It’s the Coronavirus, not the “China Virus”: COVID 19, Racism, and The Damaging Power of Targeted Language

I recently had a conversation with someone who repeatedly used the words “China Virus” to describe the Coronavirus — a term popularized by Donald Trump, even as he also has (characteristically) provided contradictory statements enough to ride the wave of propaganda fueled plausible deniability of his intentions to incite racist violence or influence his followers with racist thinking, even as he repeatedly finds new ways to scapegoat and humiliate marginalized communities. The…