'Macaca' Used Intentionally By George Allen
So far, George Allen's campaign is saying that the word was Allen's mispronunciation of 'Mohawk,' but reasonable people can discount that answer. The word 'macaca' (three syllables) is no closer to 'mohawk' (two syllables) than are the words 'Madison' or 'Mac n' Cheese.' And since Allen pronounced the word twice in a short period of time--each instance with emphasis, as if he was setting up 'macaca' to be the keyword that everyone would hear--we can conclude without hesitation that his use was conscious. He used the word because he chose to use it in advance at that moment and to make sure that everyone in the audience heard him use it. 'Macaca,' in other words, was the keyword in his communication strategy to handle the situation of a campaign staffer from his opposition following him around with a video camera.
'Macaca' Is A Word He Learned From His Mother, But Did Not Understand
This is another potential misinterpretation of the events. Since George Allen's mother was raised in France and French-speaking Tunisia, some have surmised that 'macaca' might just be a nonsense word he had heard from his mother, but did not understaned. This cannot be true, however, because it has been shown that George Allen studied French and did quite well. The idea that he would not understand a word used by his mother, but use it twice in a campaign stump speech--this makes no logical sense and can be discounted.
'Macaca' Was Pronounced 'Mukakkah' - It's a Different Word
Some have said that the word Allen used does not relate to the racist term 'macaca' because he pronounced it 'mah-KAH-kuh.' This, too, is not a concern that holds water. The original 'text' for George Allen's use of 'macaca' was not a printed script, but a video clip. Therefore, all of the initial spellings of the word were speculative--based on phonetic transcriptions by people not familiar with the term. Imagine somebody who did not know anything about America heard George Allen give a speech in which he insulted a man named 'Boosh.' Initially, that word might circulate with the wrong spelling, but once the transcript was corrected to 'Bush'--the original spelling would no longer be relevant.
Conclusion: George Allen Used A White Power Word In A Stump Speach
Having looked into the background on this word (see below), I conclude the following:
George Allen's used 'macaca' at his campaign stop (1) consciously, (2) specifically in order to signal to people who knew what it meant, and (3) with the goal of showing that he was not intimidated by the staffer from his opponent's campaign attending his campaign events.
The entire statement was designed to humiliate the person in question by drawing attention to them and insulting them mwith a coded racial slur--all with the intention of showing confidence in response to intimidation from his opponent.
It is likely that George Allen did not believe many people would understand what was being said, except for 'insiders' already familiar with the word 'macaca.'
In a few words: George Allen used a white power word in his stump speach. And he did it on purpose.
Why he did it is a question I cannot answer. There cannot be more than a handful of people in Virginia who could have understood this term. Perhaps there were some in the audience? That is hard to say. Perhaps he has used the word 'macaca' before in similar situations that have not been caugh on tape? Also hard to say. Perhaps 'macaca' is a word that he uses normally in his private life, but that he typically does not incude in his stump speeches? Difficult to answer that question.
Whatever the case may be, journalists, voters and elected officialsin Virginia have ample reason to ask George Allen an extended series of questions about this incident.
It is fair to say that if a sitting U.S. Senator is identified as using a word identified as part of a broader white power vocabulary--that is cause for serious alarm.
In the remainder of this diary, I include the post I put on on Frameshop yesterday afternoon at 5pm when this story broke. The story includes a link for anyone who wishes to reference the findings on their site or blog.
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cross posted
Frameshop: 'Macaca' or 'Macaque'
News breaking out of Virginia is that Senator George Allen called a person a 'macaca' while on the campaign trail. The person was dark skinned and, as it happens, working for Jim Webb's campaign.
There has been some question as to what this word 'macaca' means, so I took some time to fire off some searches on Google.
In the remainder of this post I will list key findings under headings of the search terms plugged into google.
'Macaca' or 'macaque' is a nasty racial epithet alright. It is often used by American white supremacists to describe black people. In Belgium, it is a racial slur for 'dirty arab.' Could this be George Allen's Mel Gibson moment?
WARNING: This findings in this post contain language that many readers may find offensive.
What I hope to show in these results are instances where the word 'macaca' or 'macaque' are being used as an offensive racial slur on par with other more familiar racial slurs. This research is intended to clarify what exactly happened in the outburst by George Allen using sources commonly available to anyone with a computer.
Google Search: nigger+macaque
Source: Vanguard News Network Forum
Quote: "I watched the press conference they had when they caught the rampaging macaque. Niggy the Pinhead here put on a hilarious performance: "I's only bin shairf fo' a few munts..." it mumbled over & over, desperate to pass dat ol' buck. "I's bin foccusin' on securetee in de jail, but now I be foccussin' on de coathouse, know whum sayin'?"
It's all part of the forced-at-fed-gunpoint jewfarce of pretending that niggers have any bidness leading anything more complex than tribal grub-hunting expeditions."
Farther down in the same thread, another reader quoted the section with 'macaque,' made it bold face and replied as follows:
Source: Vanguard News Network Forum
Quote: "I watched the press conference they had when they caught the rampaging macaque. ...goddamn rapin, lootin', murderin', rampaging niggers, goddamn them all...
