| I am very very upset with the news that Sen. George Allen (R-Va) called an American of Indian descent "Macaca" during a GOP rally at Breaks, Va. The Indian American, S.R. Sidarth, is a staff of Democratic challenger Jim Webb and was tracking Allen's re-election campaign when the incident happened. "Macaca" is a genus of monkeys chiefly found in Asia and the East Indies. I don't believe that Allen had no idea what the word meant when he said, "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere." Allen even repeated his insult by saying, "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." The senator didn't even check that Sidarth was born and raised in Fairfax, Va. We Asian Americans are no strangers to racial slurs, be they painfully candid or creatively subtle. We've been called many names, mostly behind our backs; so let's not delude ourselves that Asian Americans who have accomplished so much today in the United States "never encountered racism of any sort." Let's not close our eyes and minds to the fact that ever since Asians arrived in America, there have been anti-Asian sentiments expressed through prejudice and acts of discrimination. Remember the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which singled out an Asian group and banned them from setting foot on American soil; the denials of justice against Chinese, Indian, Filipino, and Japanese immigrants seeking equality in the early 1900s; the incarceration or "relocation" to internment camps of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II; and Vincent Chin, who was beaten to death by two White men who called him a "jap," blaming him and the Japanese automakers for the recession of 1982. And, don't forget that his killers never served any jail time for his murder! Even today, there are documented incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes occurring in many states and campuses, many of which take the form of vandalism. How can we forget such hateful words written on Stanford University walls that included, "rape all oriental bitches," "kill all gooks," and "I'm a real white american"? People who perpetrate this hateful utterances or feel such hatred inside them are the real "Macacas" of the world. We Asian Americans want to contribute to the well-being and development of our chosen country and home, the United States of America, but the real "Macacas" don't want this to happen. The real "Macacas" are those who believe that they have more rights than others and that they are more equal than the rest of us, thus they set up societal barriers to keep us from succeeding. Unfortunately for them, Asian Americans see such barriers as "life's challenges," and we're just more than able to take them on and surpass them. |
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| Editor's Corner/ Over a cup of tea The real "Macacas" |
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