In my continued flashback series to the 2006 Webb-Allen campaign, see below for the letter published in the Washington Post on August 17 by Webb campaign “tracker” S.R. Sidarth’s grandparents regarding George Allen’s disgraceful attack on their grandson, simply because he was an Asian-American. It wasn’t just the word “macaca,” either, it was Allen telling him “welcome to America,” apparently assuming that anyone with dark skin must not be a “real American.” Oh, and if you think this type of behavior by Allen and his supporters ended 6 years ago, you might want to check out Sue Langley’s tweet, which reports: “Romney-Ryan supporter told me to go back to ‘your country’. I have never had anyone telling me that before.”
Now, on to the 2006 flashback:
We would like to thank you for taking the right stand on the gaffe of Sen. George Allen [“George Allen’s America,” editorial, Aug. 15].
It is quite shocking for a person of Mr. Allen’s caliber, who is running for a second Senate term and is a likely candidate for president in 2008, to point a finger at a young lad of 20, bullying our grandson, S.R. Sidarth, and calling him a derogatory and uncalled-for name. Sidarth was only videotaping the event.
In the 1930s Sidarth’s great-grandfather accompanied Mohandas Gandhi to London as his secretary at the Round Table Conference on political reform in India. We come from a heritage of nationalists and seekers after truth. Hence these remarks hurt all the more, and we are personally affected by such an attack.
BOB NARASIMHAN
MANI NARASIMHAN
Bethesda
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