(AP) -- Bigotry toward Asian Americans and Asian food has spread steadily alongside the coronavirus in the United States. Distorted information about the virus that first appeared in China has led to a revival of century-old tropes about Asian food being dirty.
Social media has been flooded with racist memes portraying Chinese people as bat eaters responsible for spreading COVID-19.
A coalition of advocacy groups said earlier this year that it had received more than 2,500 reports of hate and discrimination against Asian Americans across the country.
In addition, Asian American businesses have been among those hardest hit by the economic downturn resulting from the pandemic.
