{"id":3057,"date":"2020-07-12T14:33:48","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T14:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3057"},"modified":"2020-07-12T14:33:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T14:33:48","slug":"trumps-racist-references-to-the-coronavirus-are-his-latest-effort-to-stoke-xenophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3057","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s racist references to the coronavirus are his latest effort to stoke xenophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“In a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this past weekend, President Donald Trump used the term \u201ckung flu\u201d to describe the coronavirus<\/a>, one of several racist statements he made during a wide-ranging speech that touched on his administration\u2019s handling of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the way, it\u2019s a disease, without question, [that] has more names than any disease in history,\u201d Trump said at the time. \u201cI can name kung flu, I can name 19 different versions of names.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Trump\u2019s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has gone on to defend his use of the term. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been noncommittal: When asked how he and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, felt about Trump\u2019s remarks, McConnell declined to say whether he was comfortable with the president\u2019s rhetoric, instead suggesting that the question should be directed to Chao, who immigrated from Taiwan to the US as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McEnany\u2019s defense of Trump is the same flimsy one he\u2019s been using ever since he began calling the coronavirus the \u201cChinese virus:\u201d She argued that such names simply associate the illness with its \u201cplace of origin,\u201d an effort that even if conducted in good faith goes against World Health Organization guidelines that warn against promoting labels that could stigmatize an entire region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe president does not believe it\u2019s offensive to note that the virus came from China,\u201d McEnany said during a briefing on Monday.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trump\u2019s decision to lean into racist rhetoric \u2014 including terminology his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway,<\/a> has condemned in the past \u2014 comes as Asian Americans continue to report hate incidents such as verbal abuse, physical assault, and property damage during the pandemic. As the coronavirus spread around the world, tropes that treat Asians as perpetual foreigners have also resurfaced, fueling racist and hostile anti-Asian sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop AAPI Hate<\/a>, an organization that\u2019s been tracking self-reported hostile anti-Asian incidents since late March, says it\u2019s received more than 2,100 reports since the project began. Such incidents have included instances of employees getting shunned in the workplace, families being spat on at fast food restaurants, and children getting beaten up by their classmates. The group says it saw a surge in reports after Trump began using rhetoric like the \u201cChinese virus\u201d and noted that many \u201canti-China\u201d comments<\/a> were frequently associated with verbal and physical assaults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cA White male walked by me and said, \u2018you f\u2014king Chinese spread the Coronavirus to this country, you should all leave this country!\u2019\u201d one incident report read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cA woman sitting at a bus stop was screaming at myself and other Asians that she saw walking,\u201d read another. \u201cShe said that we were \u2018dirty Chinese,\u2019 that we were trying to take over the US.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers, too, emphasize that Trump\u2019s rhetoric has mattered in the past: An NBC News report by Kimmy Yam points to a February study,<\/a> which determined that Trump\u2019s racist comments against Latino Americans \u201cemboldened\u201d others who held similar views to express them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s continued use of racist statements about the coronavirus \u2014 ultimately trying to deflect blame by pointing out it is foreign-born \u2014 comes as he struggles to deal with the fallout of his own handling of the pandemic: Most recently he came under fire for saying he intends to slow down coronavirus testing<\/a> because doing so would reveal the presence of fewer cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Trump continues to utilize white supremacist and nationalist views as a means of scapegoating his failures for political gain,\u201d said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, in a statement. \u201cUnless we hold him accountable, the discrimination and harassment against Asian Americans will become deeply entrenched, cause unimaginable harm and suffering, and take decades to unwind.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/6\/23\/21300332\/trump-coronavirus-racism-asian-americans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this past weekend, President Donald Trump used the term \u201ckung flu\u201d to describe the coronavirus, one of several racist statements he made during a wide-ranging speech that touched on his administration\u2019s handling of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, it\u2019s a disease, without question, [that] has more names than any disease in history,\u201d Trump said at the time. \u201cI can name kung flu, I can name 19 different versions of names.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Trump\u2019s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has gone on to defend his use of the term. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been noncommittal: When asked how he and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, felt about Trump\u2019s remarks, McConnell declined to say whether he was comfortable with the president\u2019s rhetoric, instead suggesting that the question should be directed to Chao, who immigrated from Taiwan to the US as a child.<\/p>\n

McEnany\u2019s defense of Trump is the same flimsy one he\u2019s been using ever since he began calling the coronavirus the \u201cChinese virus:\u201d She argued that such names simply associate the illness with its \u201cplace of origin,\u201d an effort that even if conducted in good faith goes against World Health Organization guidelines that warn against promoting labels that could stigmatize an entire region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president does not believe it\u2019s offensive to note that the virus came from China,\u201d McEnany said during a briefing on Monday.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Trump\u2019s decision to lean into racist rhetoric \u2014 including terminology his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway, has condemned in the past \u2014 comes as Asian Americans continue to report hate incidents such as verbal abuse, physical assault, and property damage during the pandemic. As the coronavirus spread around the world, tropes that treat Asians as perpetual foreigners have also resurfaced, fueling racist and hostile anti-Asian sentiment.<\/p>\n

Stop AAPI Hate, an organization that\u2019s been tracking self-reported hostile anti-Asian incidents since late March, says it\u2019s received more than 2,100 reports since the project began. Such incidents have included instances of employees getting shunned in the workplace, families being spat on at fast food restaurants, and children getting beaten up by their classmates. The group says it saw a surge in reports after Trump began using rhetoric like the \u201cChinese virus\u201d and noted that many \u201canti-China\u201d comments were frequently associated with verbal and physical assaults.<\/p>\n

\u201cA White male walked by me and said, \u2018you f\u2014king Chinese spread the Coronavirus to this country, you should all leave this country!\u2019\u201d one incident report read.<\/p>\n

\u201cA woman sitting at a bus stop was screaming at myself and other Asians that she saw walking,\u201d read another. \u201cShe said that we were \u2018dirty Chinese,\u2019 that we were trying to take over the US.\u201d <\/p>\n

Researchers, too, emphasize that Trump\u2019s rhetoric has mattered in the past: An NBC News report by Kimmy Yam points to a February study, which determined that Trump\u2019s racist comments against Latino Americans \u201cemboldened\u201d others who held similar views to express them.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s continued use of racist statements about the coronavirus \u2014 ultimately trying to deflect blame by pointing out it is foreign-born \u2014 comes as he struggles to deal with the fallout of his own handling of the pandemic: Most recently he came under fire for saying he intends to slow down coronavirus testing because doing so would reveal the presence of fewer cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump continues to utilize white supremacist and nationalist views as a means of scapegoating his failures for political gain,\u201d said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, in a statement. \u201cUnless we hold him accountable, the discrimination and harassment against Asian Americans will become deeply entrenched, cause unimaginable harm and suffering, and take decades to unwind.\u201d”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[588,409,483,221,758,929,170],"class_list":["post-3057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-corona","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-donald-trump","tag-racism","tag-rhetoric","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3058,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions\/3058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}