The editorial board of the Kansas City Star wrote a blistering message to President Donald Trump for his silence after two Indian immigrants were shot in Olathe, Kansas on Feb. 22., one of whom was killed.
Srinivas Kuchibhotla and his friend Alok Madasani were having a drink at a bar when a white man approached them and opened fire. He reportedly shouted "go back to your country" before lethally shooting Kuchibhotla. Trump, who has spent much of his first month in office denouncing the media — by claiming that terrorist attacks do not get coverage — has remained silent on acts of white terror.
"At some point, embarrassingly late begins to verge on something more disquieting," the editorial board wrote. "People around the world were immediately and rightfully horrified [by the shooting of the India-born engineers.]"
"But our president?" they wrote. "Mum. Not a word has been spoken, tweeted or prepped for Trump’s teleprompter."
On Tuesday, Kuchibhotla was cremated in the city of Hyderabad in southern India and his funeral was met with crowds of protesters calling for an end to racism and Trump. Sunaya Dumala, Kuchibhotla’s widow said last week, "We’ve read many times in newspapers of some kind of shooting happening. And we always wondered, how safe? I need an answer from the government … What are they going to do?"
"Trump has offered no words of condolence for the grieving widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who died from his gunshot wounds," the Kansas City Star editorial board penned. "The president has expressed no sympathy for Kuchibhotla’s best friend, Alok Madasani, who continues to recover from bullet wounds and the trauma."
The letter continues, "Surely the White House team could have cobbled together a statement of some sort, a response to at least address growing fears that the U.S. is unwelcoming of immigrants, or worse, that the foreign-born need to fear for their lives here."
"Tuesday night, the country and the world will be watching when Trump addresses a joint session of Congress. He should use the opportunity to thoughtfully —and belatedly — address this brazen act of violence," they noted. "Because with each passing day, Trump’s silence is even more telling."
