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Allen has changed his story in a small but important way. He no longer claims that he made up the word Macaca on the spot, instead he repeated something that he heard his staff say:
… several Allen campaign aides and advisers are telling allies that the word was a made-up, off-the-cuff neologism that these aides occasionally used to refer to tracker S.R. Sidarth well before last Saturday’s videotaped encounter. According to two Republicans who heard the word used, “macaca” was a mash-up of “Mohawk,” referring to Sidarth’s distinctive hair, and “caca,” Spanish slang for excrement, or “shit.”
Said one Republican close to the campaign: “In other words, he was a shit-head, an annoyance.” Allen, according to Republicans, heard members of his traveling entourage and Virginia Republicans use the phrase and picked it up. It was the first word that came to his mind when he spied Sidarth at the weekend’s event, according to Republicans who have been briefed on Allen’s version of the event. [Link]
Allen wants to shift blame because coverage of this story brings up his long history of racial insensitivity / insult towards blacks which could torpedo his chance at the Presidential nomination:
As governor Allen had a stormy relationship with African-American voters in Virginia, many of whom criticized his policies and his embrace of the Confederate flag, which the NAACP condemned as a symbol of racism and hate. As a lawyer, Allen also had a noose hanging from a ficus tree in his office, a decoration critics have charged was racially insensitive, but which Allen has explained as a symbol of his tough stance on law-and-order issues…
In 1995, 1996, and 1997, Allen proclaimed April as Confederate History and Heritage Month and called the Civil War “a four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights.” The proclamation did not mention slavery and was subsequently repudiated by Allen’s Republican successor, Governor James Gilmore. [Link]Under educational guidelines proposed by Allen’s administration, which were revised after an uproar, students would have been taught that slaves were “settlers…” [Link]
“Stormy relationship” is an understatement. The man is completely obsessed by the confederate flag:
“[a]ccording to his colleagues, classmates, and published reports, Allen has either displayed the [Confederate] flag—on himself, his car, inside his home—or expressed his enthusiastic approval of the emblem from approximately 1967 to 2000.” Allen wore a Confederate flag pin for his high school senior class photo. In high school, college, and law school, Allen adorned his vehicle with a Confederate flag. In college he displayed a Confederate flag in his room. He displayed a Confederate flag in his family’s living room until 1992. [Link]
Given his broader racial outlook, and the fact that he had a French-Tunisian mother, it’s quite possible that he was familiar with the word macaca as a slur. As even one right-wing blog points out in a post defending Allen:
… his claim that he was unaware of the meaning of the term he used, ‘macaca’, is unconvincing given that his mother is of French Tunisian background, in which circles the term is apparently used. [Link]
On the other hand, it’s also possible that he has a racist on his staff. While macaca/macaque isn’t a common ethnic slur in the US, it is used by white supremacists. The two quotes below are taken from a supremacist online forum [via Jeffrey Feldman’s blog, via Manish]:
“FYI - friends of mine who are cops told me years ago that [Rodney] King is “red-flagged” in the system, meaning that if/when he is pulled over, sergeants (superior officers) are to be called to the scene immdiately, or he is to be let go if possilble. All to avoid the appearance of Sir Rodney being picked on. Don’t want another riot you know. And the macaque has taken full advantage of this privilege.”
“Bryant lacked the all-important street credibility, they said, and although the defining characteristics of “street cred” remain unclear, some said Bryant didn’t match up to the appeal of Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady. Lying coward. We all know the only way to gain “street cred” with nigra gutter scum is to be just like them. That’s why that ugly cornrowed thug Iverson has it while the well-tailored macaque-about-town Kobe doesn’t. Keep it real, yo…” [Link]
It’s also quite possible that Allen’s new story is accurate, and he picked the word up from his staff who coined it without any racial animus. None of that, however, gets Allen off the hook for either his “Welcome to America” remark or his long-running love affair with the symbols of the Confederacy.
Related stories from The New Republic: George Allen’s race problem, George Allen’s flag fetish
