Kamala Harris Introduces Resolution Condemning Use Of  ‘Racist’ Phrases Like “Wuhan virus”,“Chinese Virus,”,“Kung-flu”

Senator Kamala Harris has introduced a resolution condemning the use of the phrase “Wuhan virus” to refer to SARS-CoV-2 describing it as racist.

Harris, whose attempt to win the Democratic party nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in the November presidential race ended in failure, introduced the bill on behalf of a number of Democrats to condemn “all manifestations or expressions of racism, xenophobia, discrimination, anti-Asian sentiment, scapegoating, and ethnic or religious intolerance” and “to expeditiously investigate and document all credible reports of hate crimes, incidents, and threats against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the United States.”

The resolution specifically cited the use of phrases such as “Wuhan virus,” “Chinese virus,” and “Kung-flu.”

Trump himself referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” on at least one occasion and justified it by saying “it comes from China,”. However he has refrained from using it subsequently.

“If you look at Ebola, right, if you look at Lyme in Connecticut, you look at all these different horrible diseases, they seem to come with a name with a location,” he said. “I don’t have to say it if they feel so strongly about it, we’ll see.”

Harris’s resolution was supported by fellow Democratic senators Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.