SYRACUSE, NY (WRVO) – The month of May marks Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. However, this year, it comes at a time when hate crimes against Asians are rising across the country. That wave of discrimination is hitting close to home for some people in the Asian American community.
Mina Cavallaro is a nurse who treats COVID-19 patients in central New York. She’s also Korean American. As she worked on the front lines to fight the virus, she said she heard increasingly offensive language in the world around her.
“People were referring to COVID-19 as ‘Kung flu’, or the ‘China virus’, or just different variations of very ignorant remarks,” Cavallaro said.