With the first outbreak of COVID-19 came an alarming increase in ugly language targeted at Asian Americans — from schoolyard bullies, cable news pundits, and even the White House — things like “China virus,” and worse. And those words don’t just hurt the ear but go hand-in-hand with actual harm. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, during the first year of the pandemic, hate crimes targeting Asian-American communities increased by 342% in eight large American cities.

How do ugly words influence the rise in Asian-American hate crimes the country has seen? That’s what I talk about on this episode, with Vietnamese-American journalist Curtis Tate.