In these times of quarantine craziness, Asian Americans have been facing more than just the fear of contracting the coronavirus, these people have been dealing with discrimination amid the outbreak too.
And the most powerful leader in the world isn’t doing anything to help the situation. In fact, he’s making things worse.
President Donald Trump recently made hurtful and misleading comments, saying “China is to blame” and calling the disease the “China virus.”
ABC News’ Linsey Davis breaks down how the coronavirus is, unfortunately, being linked to Asian Americans:
“I’d like to begin by providing an update on what we’re doing to minimize the impact of the ‘Chinese virus’ on our nation’s students,” said Trump during a press conference.
In the words of Trump, “Sad!”
Meanwhile, the labels and titles that some people are giving to Asian Americans are causing more harm than good, starting many acts of violence against these innocent people to occur.
Asian American outrage has even been trending on Twitter over time, getting thousands of likes, retweets and discussions about hate speech and racism being shared across social media.
One blogger said that by calling it the “Chinese” virus Trump is perpetuating the fear, hatred, and in some cases, violence against Chinese and Asians worldwide:
“I have to be extra careful that if I sneeze, because I know I’m Asian, and more specifically Chinese, what are people going to think?”
In an interview with ABC News, Rep. Grace Meng told the news agency that she wants Trump to say COVID-19, not the “Chinese virus,” which creates fear, and hatred or worse.
Trump uses tactics like these to “divert from a lack of responsibility,” she said. Meng added that he has been showing “a lack of responsiveness” as well.
Finally, Ted Lieu, a congressman from California, blasted Trump in an opinion piece for the Washington Post last week, shedding light on his misleading and hurtful words.
“Trump’s rhetoric adds fuel to the growing fire of hatred being misdirected at Asian Americans,” he wrote.
