“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…” -1st Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America

“…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…” -14th Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America

San Antonio – a city within the State of Texas; Texas – a State within the United States of America, nominally, a part of the United States of America.

I have recently read several articles stating that the city council, of San Antonio, Texas, where I happen to live, just passed a resolution outlawing the term “Chinese Virus”, “Kung Fu Virus” and any other such related terms as “hate speech”, and has encouraged its citizens to report “any such anti-Semitic, discriminatory or racist incidents to the proper authorities for investigation.”

Here is an article in our local paper that contains the text of the full resolution. And yes, all 11 members of the city council apparently did pass it, unanimously, on 7 May. And yes, they do consider these terms, and others like them not enumerated to constitute “anti-Asian bigotry” and “hate speech.” They claim this “casts blame” on the Asian and Pacific Islander population and they simply will not stand for it. In Section 3 they state that the city will “prosecute and curb hate acts related to COVID-19 in partnership with nonprofit organizations, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, the San Antonio Police Department and other law enforcement partners.” They “urge residents to join us in calling attention to these harms and denouncing hate to keep us all safe during this unprecedented pandemic and beyond.”

So here in San Antonio, we have been informed by our elected rulers that there are certain things we cannot say. And if we say them, we will be investigated by minions of the law to see, apparently, what we can be charged with. Our fellow citizens have been enjoined to “rat us out” if they hear us utter these utterly despicable phrases that are, according to our city council, racist in nature.

Yep! According to Article 1 of their resolution, such phrases would be deemed to “promote racism.” So identifying the virus by were it originated is racist. Who knew? It’s almost as if we have never ever referred to any disease or virus by its point of origin, and this is the first time it has ever happened.

So, is West Nile Virus, which originated in Uganda along the Nile River, now racist and pejorative against people living on the west bank of the Nile river? How about Lyme disease, originating in Lyme, Connecticut? Does calling it Lyme disease mean we hate and discriminate against people from Lyme, Connecticut? German measles? Is this a hate crime against Germans? Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever – discrimination against people from the Rocky Mountains?

How about Ebola? Few diseases strike fear in the heart quite as much as Ebola. Ebola is named after the Ebola River which runs through the area where the disease was first identified in Africa in 1976. Does that mean we hate and fear people who live along the Ebola River in Africa?

It seems, along with tearing down all the monuments to Civil War generals, renaming everything that has a name that refers to someone who ever owned slaves, and in general, rewriting all of American history to make it more palatable to the current generation of progressives and snowflakes, we now need to take a hard look at how we refer to diseases that inflict the general population. According to the San Antonio city council, this is even more important than combatting the virus itself. I guess we need to also go back and rename every disease and virus that refers to a location or person too.

Apparently, this is the new way of doing things. Even though we have been naming diseases after places since time immemorial, we have evolved as human beings, according to CNN and now realize that doing so can be "hurtful" and have negative consequences. We knuckle-dragging folks on the right just need to shut our mouths, and understand that times have changed. Not sure exactly who is in charge of our “continued evolution” and who institutes such rules and regulations that CNN then passes on to we, the unwashed masses, but apparently someone does.

And of course, our progressive masters, like the San Antonio City Council are there to “nudge” us and make sure we get with the program. Or else.

I personally have not referred to the virus as the “Chinese Virus” or “Kung Fu Virus”. But I do refer to it as the “Wuhan coronavirus” and the “CCP virus” on occasion. By the wording of the resolution, these would be just as heinous as the others. I don’t call it the “Chinese Virus” because I want to distinguish it from other viruses that have come from China (like SARS), or which likely will come from China in the future. Calling it the “Kung Fu Virus” or, as I have more commonly heard it, the “Kung Flu Virus” is just silly.

CCP of course, stands for the Chinese Communist Party. I refer to it that way because of the way the CCP has handled it from the get go, which in my opinion has been very poorly. But that would be an entire article in itself.

I have no animus against Chinese people or people of Asian extraction. Someday going to a Yuja Wang concert is currently the only item on my bucket list. I don’t blame Asian Americans, or Asians in general for the virus outbreak. I do hold the Chinese Communist Party responsible, but last I heard, that wasn’t a race, despite the name Chinese in the title. I have no desire to find an Asian looking person and beat them up because of the virus. I have enjoyed takeout Chinese food at my favorite Chinese restaurant while on lockdown because I really don’t want them to go out of business.

I have an idea – instead of trying to police every word that a person might utter that you don’t like for whatever politically correct reason might apply, why not concentrate instead on prosecuting people who actually do something illegal? If a person or group of people beat up some person of Asian extraction, arrest them. We already have laws on the books for assault and battery. Doesn’t really matter why they do so – it’s illegal!

I am not sure who imbued our mayor and city council with the authority to decide what is and what is not “racist” or “hate speech,” and instruct the gendarmerie to act accordingly, but they seem to think they have that mandate from somewhere. Who knew that electing a mayor or city council member conferred upon them dictatorial power over the lives of their subjects. I thought I lived in the United States of America, not some penny-ante dictatorship.

This still is the United States of America, right? We have this thing here that governs us called the Constitution of the United States. The first Amendment to that constitution states that we have freedom of speech and that Congress shall make no law abridging that freedom to speak our mind. The Fourteenth Amendment further states that the States are bound by Constitution as well, and can’t make laws that abridge any of the freedoms guaranteed therein.

I guess the City of San Antonio feels that since they are a city within a State, and not a State themselves, they are somehow not bound by the US Constitution? That they do have the ability to regulate free speech within their boundaries? And that they can do so by decree?

What is it about this virus that brings out the authoritarian spirit that seems buried inside many of our elected officials? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely? This pandemic has given many the seeming opportunity to become little despots, and many have grasped that opportunity with both hands. Perhaps that is why they don’t want to end the lockdowns; they would have to end their power trips at the same time.

Sorry guys, not giving up my constitutional right to free speech. I will call it Wuhan coronavirus, China virus, CCP virus, or whatever I see fit to call it. Likely I will not call it Kung Fu virus or Kung Flu virus because, as I stated earlier, that’s silly. You can call me boorish, ignorant, or even a racist if you like. What you cannot do is deprive me of my first amendment rights. You don’t have the authority to do so.