APAPA – Official Comment on Kevin McCarthy’s tweet on COVID-19
APAPA – Official Comment on Representative Kevin McCarthy’s tweet on COVID-19
Sacramento, Calif. – Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA) agrees, appreciates, and applauds the indignation expressed by the Sacramento Bee Editorial on March 10, 2020. “Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s coronavirus tweet echoes anti-Chinese racism. He must apologize.”
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article241061166.html
“Anti-Chinese racism has a long and tragic history in California. Unfortunately, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield seemed to awaken the ghost of California’s anti-Asian prejudice this week by going out of his way to inject racist overtones into the already tense situation around the coronavirus.”
Every country on this earth is struggling to cope with the spreading of the COVID-19 virus – definitely not the pejorative “Chinese coronavirus” that Rep. McCarthy called it. All U.S. citizens of every color have the right to expect our congressional representatives to work overtime to protect us. It is a great opportunity to fight the common enemy and unite this divided country as the virus does not discriminate. Instead, Rep. McCarthy used racial profiling, derogatory and accusative terms in an attempt to blame an entire American ethnic group.
To learn more about this virus, APAPA would like to refer everyone to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) website for accurate information.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
APAPA recognizes Rep. McCarthy’s past contribution to support passage of resolution regretting historical discrimination perpetrated against Chinese Americans in the U.S. However, we cannot ignore his political and racially motivated statement. We agree with the Sacramento Bee in the need for an apology. Furthermore, we welcome the opportunity to work with his office and provide our perspective to prevent future mishaps and together support and protect the Chinese American community.
