Tennessee's White Supremacy Problem

The day after a white guy drove around Atlanta killing Asian people, Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted: “The Biden Administration refuses to admit that China is responsible for this virus. What would make us think #BeijingBiden would stand up to them on anything else?”

This country has already seen a rise in attacks on Asian Americans in the wake of Republican efforts to link the rise of COVID-19 to some deliberate act of sabotage on the part of China. And then here’s Blackburn in the wake of a horrific string of killings pouring gas onto a raging fire — as if there’s something noble about people who will "stand up" to Asians.

Listen, there are 7.8 billion people on the planet, and 1.4 billion of them live in China. Big numbers are hard to wrap our heads around, but let’s instead imagine eight people in a room, two of whom are Chinese — a quarter of the people in the room. Now say that someone in the room coughs, but you can see who. What nationality would you guess the cougher is? Or say someone in the room has an ice cream cone, but you can’t see who. Who would you guess? You have a one in four chance of being right if you say "Chinese." If you just say "Asian," you have a 50/50 chance of being right.

COVID didn't come out of Asian countries because of some nefarious Chinese plot against Americans. It came out of Asian countries because half the world’s population lives in Asia. (A bit more than half, actually.) That’s not a conspiracy. That’s just how demographics work.

Read more: https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21146658/tennessees-white-supremacy-problem