average. Virginia is looking less like the “southern firewall,” and more like a mid-Atlantic state like Pennsylvania or Maryland. Urban counties are very blue, suburban counties will be purple (currently leaning blue), and the sparsely populated rural counties will be very red.
Actually, it didn’t end at all. Sure he lost the Senate Majority leader position, but he is still going strong as a senator. Good article, btw.
Daycruz, oops, good point. I made a correction.
Amardeep, I think the “macaca” incident was something of a tipping point. It confirmed to many, and revealed to others, Allen’s xenophobia and ethnic/racial creepiness. The sheer out-of-left-field nature of the incident — the obscure, perhaps subconscious slur, the bizarre setting, the recording on video, and, not incidentally, the very poor handling by Allen and his campaign — almost added to the creepiness a layer of unease that a “common” slur might not have possessed. This one resisted contextualization and thus resisted being swept under the rug. The efforts of our fellow macacas — our sardonic embrace of the term, and the insisted pounding of the issue by Subodh C. and other advocates, were important factors as well.
What disturbed me then and still disturbs me now is that it took such a weird, left-field incident, to finally get the media and public opinion on Allen’s case DESPITE the lengthy track record of creepy racist symbolism and behavior (the Confederate flags, the noose in the office) on his part. And that none of his anti-Black racism had managed to sink him in the general public, and it took his bizarre attack on a member of a non-threatening minority to get white people to take a hard look at his record.
Webb owes Siddharth. Big time.
our sardonic embrace of the term
Personally, I thought this was the least effective of our collective responses. It made us look like we were anxious to come up with our own equivalent to “nigger” or “kike”. For me, it was always that “Welcome to America” bit that pissed me off. Some redneck wannabe from southern California is going to tell a guy born and raised in Virginia welcome?
If Webb hangs on to win the recount, I simply repeat what I said here.
Don’t fuck with the Indians.
Let us also remember that the first paper to run the story was the Washington Post. The editors of the post can’t stand Allen and so they ran the macaca story front page, above the fold. It was only after this that the other news outlets picked it up because you can’t ignore a front page WaPo story if you are in the news room at CNN or a network. If the Post had decided not to run the story, or even if it had put it inside the paper, the whole thing would be a non-story, in my opinion.
I find this disturbing as well. I have a couple possible explanations. First, VA has changed a lot since Allen became a major political player. With the rapid expansion of Northern Virginia suburbs, there is now a large democratic/liberal vote in the state. 15 years ago, Allen could get away with this stuff because he had sufficient support within his base. Another possible explanation is the rapidity with which the South Asian community responded. South Asians in the DC area are a pretty affluent and increasingly influential lot. Couple that with blogs like SM and the Post angle that I described above, and you’ve got the controversy that we all saw play out on Election Day.
I live in Virginia and my wife and I had the opportunity to vote for Webb – and therefore against Allen. For me, this was the only race that really mattered to me. My wife is from India. I like to call her my little “Maharani” but Allen would call her a “macaca” – a monkey or whatever. It really makes my blood boil that someone who thinks like that would be a member of the Senate of this great nation – well hopefully for not much longer.
I want to sincerely thank the Sepia Mutiny bloggers and Manish Vij of Ultrabrown for calling attention to this issue and keeping attention to it over time. It meant that many other people in the blogosphere were made aware of Allen and this helped form public opinion. It is hard to know many votes were swayed by Sepia Mutiny but if it was only a few 100, in an absolutely tight race, it probably meant everything.
Anyway, I am going to Saravana Palace (in Fairfax – highly recommmended) and have a big buffet lunch. Maybe it is premature to call victory in the race but I feel really happy about this.
I don’t think there will be any difference in the Way Webb treats Indians as compared to Allen. I don’t believe that Allen used ‘Maccaca’ as an ethnic insult. I believe he would probably have used the same term if Sridhar was white. People made too much out of a word that nobody knows the meaning of. Democratic leadership of Pelosi, Charles Rangle, Conyers, Wexall is a lot more out of step with general population than people realize. I think this will hurt them in 2008. Forget Hillary or Obama…for 2008, the democratic congress will make the public elect a republican President. Hillary has too much dirt on her, and there is no way she will get votes in Mid-America. McCain will have trouble get nominated. My bet for 2008 is still on Romney.
That line just made my day.
Well, at least Webb knows how to make “the best dosa ever made.” Now that’s brown-loving.
Tiggs, the name is S.R. Sidarth. Thank you.
Look at how Macacagate moved the polls. It broke ~Aug. 13. There’s little doubt about it.
Public would have been as much outraged if he called a different slur targetting some other community. For a rational white voter, they dont want to see a pigheaded leader and it they would have voted against him even if Sid is a korean.
