PrintJanuary 14, 2009
Democratic Senator Commits 'Macaca' Offense
Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has committed a George Allen-like "macaca" offense. We await outrage from the Washington Post.
Remember back in 2006 when the WaPo excoriated former Sen. Allen (R-VA.) for using the word "macaca" to refer to a "20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent" working for the Webb campaign? The paper noted then that,
Depending on how it is spelled, the word macaca could mean either a monkey that inhabits the Eastern Hemisphere or a town in South Africa. In some European cultures, macaca is also considered a racial slur against African immigrants, according to several Web sites that track ethnic slurs.
According to The Hill, Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson committed a macaca-like offense against the Obama administration.
A Democratic senator on Tuesday accused President-elect Obama's incoming director of the Office of Management and Budget of talking "mumbo jumbo" instead of offering hard details on the economy.
Did he say "mumbo jumbo?" In reference to the administration of an incoming president whose father was Kenyan? He most certainly did. And that's outrageous!
Here's what wikipedia offers about the phrase "mumbo jumbo."
It was coined during the time when Great Britain was colonizing areas of the globe inhabited by native tribes that practiced what seemed to the foreigners mysterious and puzzling rituals which were then called "Mumbo Jumbo", after a supposed idol. One of the sources for the English usage is the Vachel Lindsay poem The Congo, which contains the phrase "Mumbo-Jumbo, God of the Congo". Some believe mumbo jumbo is a translation of the Swahili greeting "Mambo Jambo"...According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Mumbo Jumbo is a noun and is the name of a grotesque idol said to have been worshipped by some tribes. In its figurative sense, Mumbo Jumbo is an object of senseless veneration or a meaningless ritual."Black Mumbo" and "Black Jumbo" are also used as names for the parents of Little Black Sambo.
Oops. Looks like Senator Nelson owes the Obama administration a heart-felt apology. We await the WaPo's intervention to make it happen.
