"Rising Against Hate": Confronting Anti-China Rhetoric by Politicians That Fuels Anti-Asian Attacks

With midterm elections three weeks away, a new report links reported hate crimes against Asian Americans to anti-China rhetoric used on the campaign trail. This issue is also examined in a new PBS documentary, “Rising Against Asian Hate,” which explores the fight against anti-Asian racism following the Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021, when a white gunman targeted multiple Asian-owned businesses and killed eight people, six of them Asian American women. At the time of the killing spree, hate crimes against Asian Americans had been on the rise after then-President Trump blamed the outbreak of the coronavirus on China, calling it the “kung flu.” “We felt that we had to document this moment,” says executive producer Gina Kim, “and make sure that people recognize that this is an issue that we need to confront as a nation.”