TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The only Asian American lawmaker serving in the Kansas Legislature says he was physically threatened in a western Kansas bar by an out-of-state patron, who he said questioned if he had been carrying COVID-19.
State Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, said the man also, using an expletive, questioned why he was wearing a face mask. Many members of the Asian American community see the shootings at three Georgia massage businesses and spas that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, as a reminder of harassment and violence that have been occurring against Asian Americans since COVID-19 entered the country.