The World War II victors partitioned the Korean Peninsula after the defeat of Japan. The Western Powers created South Korea, and the Soviet Union backed North Korea.\u00a0\u00a0In 1949, Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took over mainland China. They also became a strong backer of North Korea.\u00a0\u00a0The leader of the North was Kim Il-Sung, the grandfather of current dictator Kim Jong-un. From the beginning of the partition in 1945, Kim supported a Communist insurgency in South Korea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the takeover of Communists in China, Kim felt emboldened to launch a full attack against the South. In June of 1950, North Korean forces crossed the demilitarized zone and made quick advances against South Korea and their allied US Forces.\u00a0\u00a0These allies were driven to the far southern end of the peninsula, and established a defensive perimeter around Pusan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US forces under General Douglas MacArthur launched an \u201cend around\u201d sea invasion behind the North Korean lines at Incheon.\u00a0\u00a0North troops were cut off from their supplies, and forced to fall back.\u00a0\u00a0MacArthur pursued them, all the way to near the Yalu River at the Soviet border.\u00a0\u00a0This triggered a Chinese response. Millions of Chinese Communist forces streamed over the bridges and to the attack against the US and their allies.\u00a0\u00a0The war would drag on for the next three years. US and Chinese forces battled in the mountains of North Korea, and ultimately reached a stalemate at the current line of demarcation, the Demilitarized Zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Forces in the Korean War developed insulting terms for the Chinese troops. Besides the more \u201ctraditional\u201d racist tropes, they were also called \u201cChi-Coms\u201d for Chinese Communists. Like the \u201cJaps and Krauts\u201d of World War II, it was a short hand way of insulting the enemy and \u201cuniting\u201d American GI\u2019s against a racial foe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d hoped we left those type of terms behind.\u00a0\u00a0We don\u2019t call people from Japan, or Germany, or Vietnam, or folks from the Middle East by insulting terms, and certainly not in public places.\u00a0\u00a0But yesterday Congressman Chip Roy of Texas echoed all of those racist sentiments. He used Korean War era shorthand to speak of the \u201cChi-Coms\u201d, the \u201cbad guys\u201d in China.\u00a0\u00a0What made his statement even worse, is that he prefaced it with a statement about \u201cTexas Justice\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He spoke of justice as a tall tree and a rope \u2013 lynching.\u00a0\u00a0And\u00a0\u00a0he made all of these statements in a Congressional hearing that was supposed to examine the growing number of violent attacks against Americans of Asian ancestry.\u00a0\u00a0He said it just days after six of those Asian Americans were murdered in Atlanta at three different massage spas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roy\u2019s defenders argue that it not \u201cpejorative\u201d. It\u2019s just the same as calling the North Vietnamese, Viet Cong, or VC for short. But here\u2019s the problem. In a hearing about the growing abuse against Americans of Asian descent, stoked by the Republican rhetoric about the \u201cChina Virus\u201d or the \u201cKung Flu\u201d or worse, Congressman Roy conflated the two. He put together many Americans now at risk for attack and abuse, with the Chinese Communists our fathers and grandfathers fought. And he did it while stating that he supported the First Amendment, as if they gave him some \u201cright\u201d to encourage violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s all wrapped up in Trumpian politics. A National Intelligence report just released states that the Russians interfered in the US election in favor of Donald Trump, again. Trump supporters responded by saying that it was really the Chinese who interfered to support Biden. The US Intelligence Community says that simply is not true. But because it fits into the \u201cBig Lie\u201d about the 2020 election, Republican Trump stalwarts \u201chave\u201d to be for Russia, and against China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So by conflating Asian-Americans with \u201cChi-Coms\u201d, Congressman Roy is trying to regain support from the Trump base. I suppose that\u2019s because he voted to certify the election for Joe Biden, in a break with many of his fellow Texas Republicans. So maybe this is his way to \u201cmake up\u201d with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t about \u201ccancel culture\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not trying to prevent the Congressman, or other Americans, from expressing racist views.\u00a0\u00a0They can say what they want.\u00a0\u00a0But, like the apocryphal man crying \u201cfire\u201d in a crowded theatre, Congressman Roy should not be held harmless for his statements.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cChi-Coms\u201d have nothing to do with those folks working in Atlanta.\u00a0Nor the elderly beaten because some fool determined that they are somehow at fault for COVID.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Congressman Roy hopes to make political \u201chay\u201d on their misery. Not to conflate myself, but he was Chief of Staff for Ted Cruz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That says it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"