S. R. Sidarth

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S.R. Sidarth

Shekar Ramanuja "S.R." Sidarth (शेखर रामानुज सिद्धार्थ) (born 1985) is an Indian American and resident of the U.S. state of Virginia, where he was born and raised. His volunteer work for the Senate campaign of Democrat Jim Webb placed him at the center of a controversy over the use of a racial slur on him by Webb's opponent, Republican Senator George Allen, 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, the best high school in the US. 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. The 6'4"-tall Sidarth played American football at the high school level where he played defensive end, tight end, punter and kicker. To gain a coveted spot in University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato's small, popular seminar on campaigns and elections, students had to write an essay. Sidarth won a spot with the following essay (in its entirety): I am Macaca.^[1] He is currently a student at the University of Virginia.^[2]

[edit] Macaca incident

Allen points to Webb aide, Sidarth, referring to him as "Macaca."^[3]

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

On Friday, August 11, 2006, Allen called Sidarth a word that sounded like "macaca". 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. The term was interpreted to have been a racial slur against him, as "macaca" is a common and offensive term for dark-skinned people used by the French colonists in North Africa.

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

[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 in the 110th Congress starting in 2007.
S. R. Sidarth was named person of the year by online magazine Salon.com recognizing the way he "changed history with a camcorder".^[4]
He was profiled for Time's 2006 Person of the Year "You".