As you know, Indian-American city council candidate Tom Abraham was smeared as a potential terrorist for being desi.

It’s ba-a-ack. We now know what the default political smear is going to be for Americans with brown skin for the next quarter-century. Hint: it’s identical to racist insults spewed by yahoos in 4×4’s:

Fliers that denounced [Prospect Park, NJ] Councilman Mohamed Khairullah as unpatriotic and a criminal were anonymously sent to borough residents last week… The message, delivered in a white envelope with no return address, was written in English and Spanish. It characterized Khairullah, a Muslim, as “a betrayer living among us” who would “try to poison our thoughts about our great country” and had ties to people responsible for the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. [Link]An anonymous attack flier claimed a Muslim candidate was ‘a betrayer living among us’ with 9/11 ties

The mailing said Mohamed Khairullah “should not be living in our clean town…” [Link]

Khairullah [is] a Syrian native and former Saudi Arabian resident… Arab-Americans and Muslims make up about 15 percent of this half-square-mile borough’s population of nearly 5,800; Hispanics account for about 40 percent, with Caucasians and African-Americans representing most of the remainder…

He said the flier… misrepresented… comments he made at a pro-Palestinian rally in Paterson last year in which he said American Muslims need to do their part to affect change in the Middle East, either through political activism or economic boycotts… [Link]

This is exactly the same smear an American shell company tried to use to prevent Jet Airways from flying to America. And it sometimes works. A desi candidate in another NJ town was smeared last year for being foreign-born, a classic political tactic. You get the sense that outside California, where that was never explicitly made a political issue with (cough, cough) Governor (I can never keep a straight face) Terminator, politics are pitched to the reptilian sub-brain and argued with the subtlety of a junior high playground fight:

The mailing is similar to one that went out the night before the 2004 election to voters in Bedminster, accusing township committee candidate Zaheer Jan and his running mate of being funded by “foreign nationals, not local residents.” Jan, who was born in India and grew up in Pakistan, said it was a scare tactic designed to make people fear he might have terrorist ties; he lost the election by 14 votes out of nearly 3,600 cast. [Link]

I haven’t felt this empty inside since the last months of 2000, when many of us saw the dark clouds gathering on the horizon and knew that our country was headed in a direction that we feared. It’s over folks. The results of the Florida recount are in. Don Sherrill is the declared winner. The Orlando Sentinel reports:

Orange City’s heated City Council election ended on Thursday with a handshake and a smile after a recount failed to change the outcome.

The Seat 4 contest between incumbent Don Sherrill and Tom Abraham has been shadowed by disparaging comments Sherrill made about Abraham’s Indian ethnicity.

After the general election Tuesday, Sherrill led Abraham by 19 votes. Orange City’s canvassing board granted Abraham’s recount request despite the fact that the election was not close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

On Thursday, the four-person canvassing board recounted the 746 votes cast in that race. Abraham did pick up one vote, from a wrinkled ballot that was apparently not counted on Tuesday. That reduced Sherrill’s margin of victory to 18.

“I conceded the election and he wished me good luck,” Abraham said after the results were read out loud and he shook hands with Sherrill.

What a class act Abraham has been throughout all of this:

During the one-hour recount, Abraham and Sherrill sat next to each other at a table watching the process.

The men spent much of the time talking, laughing and cracking jokes and appeared to be getting along despite Sherrill’s earlier inflammatory remarks.

Abraham said he had still not received an apology from Sherrill, but that even if he did get one, it would be too late.

It’s hard for most people to admit when they are wrong, and even harder for old people set in their ways. The Orlando Sentinel hasn’t felt moved to act by many of us that wrote in about their euphemistic reporting style, but the Daytona Beach News-Journal does carry an editorial that blasts the race and its outcome:

…And yet: Does Sherrill’s display of racism and ignorance disqualify him from office? Does it make the case for a recount? In both cases, the answer is — unfortunately, but legally and fairly — no. Voters in Orange City have had their say. A recount is legitimate in and of itself, but should have nothing to do with the tenor of the race just ended. And what this vote says is clear enough. The voters of Orange City are comfortable enough with a person of Sherrill’s racist sensibilities on their city council. Shame on them.

But shame, too, is no disqualifier of public will. Elections are free. They’re no guarantee of decent representation. In that sense, Sherrill’s victory is hardly unique.

How true.

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