"I Am Macaca"

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001381.html

I Am Macaca

By S.R. Sidarth
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page B02

This past summer, between my third and fourth year of college, I decided to volunteer for the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb in my home state of Virginia. For most of the summer, I worked behind the scenes at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, helping set up field offices statewide and performing other odd jobs. In the second week of August, I was dispatched by the campaign to serve as Republican Sen. George Allen's tracker on a "listening tour" across the state. Tracking was a rather solitary pursuit; I videotaped Allen's public appearances whenever I was admitted into an event and killed time between stops in places I had never been to before.

Then, on Aug. 11, my experience took a strange -- and now famous -- turn. On that day in Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Kentucky border, Allen acknowledged my presence for the first time in one of his stump speeches. I was singled out at a GOP picnic, identified as "macaca or whatever his name is" -- despite the fact that Allen knew my name, as we had been traveling the same route for five days -- and then "welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen's actions that day stood out because they were not representative of how I was treated while traveling around the state. Everywhere I went, though I was identifiably working on behalf of Allen's opponent, people treated me with dignity, respect and kindness. I cannot recall one event where food was served and I was not invited to join in the meal. In southwest Virginia, hospitality toward me was at a high point.

...

The politics of division just don't work anymore. Nothing made me happier on election night than finding out the results from Dickenson County, where Allen and I had our encounter. Webb won there, in what I can only hope was a vote to deal the race card out of American politics once and for all.


S.R. Sidarth is a senior at the University of Virginia.

[ruggerson]

1. Right on, S.R.

thank you for giving us the Senate.

I hope that fucker Felix Allen remembers that day for the rest of his life, reliving it over and over in his head.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Oh he can, through the magic of Youtube. As can the rest of us.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI

[pepperbear]

2. like it or not, folks, this young man (combined with a couple of other things)

singlehandedly DID IT to the republicans this time....not the issues. Oh, The things you can do with a camera.

DAMN IT DEMS! PLEASE DELIVER!

:bounce:

[pacalo]

4. Very interesting article.

[LoZoccolo]

5. I hope that S. R. Sidarth influences people on DU to become more involved.

The things you do to help the Democrats could be the things leading to victory.

[nam78_two]

22. I would be surprised if people on DU are not already heavily involved

Met 2 DUers -quite by chance-in the run up to the election myself while volunteering....
I often hear how DUers don't actually do anything -don't know where that comes from, unless there are people actively saying they don't volunteer etc.

Of course its a website with almost a 100,000 people so maybe there are many that don't...I couldn't say.

[LoZoccolo]

23. People post threads about "what are you doing" and they don't fare well.

There are also a lot of subtle cues that a large number of people don't grok the concept of activism. For example, complaining about the candidates offered when there is a primary system to allow them to select the candidates.

In activism, you learn that if anyone is going to change something, it has to be yourself, and you have to think of how you fit into getting what you want; it's hard to find that a lot of times. Perhaps the perception gets skewed by the least active people posting the most, though.

[omega minimo]

6. That makes you

Mayberry Macacavelli :evilgrin:

[TheBaldyMan]

7. great story MM k&r'ed

[fujiyama]

8. What I like

is that he made it clear that the treatment he received from Allen was the exception rather than the rule.

I too am a "Macaca" and my family and I went to VA years ago. We were treated with great hospitality and kindness.

Allen is just a racist ass hole and was pandering to a dying breed of people that simply can't get over the changing demographics of America.

Fuck him.

[AspenRose]

9. What you said.

I spent this past summer in NOVA and was in the thick of all this crap.

I am so proud of Sidarth. And I LOVED being in the midst of so much diversity.

[gordianot]

10. Great story!

Karma in the same lifetime. This makes one wonder where how why Allen acquired his belief in racial myths.

[Frances]

41. Actually Allen's story is rather sad

As I understand it, during World War II Allen's mother's father was put in a camp for no other reason than that he was Jewish. Evidently, that made Allen's mother ashamed to be Jewish. Then she married a man whose family was anti-Jewish and she never told them about her Jewish heritage. She didn't even tell George Allen until fairly recently. That background doesn't excuse what George Allen did and I am very glad that Webb won.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Good for S.R. Sidarth!

He sounds like a very good and intelligent person. Maybe he'll be a senator from Virginia one day!

