In a Houston city council runoff election, a desi candidate’s campaign alleges he’s being called a ‘dot-headed terrorist.’ Again. Let’s stop this shit cold this time. Donate five bucks now.
We now know that ‘terrorist’ is the big new desi slur. You might think that the slur would be thrown around by hard-right Republicans angling for the redneck vote in the deep South.She… ‘joked’ to one of our supporters she was worried that if he lost, he might fly a plane into her building
Not so, says a friend working on Jay Aiyer’s campaign for Houston city council. In the Dec. 10 runoff election, his opponent Sue Lovell, a fellow Democrat and lesbian progressive, reportedly has a campaign official who’s called Jay a ‘dot-headed terrorist.’ As far as I can tell, Lovell says she’s reprimanded the official but has not disavowed the statements in public:
In May, I signed the Texas Code of Fair Campaign Practices, partially in response to disturbing racially bigoted comments coming from Ms. Lovell’s campaign… I called on the other candidates in the race to join me in signing the pledge. No one else signed. [statement from Jay Aiyer]She’s even occasionally called off her supporters attacks on Jay for being a “terrorist” though that practice still continues to this day. [Link]
Our opponent, Sue Lovell, has a senior campaign adviser who has been publicly calling Jay a “dot-headed terrorist” and attempting to whip up racist sentiment against him within the Democratic party establishment…… the “dot-headed terrorist” comment- a senior campaign adviser of Jay’s opponent made this comment to our campaign manager and one of our volunteers publicly at a Democratic Party event… But it’s not a one time deal- she also called him a terrorist at a statewide Democratic meeting and “joked” to one of our supporters she was worried that if he lost, he might fly a plane into her building. [email from Mini Timmaraju, a college friend who’s an Aiyer campaign consultant]
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Let’s think about this for a sec. 
- Jay Aiyer grew up in the U.S.
- By # of attacks, India is the #1 terrorist target in the world
Jo Redneck doesn’t give a shit about the gun-and-grenade attack on the Indian Parliament. But Jo Redneck is happy to call a fellow American a ‘terrorist’ because of the color of his skin.
Insulting? No, clueless and pathetic.
Aiyer won 26% of the vote vs. Lovell’s 32% before the runoff and is endorsed by the Houston Chronicle. He’s trying to raise $10K within the next nine days:
We are now down to the wire. The run-off is in less than 9 days and our opponent is getting desperate and this campaign has taken an ugly turn… We could literally win or lose this election with a handful of votes. Every vote, and every dollar, counts. Please do what you can to help Jay.
Remember that Don Sherrill beat Tom Abraham by calling him a terrorist. It only costs five bucks to vote against racism in Houston. Donate to Aiyer.
Update: I’ve emailed the Lovell campaign in case they wish to respond.
Update 2: A pro forma denial from the Lovell campaign’s PR agency, via email:
No one on my campaign staff made such a remark. I condemn all discriminatory statements in the strongest terms. If anyone on my campaign team ever made any kind of discriminatory remark, I would fire that person immediately. [Sue Lovell]
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p>Update 3: Mini responds:
… She’s just splitting hairs- this person is a “senior campaign advisor” and from we can tell, is doing this “pro bono” so she can’t be technically fired. She is however STILL representing the campaign at public functions and helping them out with fundraising, media, grassroots efforts, and using her influence to gather endorsements. [Mini Timmaraju, Aiyer campaign consultant]
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p>Update 4: Sue Davis, Lovell’s PR person, writes:
… even though I am volunteering for Sue, she would be well within her rights to “fire” me or anyone else who had made such a remark.
Journalists to contact: Kristen Mack, kristen.mack@chron.com, wrote several stories on the election; Matt Stiles, matt.stiles@chron.com, wrote this story.
Just donated $20. Thanks for highlighting this.
Dude, I understand you’re pissed at people using these slurs. So am I. But the logic behind your position claiming our tax payers funding the attackers of the Indian Parliament Attack is crap.
The attack happened in 2001 Dec, barely three months past Sep 11th, and barely a 2 months after Mushie started playing his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde show.
Shocking… politics is not for the faint hearted when such people are involved. Some years ago there was a story about Hillary Clinton using an ethnic slur (before the Gandhi comment).
