The San Antonio City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday night classifying reference to the geographic origins of the COVID-19 virus as “hate speech” and threatened legal action against “hate speech” offenders.
According to the resolution, introduced by San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and heavily promoted by the left-wing Anti-Defamation League, calling COVID-19 a “Chinese virus” or the “Kung Fu virus” is not only “Sinophobic,” but “racist, Islamophobic, and antisemitic.”
“COVID-19 is a public health issue, not a racial, religious or ethnic one, and the deliberate use of terms such as ‘Chinese virus’ or ‘Kung Fu virus’ to describe COVID-19 only encourages hate crimes and incidents against Asians and further spreads misinformation at a time when communities should be working together to get through this crisis,” the resolution reads.
The resolution also “encourages” citizens to take up Stazi-like tactics, reporting those who refer to the virus’s geographic origins to “the proper authorities for investigation.”
“The City of San Antonio will continue its efforts to protect residents and targets and victims of hate, and to prosecute and curb hate acts related to COVID-19 in partnership with nonprofit organizations, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, the San Antonio Police Department and other law enforcement partners.”
According to City Councilman Manny Palàez, COVID-19 isn’t the only pandemic the United States is currently facing, and Americans have been very sick for a very long time, in part apparently, because they have been allowed to speak freely.
“We have a very long history in the United States, and a tradition sadly, of xenophobia. It’s in our DNA. It’s alive and well, and I believe that it’s more dangerous and more contagious than a virus,” Palàez said. “Thankfully, however, there is a vaccine. That vaccine is light. That vaccine is drawing moral lines in the sand and saying ‘we will not tolerate this.’”
