US President Biden addresses ‘vicious’ hate crimes against Asian-Americans during pandemic

US President Joe Biden used a White House address on the anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic to speak about hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans. During his speech on March 11, 2021, he noted that racist incidents have been on the rise in the US, with some blaming remarks by former president Donald Trump who often referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus” or the “kung flu”. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned about a rise of hate crimes since the start of the pandemic, but advocacy groups say such incidents are a long-standing problem. Federal data for all of 2020 has not yet been released, but a study by the Asian-American Bar Association showed more than 2,500 anti-Asian hate crimes were reported in the country from March to September 2020.