NPR

Trump's Racial Slurs To Describe Coronavirus Put Health Care Workers, Patients At Risk

President Trump has characterized the coronavirus by using racial slurs. Health care workers and advocates say these terms are having a serious impact on the Asian American community.
Supporters of President Trump react as he concludes speaking at a campaign rally at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

President Trump again referred to COVID-19 as the “Kung flu” in Arizona on Tuesday night. 

The president’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended his use of the term, saying he was simply characterizing the virus’s origin. But others, including those working in health care, say these racial slurs are impacting the Asian American community

At the same time, the U.S. is grappling with protests against systemic racism in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. Without taking away from the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, we need to talk about racist and

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