The Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA) condemns the discriminatory rhetoric and racist attacks against the Asian Pacific American (APA) community in the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

While many of our leaders and ordinary citizens have inspired us through strength and resilience during the coronavirus outbreak, others have taken the opportunity to launch bias-motivated attacks on members of the APA community across the country and around the world. This is simply intolerable.

These attacks are based on misguided assumptions and misinformation suggesting that APAs are more likely to carry and spread the coronavirus. Instead of referring to the outbreak as either coronavirus or COVID-19, individuals have used dog-whistle terms like “China Virus,” “Kung-Flu,” or “Wuhan Virus” to encourage the racialization of the disease and justify discrimination against APAs.

The coronavirus is not linked to race or ethnicity. This pandemic presents public health and economic challenges unlike any that we have seen during our lifetime. Divisive rhetoric and violent attacks based on misinformation and racism stoke fear at a time when it is critical that we come together to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and across the world.

AABA denounces anti-Asian discrimination and racial intolerance. Xenophobia and racism have no place in our country. Rather than dividing our country and spreading misinformation, our country’s leaders should be speaking out against the xenophobia that is endangering our community. We echo the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in urging elected officials, community leaders, and the media to share only confirmed and verifiable information relating to the coronavirus, to help bring an end to racist coronavirus-based rhetoric and violence, and to focus efforts on reducing the spread of the coronavirus in order to save lives.