I wrote ‘Pakistan’s military,’ not Musharraf. Pakistani military – U.S. and Pakistani military – jihadis are long-standing relationships.
Folks folks…
Bringing India, parliament attack, Pakistan etc will only dilute our case.
Aiyer is an American, who is being labelled a terrorist solely because he’s of Indian origin. End of Story. There are specific laws in this country against discrimination due to national origin. We need to highlight those.
Surprising that this is happening in the Democratic party – supposedly the more liberal one in these aspects.
M. Nam
And on top of everything else, the use of “dot-headed”, as if it weren’t bad enough on its own, brings to mind a term used during the anti-Indian violence in New Jersey back in the 1980s, when a group of white guys christened themselves The Dotbusters and swore they would do all they could to get Indians out.
During that time period, a young Indian executive was beaten to death out on street one night after dinner.
hmm…speaking of media bias, if you look at some of the photos on jay’s website, he looks much lighter in his headshots and family portraits than in his random shots. Methinks someone’s been using fair and handsome.
Musharraf came to power as a Pakistani Military dictator. The long standing ‘partnership’ between Pak. military and the US forces was renewed ONLY after 9-11, and in that time frame even those were still patchy at best.
Read Nathaniel Fick’s “One Bullet Away – Making of Marine Officer”, and you’ll see how warm the relationship has been. If by warm you mean cold as a frozen steak.
Wrong. Pakistan was cut loose post Soviet Afghan action. They paid for hundreds of millions of dollars worth F-16s that were sanctioned, and all other aid stopped. Things went even colder after the 98 atomic tests when everything was frozen. Until Mushy said “Ameriki, Paki bhai bhai”, he
I’m not going argue that Pakistan is the largest nexus for Jihadi groups operating in the open, US Soldiers and Marines across the border will be the first to point the direction of where they’d really like to get dirty.
But c’mon, instead of attacking the racist’s position, you draw a conclusion that isn’t true and takes away from the true point – the candidate’s racism. That is the issue, not US policymakers inabililty to get their desired results – genuine Pakistani cooperation, without military action.
Apologies for the Hijack, but that line of reasoning is very weak. Using such logic, you can pin everything on the American tax payer.
to “a white guy”: Jay’s a dark skinned South Indian brother and proud of it- any variance in apparent skin color is in the eye of the beholder. To everyone else: thanks for your interest and your support.
What the hell the “South Asian Democrats” are listed as supporting Sue Lovell.
http://www.suelovell.com/supporters.html
White guy – variance of skin color is due to different lighting conditions. Just like your face looks redder than a baboon’s butt in some pics.
Good question “what the hell”: we asked about that ourselves. The answer is illustrative of the consistent problems of truth and honesty in the Lovell campaign. A representative of the “South Asian Democrats” told us that they never endorsed Sue. But it’s still on her website…. surprise, surprise.
And how do we know South Asian Dems never endorsed her (besides the fact that they repudiated it in a letter)? We have campaign staff that are actual MEMBERS.
Surprising that this is happening in the Democratic party – supposedly the more liberal one in these aspects.
dems don’t have a problem being ‘racist’ if it is in their interest. remember the bobby jindal campaign? not only did the dems appeal to the ‘good ole boy’ segment by portraying the female dem candidate as a good louisiana mom vs. freaky boy genius ferner jindal, i remember the media making comments about jindal’s ‘dark skin’ in a way i can’t conceive of them doing to a democratic candidate. you might not like michelle malkin (i don’t like the asian ann coulter shtick myself), but look at the shit she gets in her inbox. that’s not the only time, i’ve seen people start jabbering about ‘sucky sucky long time malalalalalagang’ (her maiden name is maglalang) on liberal weblogs whenever someone links and criticizes michelle (in a non-racist fashion of course, it is the commenters who can’t help themselves, but if they are posting on atrios i’m assuming they are self-described liberals).
I think your post proves your pathetic thinking on matters related to politics. To assume that you think republicans would make a racist remark…just proves your no better than the Lovell campaign adivser!
…and your comment proves that you can neither write coherently nor differentiate between the possessive and a simple contraction. i assume that you think this is okay, though.
keep donating, mutineers.