I was so glad that Allen lost; partly it gives you a proper Senate majority; partly because he's so horrible; and partly because it's nice for once to have a story that has the proper moral ending that usually only happens in fiction!

[Jensen]

12. Hurray to that!

:thumbsup:

[mcg]

15. He's a straight A student.

Fairfax Native Says Allen's Words Stung

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401639.html

S.R. Sidarth had built an impressive record of achievements for such a young man: straight-A student at one of Fairfax County's finest high schools, a tournament chess player, a quiz team captain, a sportswriter at his college newspaper, a Capitol Hill intern and an active member of the Hindu temple his parents helped establish in Maryland.

But for all his achievements, the moment that thrust him into the national spotlight this month came when Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) called him "macaca."

[carolinayellowdog]

13. Real vs. imaginary Virginia

Hey,

Thanks to the real Virginian in the Macaca story for telling us what the real Virginia is. Democratic enclaves are all over the state, not just in NOVA and Hampton Roads. Dickenson's neighbors Buchanan and Russell counties also went for Webb and are reliably Democratic. Allen carries an imaginary Virginia around in his head that was created in California when his adolescent Confederate obsession was born. Siddharth's real Virginia just collided with Allen's imaginary Virginia and demolished it.

CYD

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. If you look at the results by county, Webb also won in the military communities of

Norfolk, Portsmouth and only lost Va Beach by 52-47, breaking the stereotype of the Republican military vote.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/VA/S/01/county.000.html

[No Exit]

26. Geez! If the military people haven't figured out by now that repukes HATE them...

they should look at what happens to EVERY person with a military record who runs against a republican! The republicans who run those campaigns show the greatest contempt for those who serve in the military--from the veterans who run for office, right down to the most miserable private who has just lost a limb in Iraq!

Republicans: The Anti-Military Party.

[LostinVA]

14. There's a mistake in this article

Sidarth is a Fourth Year, not a Senior... trust me, it matters to the kids who go to UVA!

Great article, and such sweet poetic justice!

[Nikki Stone1]

16. The most famous college senior in American politics--has he been recruited to run yet?

I'll bet he'd do well.

[Kolesar]

18. He did have a pivotal role. And he does sound like he's crowing.

I would like like to join him and crow along. Aaaa-Oooooo! Wooo Wooo Woooo Woooo Wooo!

[young_at_heart]

19. Allen showed that it isn't just "race"----he has a major mean streak

For the Republican party to have thought this mean-spirited man was presidential material is just unbelievable. Why doesn't it bother people that he had a noose displayed in his office?

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

21. Racism and a mean streak are job requirements for repub candidates

For pretty much anything.

[arikara]

27. That's their mo... that's the type they like

the one who's installed now is a perfect example of mean spirit plus a proven track record of incompetence.

[BleedingHeartRN]

20. Great article!

Thanks for sharing and thanks to VA voters for getting that racist idiot Allen out of the Senate.

:kick:

[roguevalley]

24. I saw a tremendous picture of an Indian man holding up a sign

that supported Webb and was signed: "Macacas for Webb". I thought I would die laughing. I love America and her people.

[ulysses]

25. excellent.

Thanks for posting!

[Ilsa]

28. Some would argue that this is how the GOP "lost" races that the Dems

didn't really "win." To them I would say, "No, the Dems won by being inclusive of people and our differences, not by making fun of people."

Good luck to S.R. Sidarth when he graduates. He's an American patriot as far as I am concerned.

[mconvente]

29. The real Virginia, Mr. Allen...

is the one where your racist bullshit is thrown the fuck out of the Senate. Amen to Senator-Elect Webb.

[Straight Shooter]

30. "In southwest Virginia, hospitality toward me was at a high point."

That's my home state, and my home locale, Scott County, Virginia. :thumbsup:

[eviltwin2525]

31. Ich bin Macaca

It's almost too bad we won't be able to hound Felix all around the country in 08, all carrying "Call me Macaca" signs. Sigh.

[footinmouth]

32. Thank you S.R. Sidarth

You took one for the team.

[williesgirl]

33. Sir, you make me proud to be a Virginian. Being in N. VA with all our diversity, sometimes

we think everyone in central/southern VA is racist. That's not right and I for one, have learned my lesson from your story of the hospitality you received everywhere in my state.

Good luck finishing up at UVA. What a super school for a superb young man.

