In an interview made during an appearance on Bill Clinton’s podcast “Why Am I Telling This?,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) pointed at former President Trump’s use of terms like “Kung flu” and “Chinese virus” when talking about the coronavirus, saying that this kind of rhetoric made a big contribution in occurring an anti-Asian attacks which happen in the U.S. this year, informed The Hill.
“When I first heard the former president use words like ‘kung flu’ and ‘Chinese virus,’ I was really horrified. And every time he said it, I thought, okay, this will be the last time. He couldn’t possibly continue to use it,” Meng said.
“And even the WHO, the World Health Organization, even his own secretary of health suggested that we don’t use words like that, but he continued, and so, while racially motivated harassment of Asian Americans is longstanding issue and certainly didn’t start last year. But since COVID-19 began, the incidents have been nonstop,” she said.
“And when you have a leader in this country who has a tremendous platform, use words and fuel false facts and misinformation about the virus and it’s perpetuated by the leaders, the top leaders of the Republican party in the White House and the Congress, what happens is people, Asian Americans get shoved, assaulted, spat on,” added Meng.
In a report released this week, the reporting center for incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Stop AAIP Hate) said that since March 2020 they received nearly 3,800 first-hand accounts of anti-Asian hate.
During the podcast, Clinton noted that only in N.Y.C. the anti-hate crimes were 8 times higher compared to 2019.
“Just two days ago in a park right near my house, a mom was ut with her baby and a man came up to her, spat at her direction three times in front of her baby and said ‘Chinese virus go home,’” Meng, the first and only Asian American Congress member said in the podcast.
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