The Dems do have the “honorable” Senator Byrd to advise them on matters of skin color…
You might think that the slur would be thrown around by hard-right Republicans angling for the redneck vote in the deep South.
I get where you’re coming from and I agree that this needs to be addressed, but not by flipping the table up and throwing the same slurred-shit back at them. We’re all better than that, which is why we’re pissed, you agree?
Jo Redneck doesn’t give a shit about the gun-and-grenade attack on the Indian Parliament. But Jo Redneck is happy to call a fellow American a ‘terrorist’ because of the color of his skin.
I don’t give a shit about attack on Indian Parliament either when it comes to discussing my rights as an American. Yes, it does put us all in the same boat when compared to 9/11, but, it also aligns us more with India than America, which doesn’t seem to help.
What would help is if we aimed guns at the Houston Chronicle and asked them a thousand questions just to get their reporters whirlpooling Lovell’s staff. If they bite, then a) Lovell et al would have to publicly deal with it and b) they would have that much less time to mount an adequate defense for the runoff. Of course, if the Chronicle’s already looked into it and it’s not a story, it makes the veracity of the claim suspect…
Regardless, write the Chronicle today and ask them to check into it. If everyone who’s posted here does the same, I’m sure they’ll start digging; mention it to the whiz-bangs at SAJA and get them buzzing also.
and
I wrote ‘hard-right Republicans angling for the redneck vote in the deep South.’ It’s not only hard-right Republicans, but it’s a trademark strategy of theirs.
You don’t have to appreciate the irony, but hypocrisy is always interesting. We frame it as American vs. American, but racists do not– so use the ammunition they hand you.
Great idea. Start with Kristen Mack, kristen.mack@chron.com, who wrote numerous stories on the election, and Matt Stiles, matt.stiles@chron.com, who wrote this story.
Manish- Can you send me the entirety of Sue Davis’ response? I agree- Sue Lovell is well within her rights to fire this person, and if the campaign is actually trying to DENY that any of this happened and they don’t know what we are talking about, they are making a serious mistake. The woman is listed on their website as a supporter. Sue Lovell and Sue Davis know exactly who she is. Why doesn’t she “get fired?”
Folks- when you e-mail the Chronicle reporters, feel free to tell them to contact me.
Wow, you want us to get idea of US foreign policy from a 25 year old marine officer. Great !!!
I hope you know that marines dont make policy, politicians do.
From General Yahya Khan to General Zia Ul-Haq to our present day General Pervez Musharraf are all close applies of various US administrations. They span from 1969 to present day. Note that they have the title GENERAL in front of them. If you really knew anything about Pakistan’s political history you would know that Pakistan has been run by its ARMY.
If you are serious about this read . Haqqani was a senior Pakistani diplomat in the RARE non-militart govt. of Nawaz Sharif. (Besides Haqqani has seen more “Diwalis” then that 25 yr old kid 🙂 )
Oops .. my last comment should read
“If you are serious about this read Hussain Haqqanis : Pakistan between Mosque and Military “
I just donated to this guy’s campaign without reading his platform. Is that bad? 🙂
Deepa- Thank you for donating to Jay’s campaign- since you didn’t get a chance to review his platform beforehand, let me tell you about it. Jay is running on a platform of: increased public safety, greater efficiency in city goverment,increasing flood control prevention, increasing affordable housing for all Houstonians, and creating new parks and libraries. To that end, he has been endorsed by the Houston Chronicle, former Mayors Brown and Lanier, and leaders from the Democratic and Republican party (even though Jay himself is a Democrat.) To find out more about Jay visit: http://www.jayforhouston.com
So, in the interest of rounding out this discussion here are a few more points I would like to make sure readers of this blog aware of:
•This is not an isolated incident. Our campaign has received numerous reports from numerous sources, since the SPRING, of racist comments coming from the Sue Lovell campaign.
•This is not the first time Sue Lovell’s campaign has engaged in such behavior. Members of Councilman Ronald Green’s (who is African American) campaign team have reminded us that Sue Lovell’s campaign repeatedly denigrated Mr. Green’s race during the 2003 campaign.
