Thursday, August 17, 2006

French Lessons

I'm delighted to do my part in helping disseminate this letter from today's Washington Post as widely as possible, particularly the last two paragraphs:

I am concerned that the articles about Sen. George Allen's verbal attack on a fellow Virginian are missing the point. The Aug. 15 front-page article seemed to emphasize Mr. Sidarth's feeling of being offended instead of Mr. Allen's objectionable behavior. If Mr. Sidarth had been African American and the senator had used a familiar racial slur, would the story be Mr. Sidarth's hurt feelings or Mr. Allen's choice of language?

It also seems worth mentioning that Mr. Allen's mother is a speaker of French and Arabic who came to this country from Tunisia. "Macaca" is a derogatory slur used by speakers of French in reference to blacks, Arabs and dark-skinned people.

Mr. Allen had reason to have knowledge of that particular slur based on his family background and his own knowledge of French. I don't understand how reporting the news can avoid mention of these facts.

KIM NAOROZ
Richmond


From the original August 15 Post article about Allen's remark:

Reached Monday evening, Allen said that the word had no derogatory meaning for him and that he was sorry. . . . Asked what macaca means, Allen said: "I don't know what it means." He said the word sounds similar to "mohawk," a term that his campaign staff had nicknamed Sidarth because of his haircut. Sidarth said his hairstyle is a mullet -- tight on top, long in the back.

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