In the ceremony in 1960 in which Congo gained its independence from Belgium, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gave a speech accusing Belgian King Baudouin of presiding over “a regime of injustice, suppression, and exploitation” before ad-libbing at the end, “Nous ne sommes plus vos macaques!” (We are no longer your macaques – the Belgian term for Africans).
In a speech in 2006, Virginia Republican incumbent George Allen referred to an Indian operative of his opponent’s campaign as “Macaca”. The resulting media firestorm resulted in labeling the term (one unfamiliar to Americans) as the most politically incorrect word of 2006 by Global Language Monitor – oh, and the loss of an election.
Ugh. OK, source material for this all from Wiki.
ReplyDeleteIn the ceremony in 1960 in which Congo gained its independence from Belgium, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gave a speech accusing Belgian King Baudouin of presiding over “a regime of injustice, suppression, and exploitation” before ad-libbing at the end, “Nous ne sommes plus vos macaques!” (We are no longer your macaques – the Belgian term for Africans).
In a speech in 2006, Virginia Republican incumbent George Allen referred to an Indian operative of his opponent’s campaign as “Macaca”. The resulting media firestorm resulted in labeling the term (one unfamiliar to Americans) as the most politically incorrect word of 2006 by Global Language Monitor – oh, and the loss of an election.
Dirty, filthy Asians? Nope, no racism here.
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