•Sue Lovell’s campaign has never really denied these comments. Their only excuse has been that this person is not a paid staffer. These comments are coming from a senior advisor to her campaign, and someone who is a state Democratic Party official.
•In the spirit of keeping this campaign about substantive issues, Jay let these comments go as “just insider dirty politics”. But when Sue Lovell had the audacity to accuse Jay of “gay-baiting”, he decided enough was enough.
A letter from the Indo-American PAC of Greater Houston is forthcoming.
Thank you for all of your interest and support!
Mini Timmaraju Jay Aiyer for Houston City Council At Large Position 2
If you guys think racism is confined to dumbass rednecks in the South who vote for Dubya know this – they are all mostly registered Democrats. A little bit of history on US politics – do some reading on the racist roots of the democrat party. Look up the terms Southern Democrats, racism and Dixiecrats. They are all still alive and well, except for they vote for Bush these days because the Democratic party has been taken over the liberal North Easterners – Kerry, Dean and gang.
That wasn’t my point. I’m quite familiar with the history. The circumstances under which the US and Pakistan were ‘re-united’ wasn’t enthusiastic. The 1990’s saw the US disengage from South Asia, and Pakistan. The 90s also happens to be the time of an increase in Kashmiri violence, and the rise of Al Qaida, Kargil war, and nuclear proliferation. Pakistan’s foreign policy became more desperate (no US backing)
The incident between the officer and some Pakistani military folks highlights that on the ground level, where this cooperation is happening, people aren’t buddy buddy. The age of 25 (now 29) has nothing to do with this, the dude has his head on straight and some good insights, which people should read about. He’s also seen this war from the front, far more than most of us here can say. But these are arguments for another day.
DONATE MONEY!!!!
Well aware of this. Correct, the hard-right Southern racists who used to be Dems are now by and large registered Republicans.
Tom Abraham, Republican Sugar Land Council Member originally from India, won by two votes against Mike Casey in 2004 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rigths Act of 1965 and the Equal Housing Act of 1975 were all passed because Republicans voted for them NOT Democrats. Republicans are the party that is abt civil rights for a color blind America and the party that currently in Texas has elected the first three African Americans ever to statewide posts in Texas including two Texas Supreme Court Justices and the Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. Finally, today there are twice as many minority judges in Harris, Fort Bend and statewide in Texas than there ever were after 150 of Democrat control in Texas.
Right now they’re defending the stripping of civil rights under the pretense of fighting terrorism.
Remember the Dems are the party which nominated a woman and a Jew for VP, not a rich white oilman.
I respect fiscal conservatives and small government types, neither of which seem to exist in Washington right now.
Republicans are the party if Civil rights? In Texas? In 2005? Are you nuts?
The whole Delay redistricting imbroglio was about eliminating every white democrat representing a white Texas district. Delay wanted to make Texas Dems in the eyes of white texans exactly what Mississippi Dems are the in eyes of white Mississippians — the coloured party. I think (or at least I hope) he’s failed, and that the noxious political comunalism of the core south hasn’t been completely imported into Texas.
As for LA and Jindal – the fact is that Jindal lost because the white voters in northern Louisiana failed to vote for him in the way they vote (in lockstep) for white Republican candidates. You can attribute it to racism, anti-Catholicism, ageism, or an honest policy disagreement.
And lastly, its worth mentioning that Houston already has a Desi councilmember — MJ Khan, ex Karachiwalla and former President of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. He represents District F, whis is probably the most Desi district in H-town, and certainly has the best Desi restaraunst in East Texas. I look forward to Manish endorsing him in the next election.
And if it matters, Khan has more melanin than Aiyer. And sports an unfashionable ‘uncle’ moustache.
Uh no, that would be the Dems that led the Civil Rights Movement and initiated and passed vistually all civil rights legislation.
JFK promised civil rights legislation, LBJ pushed for it, and then signed it and it was introduced to Congress by Democrats and passed generally by larger percentages of Democrats. While many Republicans did vote for the acts, their numbers increased after the Civil Rigts Movement let by MLK, jr. gained popularity in this country.