Off-topic: Rumsfeld fired. Check CNN breaking news.
For me and I think many desis, the comment was racist and xenophobic. It was a burning reminder that no matter what you will never quite be accepted by a huge chunk of this country. However, most of the non-desis (mostly goras) I spoke to who were upset by the remark were upset because it was “unfair” or “mean spirited” not that they thought it was explicitly racist. Would they(white voters upset by the comment) have cared as much or more if it was a mean spirited non-racist comment directed at a white Webb staffer? Obviously the racism fit neatly in with a long history of behavior by Allen.
Thanks, Michael H. It does make the blood boil to have a racist as a sitting senator, let alone yours.
Tiggs, go back in the SM archives and read Subodh Chandra’s article on the meaning of macaca and the exact intent with which the term was used. It was directed at Sidarth – never would a white man have been addressed as such. Never would a white man have been singled out as not being born in this country. You obviously know nothing of this incident.
The message to Allen is simple: Civility begins at home, preferably with oneself.
Oddly enough, this race means more to me than the Jefferson-Carter runoff here in Louisiana on December 9th.
Amardeep,
As you suggested, there may be other important and immediate issues (for Virginians) at play here. CNN had a breakup of voting patterns in Virginia. Women voted overwhelmingly for Webb. 2/3rd of the population of veterans voted for Allen and 1/3rd voted for Webb. That is surprising, considering that Webb was a decorated veteran and a secy of the Navy, while Allen did not serve.
Regarding SM’s role in it – I’m glad they brought it up and linked to Allen’s past. However, I’m disappointed that the writers and commentators on SM have kept the slur alive. For some, calling themselves ‘macaca’ seems to be a cool thing to do, like inner city folks calling themselves ‘nigga’. [See Coach Carter for an insightful view on this topic.] Money quote:
Samuel L. Jackson: “Nigger” is a derogatory term used to insult our ancestors.See, if a white man used it, you’d be ready to fight. Your using it teaches him to use it. You’re saying it’s cool. Well, it’s not cool.
Tiggs, even if you don’t feel like “macaca” is an ethnic slur do you think it was particulary tolerant of Allen to welcome Sidarth to America even though he was born and raised here? Like KXB, I find that part the most angering because it implies that Allen uses color of skin to pick out who belongs and who doesn’t. I take pride in being a thoughtful and proactive citizen, and it seems that Sidarth did too (as he was involved in the Webb campaign to begin with), if someone implied that I need welcoming to America as if I weren’t already a part of the country, it would make my blood boil.
never would a white man have been addressed as such.
In agreement with what someone said up top. As a GOP member, I wasn’t even sure what a macaca was.. I didn’t really care. I was pissed at the “Welcome to America” comment. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO WELCOME ME TO AMERICA! It’s something I deal with on a regular basis here, and I’ve only been in this nation for ten years. The young Indian man (can’t remember his name) was born and raised in Virginia. It still makes me angry thinking about it.
I hesitate at drawing parallels between the n word and macaca. Yes, the N word has been historically used to insult African Americans. Macaca, however, does not have the same historical context for desis. If the Brits called our ancestors macaca for 400 years that would be one thing, but they didn’t.
But more importantly, Rumsfeld is resigning!!!
I have no doubt that the Macacagate is the tipping point. We probably wouldn’t be talking about it so much, if it were not for the fact that Allen had an almost insurmountable lead on the day he made the insulting remark; it’s only downhill from then on. The relief is that people noticed this and made it a point to punish him. He would have never publicly insulted a black american but somehow he thought he could get away with a minority that he didn’t see was relevant to the race and appeared to goad his base. The events that followed only helped to bring to light his earlier stances on race. As for people fighting over calling each other Macacas, I think it’s pretty much inside SM and don’t see it catching in and would die out sooner or later..
Ravi: I think it’s pretty much inside SM and don’t see it catching in and would die out sooner or later..
Ha! You wish!
Sidharth writes:
Did not understand the significance – what’s a threatening minority?
M. Nam
i agree– don’t fuck with indians.
congrats to SM and the Washington Post and every other outlet that made Allen’s overt racism and ignorance obvious to the public at large. let us hope at the end of the all-too-predictable recount, Webb comes out with the victory and then makes us all mysore masala dose.
i think we need someone to write a song entitled “it’s not easy being a macaca” to the tune of “it’s not easy being green”…i’d be happy to sing it at the top of my lungs.
The intersting thing about all of this, is that the best victory possible in politics is making politicians act like they care. No way that they will ever actually give a $hit.
