‘I Am Not A Virus’: Rep. Ted Lieu Urges His GOP Colleagues to Stop Using Ethnic Identifiers to Describe Covid

Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) fired back at his Republican colleagues for stoking xenophobia about China and the Covid-19 virus.

During an appearance on CNN’s Out Front, Lieu, who immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan when he was a child, offered up his reaction to the shocking comments by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). The Texas representative took time to blast the “Chi-Coms” at a House hearing on Thursday that was instead designated to discuss the reported spike in anti-Asian violence here in the United States recently. Roy also went off an ugly, wandering tangent that appeared to enthusiastically allude to lynching.

“How did that make you feel to hear that in a house committee hearing today,” host Erin Burnett asked, “when we’re talking about six Asian women being shot this week?”

“I served on active duty in the United States military and defend the right of anyone to say stupid, racist stuff, including representative Chip Roy,” Lieu began. “He glorified lynching at this hearing. Lynching has had a profound effect on African-Americans and Asian-Americans. The largest lynching in American history was on Chinese immigrants. I called on him to apologize, and he’s refusing. This hearing was about attacks on Americans who happen to be of Asian descent. It’s that inability to separate the two that caused the Japanese-American internment in World War II and causing hate crime against Asian-Americans at this point.”

Burnett then noted hat GOP Congressman Rodney Davis rejected the link between public figures — like former President Donald Trump — using “China virus” and smears like “Kung flu” and the surge in hate crimes against Asian-Americans. “It’s all political correctness,” Burnett quoted Davis saying.

“The expert witnesses at the hearing today testified that the reports and research showed there is a link between racist rhetoric and the rise in hate crimes,” Lieu noted. “So when the former president used racist terms like Kung flu, you can see that there was also an increase in hate crimes against Asian-Amerans last year. Nearly 150% spike in 16 major cities. And as of March, there’s been nearly 3800 reported incidents of hate crimes and hate incidents. I just ask my Republican colleagues to please stop using ethnic identifiers in describing the coronavirus. I am not a virus. When they say it, it hurts Asian-Americans.

Watch the video above, via CNN.