macaca-gate update

The latest in Macaca-gate... So Senator Allen offered his apology to Indian American leaders: Allen's remarks called hurtful. Says Allen, "What bothers me the most of all of this, it's so contrary to who I am. It tears my guts up." Really? Is it really so contrary? How about the Senator's long association with the Confederate flag? Is that so contrary? I don't know, I'm having my doubts about the guts thing.

Meanwhile, MoveOn.org has created an online petition asking the Republican National Committee to withdraw support of Senator Allen: The RNC should withdraw support for Sen. Allen

Also, S.R. Sidarth's grandparents recently wrote a letter to the Washington Post: What Did Mr. Allen Mean?

We would like to thank you for taking the right stand on the gaffe of Sen. George Allen ["George Allen's America," editorial, Aug. 15].

It is quite shocking for a person of Mr. Allen's caliber, who is running for a second Senate term and is a likely candidate for president in 2008, to point a finger at a young lad of 20, bullying our grandson, S.R. Sidarth, and calling him a derogatory and uncalled-for name. Sidarth was only videotaping the event.

In the 1930s Sidarth's great-grandfather accompanied Mohandas Gandhi to London as his secretary at the Round Table Conference on political reform in India. We come from a heritage of nationalists and seekers after truth. Hence these remarks hurt all the more, and we are personally affected by such an attack.

BOB NARASIMHAN

MANI NARASIMHAN

Bethesda

And check out this nice photo of mad Allen protestors: Allen’s gaffe shows politics to be Internet feeding ground. The dude on the right's name is Gogol Ganguli. Isn't that the name of the guy from Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake?

george allen denies racist remark

George Allen claims he wasn't singling out S. R. Sidarth, who is Indian American, when he referred to him as "Macaca": Senator Says He Meant No Insult by Remark.

Thank you, Senator, but I ain't buying it. When you say stuff like, "Welcome to America," you're stamping a big fat FOREIGNER label on the only non-white face in the audience. Sidarth, by the way, was born and raised in Virginia. More here: Senator denies remark was racist.

It really does speak to a common, ignorant, and narrow view of who and who is not an American. I have an extremely hard time believing Allen's insistence that his remarks were not racially motivated.

UPDATE: Senator Allen met today with members of the US Indian Political Action Committee over this whole incident: Allen meets with Indian PAC over remarks. Meanwhile, Sepia Mutiny has all sorts of good info: When in doubt, blame your staff. And of course, someone has created a line of macaca-centric clothing: The Macaca Shop

the meaning of macaca

What the hell does "macaca" mean? George Allen, Republican Senator from Virginia, used the nonsensical term in reference to one of his opponent's volunteers, who is of Indian descent.

S.R. Sidarth, a staffer for Democrat James Webb's Senate campaign, was singled out during a speech last week by Allen, who called him a word that sounded like "macaca": Sen. Allen's Remarks Spark Ire

"This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. We're going to places all over Virginia, and he's having it on film and its great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he's never been there and probably will never come."

After telling the crowd that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen again referenced Sidarth, who was born and raised in Fairfax County.

"Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia," said Allen, who then began talking about the "war on terror."

Allen's campaign tried to offer a plausible, excusable explanation of his remarks:

[Allen campaign manager Dick] Wadhams said Allen campaign staffers had begun calling Sidarth "mohawk" because of a haircut Wadhams said the Webb staffer has. "Macaca was just a variation of that," Wadhams said.

Nice try. Funny. But that's a big, brown, stretchy load of crap. I find it funny that they bothered even trying to come up with an explanation at all. The article needlessly goes on to speculate what the hell "macaca" really could mean, if anything at all:

Depending on how you spell it, the name Allen gave Sidarth means different things.

If spelled M-a-c-a-c-a, the term refers to a species of monkeys in the Eastern Hemisphere. "Is he saying Sidarth is a monkey?" Todd asked.

The word M-a-k-a-k-a refers to a town in South Africa.

It's obvious Allen was just mocking and picking up on Sidarth's Indian-ness, singling out the only non-white face in the crowd. "Welcome to America," my ass. Sidarth was born and raised in the United States. Hell of a coincidence he should make reference to the "War on Terror" just moments after.