I agree that the macaca incident was the tipping point. What I think is that Americans saw how smug he really was, that he thought he could utter crap like that on film and think he didn’t have to worry about the consequences. That word, plus his whole “Welcome to America” attitude just made the average American recoil. Allen’s the very epitome of the “Ugly American”.
It also doesn’t hurt Webb that he was the former Secretary of the Navy and a Marine and there’s a huge military population in VA, especially Navy personnel.
I’m happy to see him get paddled. Of course, thinking on this now, I see the possibility of a 2008 Allen-Santorum presidential ticket. Won’t that be a joy?
Tiggs, even if you don’t feel like “macaca” is an ethnic slur do you think it was particulary tolerant of Allen to welcome Sidarth to America even though he was born and raised here
I agree that it would be very insulting if he had known that Sidharth was born here. I doubt that if he did. I would put the incident to being politically ignorant for which he paid with his political life rather than any malice towards indians on his part. I am more bothered by blatant racism our fellow minority, the african americans showed the other day towards us Indian (link). I was at this meeting (The City of Muskegon Heights is completely Black), and all I heard amongst the particpants was terrorist reference, yawns, and complaints that Indians charge too much at their store. Disrespectful and disgraceful, considering a man is fighting for his life. The local media made no mention of the tone at the meeting. Now this is real intolerance on par with Idi Amin.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1162916118139640.xml&coll=8
Aside from the big M issue, this was an utterly fascinating race which will studied by consultants from years to come from the perspective of crisis management, momentum, changing suburbuan/urban/rural demographics. A decorated veteran/Navy seecretary with a son serving who probably didn’t capture the military vote. A former Reagan Republican talking about wealth disparity. A senator who gets tagged as a bigot retaliates by painting his opponent as a mysoginist. Not to mention unsuccessfully trying to paint his opponent as a ‘Streisand Democrat’ because he’s a novelist. This one deserves it’s own mini-series, perhaps on Doordarshan, where according to some brown Viginian Reps, Allen will a Bollywood God.
And, voila:
Excellent points about adopting the macaca slur KXB).
Also – thanks to SM and especially Ultrabrown for keeping the issue alive. I tend to the right with my politics but Allen is disgusting. How much more evidence did people need to believe that he’s a racist a$$hole? What’s with those Indian American Republicans who still supported him?
except that my parents weren’t born here and i would never welcome them to america derisively. neither was my boss, or several of my favorite college professors, or the guy who runs the best takeout by my office – all of them are citizens and informed ones at that and regardless of place of birth they need no welcome or insinuations that they somehow belong to this country less then anyone else. show me that sidharth gave some indication that he had literally just stepped off an airplane and needed to be greeted and i’ll think about absolving allen of guilt.
hail macaca!
An interesting what if question: Would people have preferred that Allen had not called Sidarth macaca and got reelected, tipping the senate to Republicans or do they think his using of this slur was a blessing in disguise resulting in a big power shift. From some of the comments on earlier posts – it seemed like people here would not mind the slur as long as it resulted in Allen’s downfall.
I for one am glad he is gone (almost). What offended me more than his initial insult was the fact that he did not apologize and gave stupid explanations which were beyond reason. It was as unbelievable as Clinton saying he did not inhale. Unfortunately for Allen and fortunately for us Allen is not as slick as Clinton.
I only hope the Dems win does not affect the India-US nuke deal.
The Macaca incident, if anything, illustrates just how out of touch Allen is with his South Asian Constituency. Sure the Macaca crack was a disgusting, Freudian slip that revealed if anything, a disturbing, unconscious racism. But more importantly, what it revealed to me was that he keeps no South Asian company; he’s ignorant of our culture; and heÂ’s clearly ignorant of the history of South Asian immigration to the U.S. (as per the “Welcome to America” comment).
You canÂ’t benefit a group people when you donÂ’t know that they existÂ…
Is it just an Allen problem though ? I donÂ’t think so. Think about HillaryÂ’s Gandhi crack 2 years ago. Or BidenÂ’s comment about not being able to go to any 7-11 in Delaware without hearing an Indian accent. These arenÂ’t as bad to me as the Allen crack but they all reveal just how out of touch some of our reps can be with the South Asian community. If I lived in Virginia my vote would hands down go to Webb. But just because Webb made some dosas doesnÂ’t mean heÂ’s any more connected than Allen.
It’s an impossible counterfactual to establish. It’s not like we were offered, ahead of time, the choice of Allen disparaging desis or not. The point is that he did it, and it set a chain effect in motion that contributed to his downfall.
