S.R. Sidarth

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Shekar Ramanuja "S.R." Sidarth is a 20-year old resident of the U.S. state of Virginia, where he was born and raised. His volunteer work for the Senate campaign of Democrat James Webb placed him at the center of a controversy over the use of a racial slur by Senator George Allen (Webb's opponent) in August 2006.

1 Biography
2 Macaca incident
3 Impact of the event
4 References

[edit] Biography

According to The Washington Post, Sidarth was a straight-A student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, one of Fairfax County's finest high schools. He is also a tournament chess player, a quiz team captain, a sportswriter at his college newspaper, a Capitol Hill intern for Senator Joseph Lieberman and an active member of the Hindu temple his parents helped establish in Maryland. Like Allen, the 6'4 tall Sidarth also played football but only at the high school level where he played defensive end, tight end, punter and kicker. Sidarth gained a coveted spot in Professor Larry Sabato's small, popular seminar on campaigns and elections by writing a three word essay, "I am Macaca."^[1] He is currently a student at the University of Virginia [1].

[edit] Macaca incident

Allen points to Webb aide, Sidarth, referring to him as "Macaca."^[2]

Main article: Virginia United States Senate election, 2006#Allen's macaca controversy

On Friday, August 11th, 2006, Allen called Sidarth a word that sounded like either macaca or macaque. Allen followed up with "So welcome, let's give a welcome to Macaca here! Welcome to America, and the real world of Virginia!" Sidarth is of Indian ancestry, but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia. Allen was born in California. Sidarth said he was immediately stung by the term. The term was interpreted to have been a possible racial slur against him, most notably in light of the fact that "macaca" is a standard and very negative slur against dark-skinned people used by the French colonists in North Africa; George Allen's mother was from that group, and Allen speaks French, learned from her.^[3]

Sidarth was filming an Allen campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia, Dickenson County near the Kentucky border. Sidarth had filmed numerous Allen campaign events in the previous weeks.

Sidarth's video of the incident can be viewed on YouTube.^[4]

In an article authored by Sidarth, which appeared in The Washington Post after the 2006 Senate elections, Sidarth pointed out that he felt that Allen's actions were "not representative of how [he] was treated" while traveling around the state of Virginia. Sidarth further noted that Webb carried Dickenson County, the site of the "Macaca" incident", suggesting the "race card" no longer worked.^[3].

[edit] Impact of the event

After the incident, Allen's strong lead over Webb began to erode, and Allen eventually lost the election to Webb by just over 9,000 votes. The loss of Allen's Senate seat directly led to the formation of a Democratic-majority Senate.