We're talking about George Allen, a man who wore a Confederate flag pin for his high school senior class photo, and reportedly flew the damn flag on his car... while living in Southern California. This man is the devil. God forbid he should make a run for President. There's a clip of his speech over at YouTube. That's racist!

UPDATE: According to some comments on Daily Kos, "macaca" is apparently a derogatory term used in Tunisia in reference to blacks and dark-skinned people. It so happens that Allen's mother is from French Tunisia. Coincidence? It's a little too shady to discount.

A little more digging reveals some really ugly uses of variations of "macaque," culled from white supremacist sites: 'Macaca' or 'Macaque'. Like I said, it's pretty ugly. But it's evident that the term is a commonly used racial slur on par with the "n-word" in the United States.

Allen has since offered his weak little apology, claiming the word had no derogatory meaning for him: Senator says he's sorry for "macaca" comment

If you feel like saying a few words of your own to Sen. Allen and his people, here is some information that you might find useful:

Post Office Box 6859
Arlington, VA 22206
Phone: 703-845-3689
Fax: 703-845-7519

There's also an email form on the Senator's website. Do what you feel is necessary. Personally, I'd like to see a large group of folks show up at Allen's next gathering wearing yellow shirts that say "macaca, or whatever your name is."

Archived Posts - July 2006

more on biden's 7-11 remarks

Here's an article on Senator Joseph Biden's off-color remarks about Indian Americans in Delaware: Biden comments against Indian Americans.

According to the article, this isn't the first time a Senate Democrat has insulted Indian Americans. The Hotline, which posted the CSPAN video that caught Biden's comments, got this response from Biden's camp:

"The point Senator Biden was making is that there has been a vibrant Indian American community in Delaware for decades. It has primarily been made up of engineers, scientists and physicians, but more recently, middle class families are moving into Delaware and purchasing family-run small businesses. These families have greatly contributed to the vibrancy of the Indian American community in Delaware and are making a significant contribution to the national economy as well. Senator Biden has tremendous admiration for the Indian American community. They have enjoyed a long-standing relationship of mutual support and respect."

Pretty poor choice of words to make your point, Joe. It doesn't look like he's going to apologize: Biden Defends Remarks

senator joe biden's 7-11 joke

Another politician shoves his foot up his mouth! Way up. Read this over at Sepia Mutiny... C-SPAN cameras caught Delaware Senator Joe Biden happily telling an Indian-American activist that Indian-Americans are the fastest-growing immigrant group in Delaware. How fast? Said Biden, "You cannot go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent..." Oh no he didn't! View the footage here.

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Gina on America's Next Top Model, Cycle Six

Did you watch the season premiere of 'America's Next Top Model'? It's a doozy.



So, in the same night we saw Chloe win Project Runway, they also aired this season's premiere of America's Next Top Model. I got a ton of email from people writing in to tell me about the Asian American contestant, Gina, and all the foolish things she said. Who knew so many people watched this show? It was such an overwhelming response, I had to track down the show and see it for myself. So I did, and it's a doozy.

asians on tim horton's commercial

There's an interesting commercial that's been running regularly on Canadian television for Tim Hortons, a Canadian chain of coffee and donut shops.

The ad features a relationship between a Chinese father and son (part of their "True Stories" series of commercials), and has apparently been airing on pretty heavy rotation, and getting a lot of attention. View it here [updated link].

Kind of touching. Now go hug your dad. This article, however, is a bit more cynical about the ad: Forget Hockey Dad. Meet Anti-Hockey Grandpa.

asian filmmakers fight back!

Here's an article about how Asian film industries are making efforts to challenge Hollywood's status as the worldwide entertainment industry juggernaut:

Asian Filmmakers Fight Back Vs. Hollywood

Faced with the threat of big-budget Hollywood productions, ethnic
Chinese filmmakers are fighting back by closing ranks and pooling
talent, money and ideas with their Asian counterparts.

The strategy: casting big-name Japanese and Korean stars with
regional appeal alongside Chinese actors to target more markets
across the region and forming creative alliances that can create
better movies and appeal to a broader range of investors.

As a result, budgets and quality are going up and, in turn, raising
the prospect of opening up foreign markets and of even challenging
Hollywood in the world entertainment industry.