The Dixiecrats are now mostly Republicans (Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott, et al.) Your Robert Byrd blah blah doesn’t fly anymore as Byrd has extensively apologized for his past saying that his Klan status is an embarrasment that he will never be able to escape and a legacy he will take to his grave. Contrast with Lott who continues to deny he supports segregation TODAY while it is more than apparent by his comments of just a couple of years ago that he does. Or lets look to a more recent example as Bush/Cheney continue to subvert voting rights, push for torture and round up and imprison people without due process of law and worse.
Manish,
I passed this link onto a very-politically active progressive Houstonian blogger friend of mine and this is what he had to say:
I can’t find anything about the actual incident that is referred to. Who made the comment and what exactly was it? Was it reported anywhere? There just seem to be links to people saying something happened, but it’s hard to tell what’s really going on. Did some googling also, but came up with nothing.
I’ve heard generally good things about both Aiyer and Lovell from various progressive blogger types around town.
If the comment was made as its described it’s pretty horrifying, but the blog entry left me wondering what happened, and what Lovell did exactly afterwards.
Please advise. Other than that, I like driving around Houston and seeing Jay Aiyer campaign placards at major street intersections. Makes my little brown heart so happy.
Maitri-
See below a letter from the Indo-American PAC of Greater Houston.
Ms. Sue Lovell Mr. Gerry Birnberg,Chair Harris County Democratic Party Mr. Charles Schoecting, Chair Texas Democratic Party
It has come to our attention that a member of Sue Lovell’s campaign team, and a State Democratic Executive Committee Member, Ms. Sheryl Roppolo, has reportedly made racist and derogatory statements about Jay Aiyer, Lovell’s opponent in the Houston City Council At-Large Position 2 contest. Mr. Aiyer is Indian American and has been endorsed by our PAC.
The Aiyer campaign received reports from numerous sources of racist comments coming from the Sue Lovell campaign, made by Ms. Roppolo. Most serious of these comments are ones mocking Aiyer’s ethnicity and calling him a “red dot terrorist” and a “dot headed terrorist.”
Terrorism is a threat to our society that our community takes very seriously. Unfortunately after the tragic attacks on September 11th, many Americans of Indian and South Asian descent were victims of horrific hate-crimes due to the deliberate attempts of individuals using hate speech to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.
That Ms. Roppolo would make these statements in public, to supporters of Jay Aiyer and to members of his campaign is disturbing by itself. What makes this worse is that Ms. Roppolo is an elected member of the State Democratic Executive Committee and a representative of the Lovell campaign. Calling an Indian American a “terrorist” is dangerous and hateful. No one engaged with the Democratic Party or working for a candidate for public office should exhibit such irresponsible behavior.
We ask that the Sue Lovell Campaign, the Harris County Democratic Party, and the Texas Democratic Party investigate and repudiate the hate-speech of Ms. Roppolo and take appropriate disciplinary action, including public censure. We also demand that Ms. Roppolo issue a public apology to Mr. Aiyer and the Indian American community.
Jagat Kamdar President Indo-American PAC of Greater Houston
Lovell denies Roppolo works for her, but doesn’t deny that the statements were made, and Roppolo in turn denies the statements. BUT Kristen Mack from the Houston Chronicle will be doing a story on this to be published on Friday and interviewing our sources. Bottom line: These comments were made to our staff and supporters. We have ample evidence and support.
Check out: http://www.gregsopinion.com and http://www.offthekuff.com for more.
Supporters of Council Member Ronald Green, who ran against Lovell in 2003 have similar stories of her campaign race-baiting back then. They never made the mainstream press because Sue didn’t make it into the run-off. (interesting side note- Sue, a DNC member, publicly supported Green’s republican opponent at an HRC dinner. Green won anyway. That republican opponent has now endorsed Jay….)
Is Sue Davis the person accused of making those ridiculous, but not unbelievable comments?
If so is she trying to play the ‘I have Asian friends’ card by linking to an event being put on by The Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association?
How funny. If I am understanding the story correctly, I hope they are not a client of hers.
Veering away from topic, but please name these restaurants of which you speak, for the hungry of Houston.
