New York's Republican Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato has managed to add Asian-Americans to the long list of groups he has offended during his 14-year tenure in the Senate.
On April 4, D'Amato made a vain attempt at black humor on Don Imus' nationally syndicated radio broadcast. In response to Imus' suggestion that the O.J. Simpson trial would overshadow D'Amato's pet project, the Whitewater hearings, D'Amato performed an impersonation of Judge Lance Ito that was laden with stereotypes and epithets.
Employing broken English and speaking in an exaggerated fake-Japanese accent, D'Amato stated, "Judge Ee-twoh will never let it end. Judge Ee-twoh love to be in lime light. Judge Ee-twoh is making disgrace of judicial system. Little Judge Ee-twoh." Encouraged by the laughter of the people surrounding him, D'Amato continued in a like manner until finally being restrained by Imus.
With the O.J. Simpson trial being nationally broadcast, it should have been apparent to D'Amato that Judge Ito, like most Asian-Americans, does not speak with an accent or use broken English. However, D'Amato simply could not resist playing on what he perceived to be the audience's appetite for ethnic "jokes" by drawing upon racial stereotypes and epithets that seem more fitting for the 1930s than for the 1990s. His heavily emasculated "Japanese" accent was like that drawn from an old "Detective Moto" movie, and his use of epithets such as "little" to describe Judge Ito hearkens back to early 20th-century portrayals of Asians as "little yellow men."
What makes the situation even worse is the fact that D'Amato seems unrepentant about his actions. After receiving a barrage of complaints from Americans across the nation, both Asian and non-Asian, D'Amato seemed content to offer unemotionally only a simple two sentence reply: "If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. I was making fun of the pomposity of the judge and the manner in which he's dragging the trial out." It was only after the flow of complaints and bad publicity, relating to his terse off-handed apology, continued that D'Amato reluctantly issued a paragraph-long apology.
While D'Amato may consider his apology to be sincere and his actions relating to "that episode" regretful, he can not erase the fact that an educated public servant like him, who should know a lot better, felt no problem in making such an obviously insensitive "joke." He also cannot erase the fact that he showed his true colors by responding to initial complaints with only an unrepentant two-line "apology."
D'Amato's actions cannot be simply written off as an act of unintended insensitivity. In fact, D'Amato prides himself on politically incorrect jokes that include those of the ethnic variety.
It was not long ago that D'Amato offended Greek-Americans by repeatedly and delibeately mispronouncing George Stephanopoulos' name so that it sounded like "Steppin Ah Full Us." D'Amato has also offended African-Americans by stating that he felt New York City's former mayor David Dinkins, an African-American, should go to South Africa and stay there.
As if D'Amato's racist and ethnically-insensitive jokes were not enough, last January D'Amato made sexually suggestive remarks towards Elizabeth McCaughey, New York's lieutenant governor.
It is ironic that this is the same Senator D'Amato who denounced his 1992 Democratic challenger, Robert Abrams, as an anti-Italian bigot. In that case, Abrams made only a vague reference to D'Amato's resemblance to fascists.
In contrast, D'Amato's remarks on racial minorities were direct and openly insulting. D'Amato's attitude on bigotry can be called nothing but hypocritical. He is someone who rails against bigotry when it affects himself but sees no problem in applying it to others.
Is this the type of behavior we, as Americans, should allow in our Congress? Is Alfonse D'Amato, a man who has apparently no principles in regards to race and gender, someone we want serving us in the Senate? Does this man deserve to be chairman of both the Senate Banking Committee and the Republican Party's Senate Campaign Committee?
As Americans who hold dear the concept of equality for all and fairness in government, we demand better.