The rise of Korean film and pop culture is a big part of the
equation.

Backed by a strong and supportive domestic market, South Korea has
been able to generate big productions and a host of stars with
regional appeal. Lee Young-ae, the star of the hit Korean TV
series "Dae Jang Geum," or "Jewel in the Palace," is mobbed by
adoring fans whenever she shows up in Hong Kong.

So casting Korean actors in a movie has a double market effect, in
both the Chinese-speaking and Korean-speaking worlds.

That's why filmmakers cast another "Jewel in the Palace" star, Ji
Jin-Hee, in the Chinese-language musical movie "Perhaps Love," said
William Pfeiffer, chief executive of Celestial Pictures, which
invested in the film.

"We didn't put Ji Jin-hee in just because we thought we needed a
Korean to appeal to the Korean market. We put Ji Jin-hee in because
we knew he was a good actor who could also appeal to the people in
Hong Kong and the rest of the region because they like Ji Jin-hee,"
he said.

There's a financial incentive for the diverse casts as well. The big
budget required to match Hollywood competition means films need to
garner a regional audience to recoup their costs.

"For Chinese movies, Japan, Korea and southeast Asia are our main
markets. There are few Chinese stars who have name recognition
throughout the main markets of mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Japan and Korea. There are not enough to back up a movie," Hong Kong
director Stanley Tong said.

In Tong's recent film "The Myth," he cast Jackie Chan alongside
Indian sex symbol Mallika Sherawat and South Korean Kim Hee-sun.

Asian movie budgets are going up but still pale in comparison to
Hollywood budgets. Pfeiffer estimates the average Asian budget is
about US$2 million (euro1.7 million). "Perhaps Love" cost US$10
million (euro8.4 million) and Chinese director Chen Kaiges mythology
epic "The Promise" US$35 million (euro29.2 million). In Hollywood
the average is in the high tens of millions.

Another driver of regional cooperation is the potential of the
mainland Chinese market. China has a population of 1.3 billion, but
its movie market is underdeveloped, focused mainly in big cities.
The total Chinese box office in 2005 was just 2 billion yuan (US$249
million; euro208 million) in 2005, according to official figures,
whereas a big U.S. box office hit can rake in hundreds of millions
of U.S. dollars (euro) alone.

Pfeiffer said filmmakers can increasingly count on the China market
to recover their costs, with the Chinese box office covering up to
30 percent of production costs for some movies.

He said "Perhaps Love" has grossed more than 30 million yuan (US$3.7
million; euro3.1 million) in the mainland, a big jump from what
could be expected a few years ago.

The idea of pooling markets and resources within Asia is also a
positive trend because it breeds better quality, which in turn opens
more markets and encourages more investment, creating a "virtuous
cycle," Pfeiffer said.

"As the production values increase, or improve, because the budgets
have increased, because the home market is bigger and because you're
more confident that you can secure business outside of your home
market, you'll put more money into it," he said.

Asian moviemakers are also seeking new creative collaborations that
they hope will give their product a new look. Hong Kong, known for
its violent action films, has reached out to dance-driven Bollywood,
and vice versa.

The dance routines in "Perhaps Love," directed by Hong Kong's Peter
Chan, were choreographed by Farah Khan from Bollywood as India's
Hindi film industry is known while the upcoming Bollywood
film "Krrish" will feature action sequences designed by Hong Kong
director Tony Ching.

Eventually, Asian filmmakers are hoping they can give Hollywood a
little heat on its home turf.

The consolidation of the Asian movie industry comes as Asian content
becomes more popular in the U.S. following the success of "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Similar martial arts films "Hero" and "House
of Flying Daggers" have posted respectable showings since then.

Producer Andre Morgan, whose credits include Bruce Lee's "Enter the
Dragon" and more recently, "Perhaps Love," said regional
collaboration is a matter of survival.

"Ultimately at the end of the day the battle will be fought and lost
or won over showing the audiences of Asia that Asian production
companies, Asian producers and directors can give them product that
is as entertaining, and of a comparable quality to the foreign
language product coming into the marketplace," Morgan said.

"And if we can't do that, ultimately we should all pack up and go
home," he said.

If only they could find a way to prevent Hollywood from making pointless American remakes of Asian films.

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