US diplomat shunted out after racist comment?

CHENNAI: Maureen Chao, the US Vice Consul, who in recent remarks during an address to students of SRM University here had termed Tamilians ‘dark and dirty’, has decided to leave Chennai for good. Her racial slur had resulted in uproar.Seeking to delink Chao’s move to her controversial remarks, spokesperson of the US Consulate here, Anand Krishna told Express, “Ms. Chao decided, herself, to leave her posting in Chennai in the near future,” indicating that she was not coerced into taking the decision.Chao made the comment ‘dirty and dark, like the Tamilians’, when she recalled to students her experience on an Indian train during her own student days two decades ago when she visited the country. It had sparked outrage after it appeared in these columns.Chao had said: “I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa. But, after 72 hours, the train still didn’t reach the destination ... and my skin became dirty and dark, like the Tamilians.”  She was speaking to students at an orientation programme for those considering going abroad for a term.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had demanded an apology from the US Vice Consul, stating that her remarks smacked of racism and was an affront to all Tamilians.Chao had later expressed regret for her comments and voluntarily enrolled herself in a class on cross-cultural communications and understanding.As for the next destination of her diplomatic appointment, Krishna said, “It is her personal choice, we have no idea about that.”