Virginia Republican George Allen was considered a shoo-in to retain his U.S. Senate seat in the race against Democrat James Webb. With only two months to go before election day, Allen began to self-destruct. First, at a campaign stop, he pointed out one of Webb's volunteer workers, a 20 year-old Virginia-born college student of Indian descent, and called him MACACA. Then he responded to questions about the possible Jewish ancestry of his 83 year-old mother in less than stellar fashion. Finally, he was accused of having used the word "nigger" repeatedly some 30 years ago.
Macaca is the name of an Asian monkey and the word is also a racial slur used against native North Africans by persons of European ancestry. Allen's mother came from Tunisia where the word is a derogatory term. When asked what he meant by macaca, Allen replied that he did not know its meaning because he had just made the word up. Yeah, right - if you believe that Senator Allen made up the word macaca, I'll get the tooth fairy to leave a deed under your pillow for some ocean front property in Arizona.
Allen's mother was born into a (Jewish) Sephardic family in Tunisia. Apparently his mother never told Allen of her Jewishness before he was asked about her ancestry. He responded to the question by accusing his detractors of "making aspersions" in trying to cast him as a Jew. Aspersions? Used in that context, the term implies that Jewishness is unbecoming of a U.S. Senator. To compound matters, he made some inappropriate jokes about his eating ham sandwiches and his mother making good pork chops, to prove that they were not Jewish.
When accused of having used the "N" word repeatedly some 30 years ago, Allen denied these charges by claiming that he had NEVER used that derogatory racial slur. A few people, who appear to be credible, have come forward to say they often heard Allen use the "N" word, while others say they never heard him use any racial slurs. So, who are you going to believe? The O. J. Simpson murder trial comes to mind.
The Simpson defense strategy was to claim that physical evidence against O. J. was fabricated by racist LAPD homicide investigators. They focused on detective Mark Fuhrman who found the infamous glove next to one of the structures on the Simpson property. During Fuhrman's cross examination, F. Lee Bailey asked the detective if he had ever used the "N" word. When Fuhrman replied that he had never used the word, he not only self-destructed, but he also resurrected Bailey's career which had been in remission. The defense rebutted Fuhrman's denial with a witness who once worked with him on a book she was writing and who claimed he used the "N" word several times while he was helping her with the book.
From 1948 to 1993, I worked with hundreds of police officers, including a number of black officers, and I do not know of a single one who has never used the "N" word, and that includes me. Were any of these officers racist? Some were, but most were not. Was Fuhrman a racist? I do not believe he was. His closest friend was an African-American officer. Why would Fuhrman lie on the witness stand? I believe it was because he thought that if he admitted using racist slurs, he would be seen as a despicable racist in the eyes of a predominantly black jury, as well as by a nationwide television audience.
Bailey should never have been allowed to ask the question about the "N" word because it was not relevant to the finding of the glove. Marcia Clark and Chris Darden, the inept prosecutors, should have objected loudly. When they did not, Judge Lance Ito should have taken it on himself to stop Fuhrman from answering the question. Because Ito was star struck with the TV cameras on him, he allowed the trial to get out of hand time after time, the Fuhrman questioning being just one example. When Fuhrman perjured himself, he accomodated the predominently black jury that was predisposed to acquit Simpson, which they did after less than an hour of serious deliberation.
What has happened to Fuhrman since the Simpson trial? He retired from the Los Angeles Police Department and subsequently pled guilty to perjury, thus ending a notable career in disgrace. Since then he has successfully authored a number of books, the most prominent of which, MURDER IN GREENWICH, dealt with the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut. The case remained dormant until 1998, when the book called attention to evidence Fuhrman had uncovered that Michael Skakel, nephew of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, beat Moxley to death with a golf club. Fuhrman's book was instrumental in reopening the case and led to Skakel's murder trial and conviction.
What has happened to F. Lee Bailey? In 2001,he was disbarred in Florida on seven counts of misconduct involving the withholding of some assets belonging to a convicted drug dealer which had been ordered forfeited to the U.S. government. Massachusetts followed with a reciprocal disbarment in 2002.
What should Fuhrman and Allen have done when confronted with the "N" word allegations? They should have said, "Yes, on occasion I've used it. I know I should not have done that. It's something I don't normally do because I am not a racist." Had Fuhrman said something like that, he would have relegated Bailey to the slag heap of history and he would not have self-destructed. Allen could have put the "N" word controversy to rest, had he done so.
At the same time, one should never say, "Some of my best friends are black," or point out that black comedians like Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor frequently used the word "nigger" in their comedy routines, as do most of the current crop of black stand-up comics on HBO and Showtime. Nor should one call attention to the liberal use of "nigga" in the lyrics composed by many popular back rappers. Those are all common talking points for racists who want to mask their bigotry.
Senator Allen, son of a famous Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins coach, has an outstanding record in public service and was considered a front runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. His aspirations for the presidency evaporated with his self-destructive gaffes. He has shown himself to be a stupid jerk in the way he responded to the macaca, Jewish heritage, and "N" word controversies. Is Allen a racist? In his many years of public service there has never been any indication that he is a racist. A month from now, the voters of Virginia will decide whether or not they want to return a stupid jerk to the U.S. Senate.
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