Senator Allen "apologizes" and updated action alert

So Senator George Allen (R-Virginia) recently called his opponent's aide (one Indian American college student named S. R. Siddarth) a "macaca" and welcomed him to America, to Virginia, playing his race for laughs in front of an all-white audience. No big deal, right? Because he really was referring to his nonexistent mohawk.

Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Allen then began talking about the "war on terror."

Does this kid look like he has a mohawk? I think not. What is more disturbing is the meanings of variations of macaca or macaque - everything from monkey to "dirty arab."

Well, now George Allen (son of a famous football coach and presidential aspirant for 2008) has decided to "apologize":

Reached Monday evening, Allen said that the word had no derogatory meaning for him and that he was sorry. "I would never want to demean him as an individual. I do apologize if he's offended by that. [italics mine] That was no way the point."

Note the crucial "if" - the same non-apology that people use when they aren't truly sorry. It's a truly disgusting way to "apologize" where the "apologist" is saying, "I am only saying sorry because you are offended." Because obviously, otherwise, there's nothing wrong with the comment. It's the apology people use when what they mean is, "I wouldn't have to be apologizing if you weren't offended."

Allen said that by the comment welcoming him to America, he meant: "Just to the real world. Get outside the Beltway and get to the real world."

But the apology, which came hours after Allen's campaign manager dismissed the issue with an expletive and insisted the senator has "nothing to apologize for," did little to mollify Webb's campaign or Sidarth, who said he suspects Allen singled him out because his was the only nonwhite face among about 100 Republican supporters.

"I think he was doing it because he could, and I was the only person of color there, and it was useful for him in inciting his audience," said Sidarth, who videotaped the event for the Webb campaign. "I was annoyed he would use my race in a political context."

Told of Allen's apology, Todd [Webb's spokewoman] added, "I hope Allen realizes that Virginians come in all colors."

The apology was probably brought on by the Washington Post editorial this morning condemning Allen and his narrow-mindedness. Key graf:

"MY FRIENDS, we're going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas," Sen. George F. Allen told a rally of Republican supporters in Southwest Virginia last week. "And it's important that we motivate and inspire people for something." Whereupon Mr. Allen turned his attention to a young campaign aide working for his Democratic opponent -- a University of Virginia student from Fairfax County who was apparently the only person of color present -- and proceeded to ridicule him.

Also kudos to Webb's spokeswoman for framing the issue well. If I were the young man, I would feel really dirty and pissed. Here he is, a college student who just wants to get involved in civic engagement, doing a job that is common in all campaigns, and then he gets demeaned by a sitting senator for his ethnicity -- called a monkey or something worse.

UPDATE: Here's what you can do about it -- sign the Indian Americal Leadership Initiative's petition.

And people wonder why youth are cynical about politics. More on that in an upcoming post.