I believe the comment immediately before yours answers that:
It has come to our attention that a member of Sue Lovell’s campaign team, and a State Democratic Executive Committee Member, Ms. Sheryl Roppolo, has reportedly made racist and derogatory statements about Jay Aiyer…
Jay Aiyer is about as American as they come: Brown on the outside, white on the inside. He doesn’t really represent the Indian community in anyway that I have seen. Does he even know the culture or the language? The racist comment, though harsh, is really politics as usual on both sides. What’s more important is honesty and integrity which neither politician is doing a good job of showing. What about all the rumours surrounding Jay’s extramarital affairs and visits to strip clubs? If he was really beyond reapproach, then then there would be no such stories floating around. All I can say is that mud slinging on both sides makes for a very dirty race. It’s too bad this is not on the national level, it would have made interesting water-cooler conversation.
Mud slinging on all sides, apparently.
“comment added”: If you are so concerend about mud slinging, why would post this kind of garbage. I’ve know Jay and his family for a long time and I can personally say that not only is he a great guy and great dad but sincerely committed to the improvement of the Indian American community. Comments like yours make me sick.
The racist comment, though harsh, is really politics as usual on both sides.
Calling someone a terrorist is politics as usual, eh? I just donated to the campaign, thanks to your impetus, and I have never voted Republican in my life.
Mark IV…uuuh. Aiyer is not a republican? Get your facts right before you go blowing your money.
“comment added”: I think you are missing the point. Folks are bothered because you are downplaying the impact of calling a South Asian American a “terrorist,” not to mention slinging mud yourself- and you don’t even have the courage to post your name.
Thanks for the contribution “Mark IV”- and you’ll be gald to know, Jay is a Democrat and an all around good guy.
“Zoraster”: Sue Davis mentions her APIA friends to distract folks from the fact that she is an apologist for the Lovell campaign. Again, Sue Davis is not a bad person, and is vigorously advocating for her client, but we don’t really care how many APIA groups, like APAHA, she volunteers for. The question remains: when will Sue Lovell stop her pattern of dirty politicking?
“hungry aiyer supporter”: there are some great desi restaurants up and down Hillcroft Ave. and our campaign office is right there at Hillcroft and 59. We like to hang out at the London Sizzler Tandoori Bar and Grill where you can get a great draft of Boddingtons AND spicy Chiken Tikka Masala.
Ikram: thanks for mentioning MJ. He’s a great guy, a great advocate for the community, and his campaign office is next door to Jay’s. Interestingly enough, he had 2 opponents of Pakistani descent, but defeated them both soundly.
Houston is an awesome but crazy place. Politics here is similar to Chicago. Lots of diversity. Lots of dirt. Not for the faint-hearted. MJ is a Republican but he won based on support from a broad coalition of Rs and Ds- including Chinese American Council Member Gordon Quan, (who Jay is running to succeed and who has endorsed Jay).
Jay Aiyer should consider himself lucky that his opponent is white. MJ Khan’s Pakistani opponent (John Shike) called Khan a terrorist too but was more open and more vicious about it.
Khan’s white opponent was more old fashioned — he avoided the obvious terrorist slur in favour of traditional southern race-baiting. He released a pamphlet showing Khan with some black supporters and the words “birds of a feather…”.
Texas politics is vicious. Texas municipal politics is vicious and petty. But Texas desi politics (from what I’ve heard on Houston’s desi talk radio) is vicious, petty, and stupid. If Aiyer comes from that milieu, I’m sure he’s equipped to take the hits.
Well, since he’s a Democrat I consider it money well spent 🙂 Thanks again.
Khan’s white opponent was more old fashioned — he avoided the obvious terrorist slur in favour of traditional southern race-baiting. He released a pamphlet showing Khan with some black supporters and the words “birds of a feather…”.
Ridiculous!
While I appreciate the difference in context, is saying “dot-headed terrorist” really that far away from saying “Jo Redneck”? Whatever, it’s not like those hicks have computers, right?
‘Terrorist’ implies mass murderer, ‘redneck’ implies racially prejudiced. Big difference.
The terrorist comment targets a named individual, the redneck reference does not
‘Terrorist’ gets you tortured and thrown into a secret prison without charges indefinitely, ‘redneck’ gets you a remedial subscription to the New Yorker 😉