Reply #13: This is another good article in the paper today [View All]

[beachmom]

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=109357&ran=126594&zr=1

You might have to do a quick register to read it. Here are a couple of excerpts:

For Allen, the popularity of the footage on the Internet, circulating via e-mail, forced mainstream media to pay attention, Thompson said.

Traditionally, "this is the kind of thing that would have never made it " on a national newscast, he said.

Allen said Wednesday night in Norfolk that he had met with several Indian community leaders in Northern Virginia earlier in the day.

"They wanted to ask me about the context of the remark," Allen said, adding that he assured them that no offense was intended.

At the Norfolk event, no videographer from the Webb campaign was present. When Allen was asked if he apologized to Sidarth, he said, "I was hoping he would be here today so I could say it to him."

Local Indian leaders were shocked by Allen's comments and suggested that his remarks could affect their vote.

"I'm so mad! Is he crazy, or what?" said Jagdish A. Singh, president of Asian Indians of Hampton Roads. "It was not a slip-up. He knew exactly what he was saying. It was totally irresponsible on his part to disrespect a young man who was there to cover his event."

She referred to Sidarth, a 20-year-old University of Virginia senior of Indian descent who was born and raised in Fairfax County.

"I was shocked. There were over 100 white people, and he was the only brown person " at the event, said Dr. Dilip K. Sarkar of Norfolk, a member of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's Virginia Asian Advisory Board. "This was definitely a racially charged, insensitive statement."