By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

You don’t need to answer the question posed in the headline atop this brief blog post.

It’s a rhetorical query, given that I don’t really expect Donald Trump to say a word about the shooting in suburban Atlanta, Ga., that left eight people dead, six of whom were Asian-Americans.

Our national debate over race relations and racism has turned toward the Asian-American community, which has been demonized and vilified partly because of the rhetoric that came from Trump as the COVID virus began to spread across the nation and around the world. It began in China, and Trump — even today, after he has left office — continues to call it the “China virus.”

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If the ex-president had a shred of decency he would issue a statement of condemnation against the attacks against Asian-Americans and certainly against the massacre that occurred at three Asian-American owned businesses.

Is there a link between Trump’s angry rhetoric and the violence against Asian-Americans that appears to be occurring in communities across the land? It looks like it to me. Whether we ever hear from the ex-president of the United States remains as unlikely as ever.

What a shame.