Campaign aims to #WashTheHate of coronavirus

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Since growing up in New York City, Telly Wong has witnessed the September 11 terror attacks, Hurricane Sandy and now COVID-19 — and racism aimed at Asian-Americans that has accompanied the virus.

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He and his colleagues launched the #WashTheHate campaign on March 18 to collect and publish stories and videos of incidents that would otherwise go unnoticed. The timing was right: A day before the planned launch, US President Donald Trump publicly called the coronavirus the "Chinese virus."

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Talking about the campaign, Ma told Variety magazine about how a driver of a car next to him at the supermarket yelled, "You should be quarantined!" before driving away. It was one of many incidents happening across the United States as the coronavirus spreads.

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Between mid-March and mid-April around 1,500 attacks or harassment cases were recorded across the United States with most instances occurring in California and New York, according to Stop AAPI Hate, an association of several NGOs in the United States that has launched a hotline to track verbal abuse, assault and hate crimes against Asian-Americans related to the outbreak of COVID-19.

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