The Atlanta murders and the cowardice of Republican racism

| 10:30 am EDT March 18, 2021
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President Biden is being justly cautious about attributing motive to the scum who murdered eight human beings (six of whom were Asian women) in Atlanta on Tuesday night. Whether or not a racial motive was in play in these murders, the fact remains that hate crimes are on the rise against Asian Americans.

The suspect claims that his motive was sexual addiction. In his sick mind, I suppose, by murdering the women he was killing his addiction. But it does not change the appalling fact that Asians are increasingly targets of bigots, and it’s almost exclusively the fault of the “pro-life” GOP.

One cause of this alarming increase in attacks on Asian Americans is rhetoric. Donald Trump’s insistence on referring to coronavirus as “the China virus,” “Kung Flu,” “the Wuhan Virus,” and so on, has provoked hatred of Asian Americans. This remains a problem. Hate crimes are still inspired and influenced by the toxic ex-president.

Whether or not bigotry was a specific influence on the evil piece of crap who murdered those Asian women in Atlanta on Tuesday, anti-Asian sentiment was a tangible part of the political landscape, and Asian Americans have become “expendable” in the twisted minds of some. After all, bigots are people who seldom admit they are bigots, and Republicans who still deliberately use loaded, anti-Asian language to describe coronavirus are bigots.

Hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen by 150% in the last year. Like the Atlanta murderer, Republicans in need of someone else to blame for their appalling failures in dealing with coronavirus have turned to innocent Asian people to shield them from blame. It’s what cowards do, and if Republicans have done anything they have shown us that “the party of personal responsibility” is in reality a party composed of cowards.

Republicans made much political hay out of Nancy Pelosi’s foray into China Town last year, yet it turned out Pelosi was right after all. Her mission, to establish solidarity with the Asian people of her community, turned out to be a perfect pitched response in the midst of tone-deaf Republican howls of derision. Once again Pelosi has proved who the real adult in the room is.

As recently as a week ago, Former Guy released a statement declaring, “I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) vaccine, that if I wasn’t President you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful “shot” for 5 years, at best …” Apart from the immediately obvious fact that that is one of the most desperate, pathetic statements ever released by a whining child, let alone and ex-president, it illustrates that he’s still trying to provoke hatred against Asian Americans while redirecting blame for half a million American coronavirus deaths — more than any other nation on earth — away from himself.

As Republicans try to shift the blame for coronavirus onto the nation of China while negligently risking the lives of Asian Americans, they might want to consider this. While it’s certainly true that the Chinese government has much to answer for, other nations far less rich and far less powerful than America found ways to deal with the virus that were far more effective. No matter how many times they refashion the name of coronavirus into their favorite finger-pointing, anti-Asian trope, the failure to do as well as virtually every other nation on earth in combating the virus was exclusively the failure of the Republican Party and their pestilential president. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.