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Page 8 Opinion The Clarion \ February 5, 2020 What is a trial? Well, it is not this By Julie Carter Opinion Editor The impeachment of President Donald Trump has been dominating headlines ever since the end of 2019 when the House of Representatives pushed the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress to the Senate for trial. Now, the trial is in full swing, but is it? On Jan. 31, more than a month after Trump’s formal impeachment, the Senate voted against calling new witnesses and presenting new documents within the trial. The vote was largely made on the party line with only Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine voting in favor. The vote fell 51 to 49. Once a trial formally begins, there are four main parts; opening statements, witness testimony, introduction of evidence and closing statements. The Senate just essentially tossed out a fourth of what would typically be a trial. This is the Senate stating, “Well, let’s have that impeachment trial” only to turn around and say, “What a nice trial!” I’m sorry, what? No. No Senator that voted against having witnesses and introducing evidence can make eye contact with a member of the American populous and say they believe they gave President Trump a fair and balanced impeachment trial without being a full-blown liar. Perhaps that is the worst part, though. None of us can be surprised anymore. Time and time again during the Trump administration, the Republican establishment has backed the man with almost no questions asked. When presented with the next shocking actions of the president, most of us now rightfully think, “That is what I’d thought you’d say.” This is life under the Trump administration. It does not make sense. It is not okay. It is what we have been given, and we’ve come to accept it. Any concept of normality and equality was washed away long ago. I pray we'll all wake up and take action to fix it during this election year. The coronavirus is real, your xenophobic reactions aren't By Ala Andonovska Sports Editor As fears over the coronavirus grow, so are the racist and xenophobic tensions against Asian communities in the United States, Canada and Europe. In China, authorities have quarantined more than 10 cities in an effort to control the virus. The United States, United Kingdom and several other countries have quarantined all travelers who have recently visited China. The sad reality is this virus has victims who have never even come close to the city of Wuhan. In recent days, members of the Asian diaspora have complained to “Business Insider” and other media outlets that they are dealing with being racially discriminated against at work, school and various other public places. An eight year old boy, whose mother is Korean-American, and whose father is of mixed background including Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, Native American and white heritage, was told to “get away because he might be from China” by a Costco worker. Students of Asian descent at the University of Arizona have noticed that their peers have started to move away from them or stare for a long amount of time when they cough or sneeze. A Canadian reporter for CTV tweeted a picture of his Asian barber and captioned it, “Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut.” The reporter, Peter Akman, has since deleted the post and apologized, but subsequently was fired. Xenophobic reations are running rampant in Asia, too. In Singapore, 126,000 people signed a petition calling for Chinese nationals to be banned from the country. In Japan, the hashtag #ChineseDontComeToJapan trended on social media sites and apps. As well as people being racist, people who are spreading false information are only fueling the fires of panic. A video went viral of a Chinese woman eating a raw bat with chopsticks, with social media users and media outlets claiming the video originated in Wuhan, and that this is a normal part of the Chinese diet. It turned out the video was actually taken in 2016 in the Pacific country of Palau. What we do know is that the coronavirus spreads from human to human. It originated from Wuhan, and is speculated to have jumped from bats to snakes and then humans. This virus has a lower mortality rate, compared to the outbreak of the SARS coronavirus. "We tend to exist in social silos where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think like us and act like us, and we are innately suspicious of folk that we don't have contact with and we don't understand," Robert Fullilove, a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, said of why xenophobic views spread in times of panic. adding that people “use others as scapegoats.” The best thing one can do is take precautions and preventive measures. Always wash your hands after using the restroom and before eating. Try to avoid putting your fingers in your mouth absentmindedly. Cover your coughs and sneezes. Boost your immune system with vitamin C. Most importantly, do your research so you aren’t fooled by fake news, and do not resort to xenophobia out of fear! Photo from Business Insider A man’s temperature being taken.
