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Race—


Trump’s COVID diagnosis reminds voters of xenophobic comments he made at the debate
 

Less than 10 minutes into the first presidential debate, President Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the “China plague.” A half-hour later, the president sidestepped an opportunity to condemn white supremacy outright, instead telling the Proud Boys — a far-right group linked to violence at protests and often categorized as a hate group — to “stand back and stand by.” 

Although much of the post-debate chatter centered on Trump’s Proud Boys comments, Alexandra Mei, 27, found that there was little attention paid to Trump’s xenophobia. 

“Deservedly so, the focus is on white supremacists, and his failure to denounce them,” Mei said. “But, I think it is becoming normal to call it the ‘China virus’ — at least to hear it from Trump.” 

Friday morning, when she woke up to the news that Trump had contracted the virus, she wasn’t surprised — the president has been unwilling to commit to wearing a mask, and has flouted many Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Early in the pandemic, Trump’s focus on what he called the “China virus” had immediate impacts on the Asian American community.
  • Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate, a national coalition, has documented more than 2,500 racial attacks against Asian people since March across 47 states and Washington, D.C.
  • Women reported discrimination nearly two-and-a-half times more than men, from verbal attacks to physical assaults. 
The soaring case numbers and the president’s perpetuation of racist attitudes toward Chinese Americans forged a pandemic within a pandemic. Voters most impacted by these intersecting emergencies have been reckoning with how to keep the virus at bay, while also preparing to fight racism and its accompanying harms. 

“Because of what the president has said, and made super public and made kind of OK to say… that’s now something that Chinese Americans, or basically anyone who looks Asian because people don’t know the difference between Asian races, have to reckon with daily,” Mei said.  

Read the full story by Ko Bragg and Alexis Lanza here.
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—  A new study reports that young queer adults face staggering rates of discrimination.

— Discrimination forced 54 percent of queer people to hide personal relationships, the report says. Fifty-five percent of transgender people reported avoiding public places for the same reason. 

— More than one in three LGBTQ+ Americans (36 percent) said they were discriminated against over the past year, and 69 percent of nonbinary people reported facing discrimination in the same time frame. Among transgender Americans, the rate was three out of five. 

— The findings are a marked jump from a similar survey that the Center for American Progress conducted in 2017 that found one in four “LGBT” adults reported discrimination. 

Read the full story by Kate Sosin here.

Coronavirus—


The pandemic is political — and women are angry at the president


By Errin Haines
(Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

For months, women across the country have been navigating careers, caregiving and the coronavirus crisis, taking precautions and figuring out a new normal for themselves and their families. During that same time, President Donald Trump was downplaying the seriousness of the illness, flouting guidance from medical experts and urging the reopening of the country. 

Early Friday morning Trump announced that he is among the more than 7.4 million Americans who have contracted COVID-19. After spending the weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump returned to the White House on Monday evening, tweeting earlier in the day: “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” 

Interviews with women voters reveal frustration, anger and resentment at what they see as the president’s irresponsibility that has led to a completely avoidable outcome for himself and the nation. They say the president’s actions stand in sharp contrast to the sacrifices they continue to make in their daily lives.

“I was angry at how reckless he had been with not wearing a mask, not social distancing, traveling knowing he had been exposed and endangering his whole family,” said Sara Kerai, a psychotherapist based in Washington. Kerai is a married mother of a second-grader who is learning virtually due to the pandemic.

Rebecca Lyczak said she felt secure returning to working in person this fall as a biology professor at Ursinus College, where she gets tested bi-weekly and students are tested every week. But she’s worried about her husband — a high school teacher currently teaching remotely, but expected to return to the classroom in mid-October — and what his situation will mean for her family.

“Once my husband’s students come back, I don’t think I’m going to be able to see my parents for quite awhile, because I’ll be too nervous,” said Lyczak, whose son is taking a leave from college and living with friends, while her daughter, a high school sophomore, is doing remote learning.
 

Read the full story here.

What we’re reading—

Curated by Alexis Lanza. Have something you think we should recommend? Tell us or tweet at us using #19thShares.
Most girls and young women have experienced abuse online, new report finds. A significant amount of girls and young women are reducing their use of social media or leaving platforms entirely as a result of online harassment. (The Hill, October 2)
The one name the WNBA won’t say. Players have united to depose U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who has clashed with the Black Lives Matter movement and is an owner of the Atlanta Dream. (New York Times, October 5)
How "the most powerful woman on Wall Street" is working to close the gender wealth gap. A women-run company led by investing titan Sallie Krawcheck, known as "the most powerful woman on Wall Street," is taking on the ambitious role of narrowing the gender wealth gap. (CBS, October 3)
A message from this week's sponsor, Goldman Sachs
When women lead, everything changes. Goldman Sachs believes supporting women’s economic empowerment will drive growth for all—learn more.
What we’re streaming—
🎧 Listen: 'Visionary and pragmatic' — A Black feminist guide to electoral politics. In honor of what would have been Fannie Lou Hamer's 103rd birthday, Charlene Carruthers, Brittney Cooper, Rukia Lumumba and Barbara Ransby talk about how Black feminism shaped the Democratic platform in the presidential election. (Scalawag, October 6)
📺 Watch: Live with The 19th: What’s at stake for LGBTQ+ voters in November? Our own Kate Sosin speaks with Precious Brady-Davis, Katie Hill and Andrea Jenkins about LGBTQ+ issues leading up to the election. (The 19th, October 5)
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