A Republican Congressional candidate is being urged by a Korean American group to stop selling masks they say will only worsen discrimination against Asian Americans.
The masks say COVID-19: Made in China followed by Nick Freitas website.
“We are highly disturbed that Delegate Nick Freitas has decided to bankroll his campaign using a narrative that identifies COVID-19 with China,” said the NAKASEC Action Fund. “Blaming China for the COVID-19 crisis in the United States has led to a sharp increase of racially motivated attacks and discrimination against people of Chinese descent and others perceived to be of Chinese descent.”
“It’s pretty despicable that he’s using dog-whistle politics to bank roll his campaign,” Sookyung Oh of NAKASEC said to VPM.
Freitas campaign defended the masks, calling the accusations a “blatantly partisan attack from liberal politicians, who conveniently ignore Abigail Spanberger’s own record of fundraising off of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Spanberger is the incumbent in Virginia’s District 7 Freitas hopes to unseat.
The mask fundraiser has been supported by other republicans including Virginia House Delegate Mark Cole.
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