George Allen defeated
Senator George Allen is defeated in Virginia. Allen called, S.R. Sidharth, an Indian-American campaign volunteer for his opponent, a "macaca," after sardonically "welcoming" him to America in a small Virginia town. The slur loosed a torrent of protest in the second-generation community; it seemed to rankle little among the India-born.
Why so? Because we can lay claim to no other country. India will always be theirs, no matter what their passport says. For many of us, the only time we are actually identified as American is in India. When Allen welcomed us, he tapped into a deeply-felt anxiety.
Some have linked macaca to North Africa and Portugal. It apparently refers to a species of monkey, and is wielded in derision at black Africans.
For us, the slur wasn’t specific enough. When we heard it we knew it was bad, but couldn’t offer much more than that. It suggested generic marginalization, that we were one of any number of brown communities loitering on the periphery of white and black America, easily dismissed. Our indignation was ultimately a cry for the recognition of our singularity.
I doubt we achieved that, but I’m still glad he lost.
