My perspective right out of the gate is that calling the coronavirus a “Chinese virus” is tone deaf at best. However, does that mean that Trump should be crucified in the public court for referring to a virus by its origin?

COVID-19 Emergence

My rational mind says no.

Then again I would much rather see a leader who understands the nuance of the situation and focuses on the important matter at hand in that this virus affects us all. “Blaming” China is not productive and neither is a casual mention of the origin of the virus.

“It’s not racist at all,” Mr. Trump said, explaining his rationale. “It comes from China, that’s why.”

I could imagine anyone making that kind of mistake and then graciously accepting responsibility for the perception and offering an apology. Unfortunately that is not the kind of man we have leading our nation and unfortunately too many people lack the empathy to accept responsibility for the perception of what they put out there. A much better bellwether of Trumps racism would be his reference to the belief that “you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides” when talking about white nationalists in Charlottesville, VA.

I see people on the right flabbergasted and the idea that anyone would malign Trump for referring to the origin of the virus. Those groups don’t understand the nuance of grace and those who see it as utterly racist lack some grace themselves. Where does that leave us? Still divided.

In my perfect world those who disagree with Trump inform him that it could be offensive to some that he calls it the “Chinese Virus” and that he graciously accepts the constructive criticism, apologizes, and moves forward without doing it again. I know that world does not exist so where does that leave us? At odds I guess. We have to keep challenging those who think racist references are not a big deal. Especially if they will not listen to constructive criticism. Then again, how much of the criticism has really been constructive? How do we meet in the middle and understand each other?

I don’t know and I worry we are not capable. I just ask that you think about this as we interact with each other in the world. This tragedy is pushing us more and more to online interaction and if we can’t be kind to each other we do nothing more than increase the divide.