White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that former President Trump’s rhetoric around the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to discrimination against Asian Americans, comments that come in the wake of Tuesday’s shootings in and around Atlanta that left several Asian women dead.
The U.S. has experienced a dramatic increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, which increased 150 percent in 2020, according to an analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
NBC News reported this week that there were nearly 3,800 incidents of bias against Asian Americans reported over the past 12 months.