Tracing roots of coronavirus pandemic is not racism
A few weeks ago, at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis, Philadelphia’s mayor made a very public show of support for the Chinese community by taking several City Council members and eating a meal in Chinatown. This was done to allay any fears that you could get the then-named “Wuhan Virus” from eating Peking Duck (you might get a lot of things from eating Peking Duck, but the deadly virus wasn’t among them.) I applauded his move, even though I thought it was a bit of PC virtue signaling, particularly since he didn’t travel to any Italian restaurants. My ancestral home has surpassed China in the number of people who have died because of the disease, so a little sympathy and concern might have been in order for the Italians as well. But people tried to explain that Kenney and his cohort were worried that Chinese businesses might suffer because people were afraid to eat their eggrolls, etc, and since no one was staying away from pizza there was no need to sample la dolce vita.
OK, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, even though I’m not so sure he would have schlepped to his old hunting grounds in South Philadelphia for some meatballs and red gravy. The idea that we cannot blame an entire ethnicity or citizenry for the bad acts of its government or rogue agents is solid, and should be followed by everyone who rejects the idea that the people of the United States are responsible for the My Lai massacre tragedy.
But I am finding it increasingly difficult to stomach the suggestion that anyone who blames China for the worldwide pandemic, even to simply point out that it started with them and could have ended with them, is shilling for President Trump. If you look at Twitter (a venue often more toxic and infectious than COVID-19,) you will see a lot of folks rejecting out of hand any argument that had China not lied about what was happening in Wuhan and refrained from “disappearing” the courageous Chinese whistleblowers who tried to alert the world to its subterfuge, Italy might not have lost thousands, the highest echelons of the British government and monarchy would not be infected, the streets of Paris would not bear the stamp of a nuclear holocaust and we in the United States would not be on the verge of an economic collapse.
I, however, do believe that the flapping of a hummingbird’s wings in Wuhan did cause a tsunami that engulfed the rest of the world. And I do not believe that tracing the tragedy back to China constitutes racism, or deflection from any mistakes or malfeasance on the part of this administration.
I am not the sort of person who will defend this president with closed eyes, simply because I find the alternative to be far more grim. It is no secret that I cannot stand Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the posse they run with. There is very little of honor and selflessness that I find among the Democrats these days, not that the GOP is acting like a passel of Mother Theresas. But
or the Avianco there is a thinly veiled glee among a few on the left at the political purchase they can draw from this human tragedy. It’s obvious, and it also expresses itself in subtleties. One of those is the suggestion that blaming China is racist, and that blaming the president is legitimate.
Cards on the table time: No one has acted with complete grace, competence and altruism; no one that is except the scientists who are desperately trying to find a cure for the virus, or at the very least find ways to mitigate its spread. We could also include in that limited group the health care workers, first responders, and the people who are trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in this maelstrom. When I was a little girl, I remember reading the story of Father Damien, the Belgian priest who ministered to the lepers of Molokai. He touched them, fed them, prayed with them and was with them in the moments before the finite light of this world was extinguished, and the bright light of eternity poured out of the heavens. He ultimately contracted the disease, and died of it. I look at those who are in the world, now, fighting to keep the illness at bay, like Father Damien. I look at the essential workers in stores and picking up trash and policing our streets with almost the same awe.
But aside from these great people, there are many who will exploit this crisis for either political or personal gain, as I have written in the past. What angers me the most are those who play around, as they usually tend to do, with the “racism” card.
Let’s be clear, here. China knew from the very beginning, back in November, what they were up against. China’s government deliberately hid information from the rest of the international community because it didn’t want to expose itself to embargos, travel bans and economic repercussions. China lied about the number of fatalities. China, however, didn’t even need to have a legitimate reason to hide the information from the world. China’s government has operated in this subversive, totalitarian and nihilistic way for generations, since well before I was born. I have handled cases of Chinese dissidents in my immigration practice, people who have been jailed for wanting to have a second child, or forced to worship in underground churches. China does not need a reason to hurt and harm. It is an established modus operandi. Its own people are its greatest victims, but now the rest of the world is suffering.
This is not to take blame away from other countries who have fumbled their response to this plague. Italy, the U.K., South Korea and the United States have been slow and unprepared, sometimes doing more damage than good. President Trump’s early travel ban from China was a start, (and provoked cries of racism from those who throw the word around like candy on Halloween) but it wasn’t sufficient. We had knowledge of the crisis back in January, and should have taken bolder action then, instead of waiting as the deaths mounted and our streets were turned into ghostly avenues. I blame the White House for this, and I blame the states that refused to recognize the gravity of the situation.
But when a murderer fires a bullet into the heart of an innocent man, you look at the hand holding the gun. You blame the shooter for the carnage. You might also criticize the doctors who fail to perform the lifesaving acts that would stop the bleeding, or the family members of the shooter who failed to report him to the police at the first signs of violence, or any other party third and fourth and fifth degree removed from the initial act. But we do not hesitate to name the killer, the one who set the tragedy in motion.
In this case, China held the gun. Let’s stop pretending that naming this killer is racist.