President Donald Trump's insistence on speaking of a "Chinese virus" has a dark historical precedent for some Asian Americans, who say his word choice is fueling an at times violent backlash. Speaking daily on the global coronavirus pandemic, Trump has incessantly called COVID-19 the "Chinese virus," with one photo even showing his notes in which he had crossed out clinical terms preferred by health professionals. Asian American advocates say that such language plays into centuries-old stereotypes of the community as perpetually foreign and unclean -- and signals, incorrectly, that individuals of one ethnicity are responsible for spreading illness.
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