Kermit agrees, except for the morning after this election 🙂 (NSFW)
I still think the malice was from the fact that Sidharth was from the opposing political camp rather than any real malice towards Indians. It was obviously a political blunder and suicide. A more suave politican like Clinton would have turned that situation into a positive by embracing Sidharth publicly etc etc. There are people who play the ‘political game well and then there are others who are terrible at it. Just to illustrate, a democratic commentator just mentioned that all the vitriolic hatred that Pelosi had directed against Bush was just campaigning, and things would be a lot smoother once they transition into governing….essentially saying that it is just a big game.
Apparently the issues he supported overrode the racist remark he made. Either that or they just voted down the party line. In either case apathetic ignorance is a bitch.
Now all of us desis can celebrate our Independence Day withouth aorrying about al-Qaeda
Yes, vets went for Allen.
What’s with the 93% of all Republicans who supported him?
True popcorn fare for political junkies.
Or Rev. Ted Haggard saying he tracked down a gay male prostitute and bought crystal meth, but only for a massage and he threw out the drugs 🙂
Tom Lantos becomes Int’l Relations Committee chairman, which helps the deal pass.
But Webb is more culturally fluent in general– he speaks Vietnamese and has a Vietnamese wife.
“I still think the malice was from the fact that Sidharth was from the opposing political camp rather than any real malice towards Indians.”
i don’t think it was malice against indians in particular, because i’m not sure allen could place siddharth as being of indian descent just by looking at him, but it was malice against someone who was darker-skinned and different, coupled with malice against someone who was in the opposing camp. the origins of the word macaca and its historical usage in a place to which allen’s mother has connections isn’t just a coincidence. i think allen thought he could get away with using a word most americans would be unfamiliar with, unlike other words used in more common discriminatory parlance in the us.
Siddharth you are right in that we cannot establish this fact. I think if there was similar situation and you had somebody like Karl Rove who could take advantage of this, then he would be happy that the slur occured because that would bring him closer to his bottom line. Think John Kerry. Even though he mangled an ill-conceived joke, Repubs were probably rejoicing that he made that gaffe. But they will never admit it.
So Allen didn’t win, will we see more Sekhons….nasty
So are 99% of the politicians in this country. This one just expressed what was on his mind.
Acceptance is not nearly as important as power. I’m not sure how this election result moves an Indian/South Asian (because they are separate but not mutually exclusive) constituency forward, absent some shift in the power paradigm.
A time will surely come when the gladhanding white politicians of this nation are mere puppets at the hands of a powerful South Asian cabal. But this is not that time. Save your applause.
I always thought that was a subtle joke, poking fun at ignorant people and stereotypes in general, but maybe I am giving her too much of the benefit of the doubt.
Tester officially wins Montana, and it appears recount-proof.
Now control of the Senatea rests with to Webb.
Still think Macacagate was insignificant? 🙂
I agree that Allen’s comments were utterly stupid and betrayed his ignorance and prejudices. However, I wonder the extent to which the South Asian community influenced the election.
To start, given a total of over 2.3 million votes, how much of an impact can the 77,000 Desis make? Not all of them are eligible to vote, either because they are non-citizens or too young. Assuming that they voted proportionately to the rest of the population, there were 23,000 Desi voters. Of these, how many were going to vote for Allen instead of Webb, but changed their mind as result of the Macaca incident? How many were not going to vote, but decided to vote for Webb as a result of the incident? How many were going to Vote for Allen, but decided not to vote instead? I think these numbers are relatively small, but perhaps enough to make the difference. I do not have any data from which to make assessment.
The more interesting question, in my opinion, is how much of a difference did it make that Allen insulted a Desi instead of some other minority, such as a Chinese, Colombian, or Filipino. Would there have been more or less outrage depending on the identity of the victim, or was it simply the fact he had insulted someone in such a manner? It seems to me that the Democrats exploited Allen’s remarks as much as possible in order to mobilise their own base, which is probably mostly white.
Needless to say, it has been a very interesting race to follow.
It seems to me that the Democrats exploited Allen’s remarks as much as possible in order to mobilise their own base, which is probably mostly white.
The first rule in politics is – kick a man when he is down, and kick hard.
I do think it is tough to tell what would have been the reaction if he mocked a Chinese or Filipino guy. But it was not just the initial comment, it was his bumbling at explaining himself, then his bumbling of his family backgroung. All this mistakes make a voter wonder, “Do I want this rube representing my state?”
I think I would prefer not to have political candidates pandering to me by pretending to be “in touch” with my community. I don’t vote for candidates based on how much love they show desis. Things like celebrating Divali at the white house and having desi friends–it might endear them to us, but it shouldn’t make us vote for them. John Mccain has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, but that would not induce me to vote for him (even though it would be one way to get a desi in the white house!) I don’t think being culturally in touch with the Indian community is necessarily going to make elected representatives make choices I agree with (as evidenced by the growing number of desi Republicans).