Reply #3: Newsmaker of the Year: The Macaca Guy Did More Than Turn an Election [View All]

Newsmaker of the Year: The Macaca Guy Did More Than Turn an Election

by New American Media (reposted)

Tuesday Dec 26th, 2006 9:39 AM
It’s getting to that time of the year when various Indian American newspapers and magazines nominate their Indian American newsmakers of the year. Will it be Sunita Williams, only the second woman of Indian origin who just went to space? Or Congressman Bobby Jindal who romped home to re-election in Louisiana, one of the few Republicans to resist the November rout? I am sure quite a few will select Brooklyn-resident Kiran Desai whose novel The Inheritance of Loss just won the Mann Booker prize, making her the youngest woman to ever win it.

They are all stellar achievements but my vote would be for S. R. Sidarth, the young man who was called a macaca by Sen. George Allen, which marked the beginning of the end of his senatorial campaign. With a little help from YouTube. Time magazine has already acknowledged that when it nominated You, as in YouTube watching, FaceBook-having, MySpace-living you, as its Person of the Year. Salon responded by nominating 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth as the person of the year for building a “legacy out of happenstance” and becoming “a symbol of politics in the 21st century.” By the way, the would be senator Allen, was CNN’s political turkey of the year.

Hopefully Indian-American magazines who typically look out for the “first Indian American congressman” or the “spelling bee champions” or the “ hotshot lawyer who makes a splash arguing in the Supreme Court” will take note as well. They will probably skip another Indian who made big news in America this year. Sanjay Kumar, former CEO of Computer Associates was sentenced to 12 years in prison for $2.2 billion accounting fraud. He might be just the most high-profile Indian American white-collar crook. The sentence though is a little shorter than what the head honchos of Enron and Tyco and WorldCom received. But still I think it shows that our community is steadily moving up the corporate ladder!

Those who nominate Sidarth because he might have helped turned the tide on that election, and ultimately tip control of the Senate, would be justified in doing so. But according to reports on the South Asian Journalists Association forum. Asians turned out in big numbers for that election and they overwhelmingly voted for Allen’s opponent.
I’d say Sidarth’s achievement was just holding on to his camcorder as he recorded George Allen calling him a macaca. It wasn’t easy. Listening to that clip, what makes me queasy - more than Allen’s comments - is the loud laughter of all those listening to him. I’d nominate Sidarth for not running away when confronted with that wave of mocking laughter. I know I would have.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/12/26/18340971.php