Here's what she said, on our behalf.
The American people reflect on the courage and optimism of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens who gathered peacefully 31 years ago in Beijing and throughout China to protest widespread official corruption and demand a greater say in the governance of their country. The Chinese Communist Party's slaughter of unarmed Chinese civilians is a tragedy that will not be forgotten. The United States calls on China to honor the memory of those who lost their lives and to provide a full accounting of those who were killed, detained, or remain missing in connection with the events surrounding the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989.On this day of remembrance, the people of the United States call upon the Chinese government to fulfill its commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Sin0-British Declaration, to uphold the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Chinese citizens under China's constitution, and to end the systemic persecution of millions of ethnic and religious minorities. The American people stand together with all Chinese citizens in their pursuit of fundamental rights, including the right to accountable and representative governance and freedom of speech, assembly and religious belief.
Now, there is nothing wrong - and actually, everything right - with us remembering those who fought for their rights at Tiananmen Square. The iconic image of 'Tank Man" always comes to mind whenever I hear Tiananmen mentioned.
So, where's the irony? Well, let's take a look:
- The student protesters were advocating for a free press; the president of the United States calls the press the enemy of the people, threatens to or actually sues major publications, tries to block reporters and citizens who criticize him, and regularly denigrates female reporters, particularly women of color.
- The Chinese government suggested that the protests were not organized by students, but instead by counter-revolutionaries; the president of the United States has convinced himself and actively seeks to convince others that left-wing anarchists are causing trouble, which bears some truth, but he and his minions refuse to acknowledge our own intelligence reports showing that it's also right-wing extremists causing trouble, or reports showing no anarchist involvement.
- The student protesters, as McEnany noted in her statement, were advocating for the right to assemble and religious freedom; the president of the United States allowed and/or approved peaceful protesters, clergy, and seminarians to be cleared from a park so he could have a Bible-enhanced photo op in front a church.
- The Chinese government deployed the military, against protesters in their capitol; the president of the United States deployed "thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers" against protesters in our capitol. Many of them are wearing uniforms devoid of identifying objects, emblems, patches, name tags or badges.
I could keep going, but I think I've made my point: here we sit, in the middle of nation-wide protests around the killing of yet another unarmed black man at the hands of law enforcement, demanding another country's government provide a full accounting of protest violence and rights violations in their country from 30 years ago...
And here we sit, allegedly speaking as a unified American people, standing with the people of another country "in their pursuit of fundamental rights," while we don't even routinely stand for the same for our fellow Americans, especially people of color, the poor, LGBTQ, Muslims, members of the 'other' political party, and more? When people routinely say people who die during an arrest "deserve it?" When we can't even get people to understand what #BlackLivesMatter even means - and doesn't, or that there's even such a thing as white privilege?
To me, those things are a whole lot more ironic than the proverbial "rain on your wedding day."
What do you think?
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