UPDATE 3/23/20, 6:28 p.m. ET: Donald Trump took to Twitter to say that "it is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States" after repeatedly calling COVID-19 the "Chinese virus."
It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus....
See original story below.
As COVID-19 containment efforts continue worldwide, more and more people are rightfully starting to draw attention to a facet of this era that's been previously overlooked in mainstream news' wall-to-wall coverage of the virus. But in a New York Timespiece published Monday, that issue—namely the safety fears of Chinese-Americans—takes precedence.
"I feel like I'm being invaded by this hatred," Edward, one of nearly two dozen people interviewed for the must-read piece, said of the aggression many are facing in public as the current POTUS continues to insist on referring to the novel coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" instead. "It's everywhere. It's silent. It's as deadly as this disease."
Attacks detailed in the Times piece include being yelled at, spit on, kicked, punched, and more.
In the authors' words, other Asian-Americans have been met with despicable acts of hate in recent months due to being "lumped together with Chinese-Americans by a bigotry that does not know the difference."
Stats on these incidents are still in the process of being pulled together, but a few institutions—including San Francisco State University—have already reported a dramatic uptick. The school, for example, found an increase of 50 percent in the amount of news articles related to the virus and acts of anti-Asian discrimination between the time period of Feb. 9 and March 7. One researcher argued that this 50 percent rise is merely "the tip of the iceberg."
For Sabrina Tavernise and Richard A. Oppel Jr.'s full piece, please click here.
As for Trump, he has shown no signs of intending to refrain from offensively deeming COVID-19 the "Chinese virus." Just last week, for example, he again defended his use of the term during a press conference before later delivering his widely panned line about "well-connected" people seemingly getting earlier access to COVID-19 tests as part of "the story of life."