Soure: ACDC Forum
Quote: "Well, I have the same opinion too ... but sometimes we're referring to a "human-race" and so I was a bit surprised that in the US they don't call a nigger a nigger. Here in our dictionary dutch translation : neger = black citizen originating from africa ... And here there's nothing wrong with that word. Here the "niggers" call themselves "niggers" too .... so, I don't know why in the US this word is so negative ... maybe because of people there where using this word more in a way of insults towards black people. I think that black people where much more discriminated in the US than here (slavery, etc...). Every continent has it's own history ... Another example : here in Belgium when you want to insult an arab .... you would never say "arab" ... but use the words "macaque" or "bougnoul". I don't want to teach you guys how to insult an arab or motivate you to insult them ... I just want to say we use a "nickname" instead of using the name of the race. But of course if you would call them a "dirty arab" ... this is offending too.
Source: Stormfront White Pride World Wide
Quote: "I agree with you Gabor, "our" players sure don't look like they had Celts or Francs for ancestors. Football in France isn't sport it's politics, what the French avatar of ZOG wants is for us to admire niggers and sand niggers like Zidane so that we get used to being around untermenschen and accept the presence on our soil of the millions of "chance pour la France" that plague our lives. Didn't work this time though, une France macaque-bougnoule-blancgnoule pas question, jamais...Victory through superior intelligence!
Google Search: "racial slur"+macaque
Source: Vanguard News Network - Reader Letters
Quote: "What it's like in France these days...I see it's the same in America as in Europe. Here in France we got those niggers and arabs (quite the same thing as your coons, but muslims !!!) saying their hate of everything White. They own a lot of suburbs where the police cannot go anymore, white families are forced to flee or see their kids molested, racketted, their young daughters gang-raped in a basement. The liberals in the gov't and medias just pretend it's "far-right lies", that the bougnoules (an offensive name for the arabs here) are victims of our racism (though of course they get every welfare aid that exists), marxist judges let em roam free. Islam is conquering the country fast, now there are muslim meals in the schools, and in some places white children have to learn arab at school ! Rappers are the same as yours, proclaiming they will conquer everything, fuck the country, kill the whites, fuck every white woman they see. Ordinary citizens aren't allowed to own a gun and defend themselves. This week a white father was jailed because he shot the arab raper of his 12 year old daughter. Of course now, if an arab does the same, he'll be let free because his fellows boucaques (contraction of bougnoule and macaque) would threaten to burn everything. Police station are attacked and even burnt every week, ethnic arab gangs own rocket-launchers and kalashnikovs.
Google Search: "Original Dissent"+macaque
Source: Original Dissent
Quote: "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."
Source: Original Dissent
Quote:"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."
CONCLUSION
The term 'macaque'--also pronounced 'mukakkah'--is a commonly used racial slur on par with the word 'nigger' in the united states.
In Europe, the word 'macaque' is largely a racial slur used to insult people of North African descent. It is roughly synonomous with 'dirty arab.'
Most of the results that came back in these searches took me to well known white supremacy websites--and to posts from the past two or three years. So this is a phrase that is still in use.
Also returned where hundreds of 'ethnic slur' dictionaries online, all of which list this term as a 'Belgian' racial slur.
© 2006 Jeffrey Feldman, FRAMESHOP
To LINK to these findings:
http://jeffrey-feldman.typepad.com/...
Update [2006-8-15 11:24:39 by Jeffrey Feldman]:
From the user
northofboston in the comments:
This comment is from an Indian friend (4+ / 0-)
He is not a member here. He registered yesterday after this news broke, but can't post yet. So he asked me to post this for him:I did my grad studies at Duke. In one of my classes, there were 3 chinese students, myself (Indian male, foreign student), one Indian girl and one white male. This WM person was from Virginia. His family had a construction business there. That's about what I know about this person. After a midterm test, the instructor gave us our graded answer sheets. When the class was over, we were all talking about the test. This person from Virginia turned to me and said "How did the macaca do?" I was shocked and so was the Indian girl in the class. I let it go. As the course progressed, it was clear that he was not keeping up his grades and the more he seemed to perform poorly, the more aggressive and racist he got towards all of us in the class. He frequently referred to me as "the macaca" and "the monkey". Did I say he was from Virginia?
Now fast forward 2 years. I was travelling in Virginia and West Virginia with other grad students from Duke (mostly Indian, male, foreign students). We were coming out of a convenience store (gas station) near Wheeling. Two white males in a pick-up truck saw us, and started shoouting at us. Initially we couldn't figure what they were saying. Then it was clear that they were insulting us and I heard "macaca" among the slurs thrown at us (with a good measure of "go back to your country").
From my experience, it seems to me that it is quite possible that "macaca" is a racial slur used by some groups (perhaps in VA and WV) against black/brown skinned people.
One other thing. That racist in my class? He dropped out of the course and quit his grad studies and went back to Virginia.
Update [2006-8-15 18:2:13 by Jeffrey Feldman]:
Matthews on Hardball right now called 'macaca' an 'ethnic slur.' Not even a debate. It looks like we are now leading this debate and have put Big Media in the correct frame.
WELL DONE EVERYONE!!!! WE SET AND HELD THE FRAME!!
Drinks on me...
Update [2006-8-16 1:2:36 by Jeffrey Feldman]:
Everybody should tune into
Good Morning America, this morning (Wed) to see a spot on the Allen story.
Comments are closed on this story.