[rateyes]

34. My first full-time job after I was married was in

Russell County, VA in a little town called Honaker, which is about 25 miles south of Breaks Interstate Park, located on the VA/KY border. To be honest, I am not that surprised that Dickenson County went for Webb. Here's why...the Congressman from that part of the state is Rick Boucher...he has been in Congress a long time, and is a long-time Democrat. Southwest Virginia is also Coal Mining Country...where the UNIONS of this nation were born. After one particularly nasty strike, the head of the Coal miners union ran a write-in campaign against a state legislator who was Republican...HE WON HANDS DOWN, beating the Republican with WRITE-IN votes.

Also, Webb is MILITARY, which carries a LOT of weight in an area that gave more than its fair share of people in WWII.

IMO, those things outweigh the race card in SW Virginia. Demographically speaking there are VERY FEW non-white folk west of Roanoke. Minorities who do live in the area are mainly in the cities, which are relatively small. I knew a black gentleman who told me that when he died he wanted to be buried in Buchanan Co., VA because it's the last place the devil would come looking for a black man.

And, racist attitudes are VERY STRONG in that part of the state. I recall making a mistake and going to the post office to check the mail on MLK, Jr. holiday. Another man followed me in, and like myself found the lobby locked. He then remarked, "Dammit, I forgot it is N***ger's day." Then wanting to make sure I heard it, said it again. I nearly said back to him, "Then why aren't you celebrating?"

So, I hope that Siddarth is correct in saying that Webb's victory spells the end of "the race card in politics." But, right now, I doubt it.

On edit: I wonder how well Siddarth would have been received had he been African-American rather than Indian-American. Sorry if I sound a little cynical, but I've seen a lot of racist crap everywhere I have lived.

And, don't forget that the race card played very well for Corker against Ford in Tennessee.

[minnesota_liberal]

35. Thanks for volunteering on the Webb campaign, Mr. Sidarth

Allen's statements showed his ugly side and turned that race around. Thanks for being there, for documenting the event and for not responding in an inappropriate manner.

[illinoisprogressive]

36. I just emailed him

He had his email listed so I wrote to express how much this country seems to be regressing rather than progressing. Anyone out there who remembers 15 or 20 years ago, it seems we were finally starting to move past all the ugliness. Yes, it still existed for people like Allen but, many, including the south, seemed to be moving on. growing up. Then, about 10 years ago, the angry white male syndrome arose. the NASCAR, beer guts who think Limbaugh is king started to moved into the spotlight, arose ugliness and made it seem okay to be prejudice to anyone different from them. It's so sad. And very troubling.
Will we ever get to the point where we finally become adults who don't hate based on race?

[Virginian]

39. If everyone had an ancester from every continent,

there would still be bigotry.
Maybe some see it in the form of racism, others in the form of sexism or ageism or homophobia. The one group to whom it is OK to express bigotry are the overweight.


Virginia has elected a black governor, but it has never elected a woman governor.

[LibDemAlways]

47. I'll bet he got a lot of e-mails. I sent him one too

letting him know I went to high school with George Allen and he was a bigot and a bully back then who spraypainted racist graffiti on his own school. S.R. Sidarth did nothing to provoke George Allen's nasty slur (that's just who Allen is), but because of it, Sidarth played an important and pivotal role in the election. I thanked him for his hard work on behalf of Jim Webb and told him the future will be in good hands with intelligent, motivated young people like him working for positive change.

[BlooInBloo]

37. deal it out once and for all? LOL! child.

White folks have fought harder to continue being racist than anybody has fought for anything in the history of humanity. Lotsa luck luck that.

[krispos42]

38. Anybody know what 'S.R.' stands for?

I've been wondering that since this whole thing broke. Thought it was funny nobody ever mentioned his first name.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

40. I just emailed him to thank him for his great letter, his volunteering and invited

him to join DU if he isn't already a DUer.

[uvaliberal]

42. S.R. stands for Shekar Ramanuja

[wicket]

43. K & R

:kick:

[I_Make_Mistakes]

44. I am glad that S. R. came out with this, but I am sorry that he had

to endure the brunt of a racism that is denied STILL in the country. Who knows, maybe, one day he will be the Senatorial candidate in VA., shaped by this moment in time.

[cabral]

45. Thank You Sidarth

You have us the Senate by exposing this Racist Fucker...

[Burma Jones]

46. Hear me Roar

Thanks and I wish you only the best....You are certainly giving yourself a great education.