After getting called out for racist “Chinese” virus language on their website, the Recall Gavin Newsom effort has scrubbed the offending words — and it’s not the first time, either.
The Recall Newsom campaign probably has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. The LA Times reported last week they’ve had 1.2 million signature validated out of the 1.5 million necessary, and have more than a month to make up the rest. There’s still no date set for a potential recall election, but as that movement grows, so does scrutiny of its leadership. The Chronicle reported Monday morning that the official Recall Gavin website had some pretty racist “Chinese” virus language on its website.
The website that contained the phrase is still up, but the word “Chinese” has been removed. As seen above, the language still displays on a Google search. Even if you believe the wink-nod horseshit that “Chinese virus” is not racist phrasing, the statement is pretty appallingly racist on a couple levels. The now-revised, right-wing word salad rationale for recalling accused Newsom of “Funding Illegal Alien owned businesses in the amount of $50 million because CA received federal funding for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [Covid-19/Corona].” (emphasis ours)
To the degree to which any of this wingnuttery makes sense, this is perhaps a reference to last April’s $50 million in support to California small businesses that were not eligible for federal aid.
Organizers of the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom have repeatedly called the coronavirus a “Chinese” virus over the last year, echoing rhetoric that Asian American leaders say has fueled racist attitudes and violence.
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) March 22, 2021
Story by @DustinGardiner: https://t.co/iOhViIl3w6
The recall campaign’s spokesperson Randy Economy did literally apologize “if anybody was offended,” also telling the Chronicle that “Our campaign is not about dividing Californians, it’s about uniting California by removing this divisive governor,” and that “The people will not tolerate nasty divisive manufactured personal attacks by Gov. Newsom.”
And it is not the first time the official Recall Gavin website has been forced to scrub racist language. The Chron adds that as recently as June, that site had also listed “highest Gas Tax in our Nation BEFORE the Chinese Corona Virus,” a reference which has since been deleted.
Not to mention heart attacks and arrhythmia. All this for a Chinese Flu with a 99++% recovery rate. Go Fauci, Bill Gates & Big Pharma.
Posted by Robin Emerson McCrea on Sunday, February 14, 2021
The “Chinese Flu” rhetoric is pretty pervasive at the highest levels of the recall leadership. The above Facebook post from Robin Emerson McCrae, listed as the CFO of the recall campaign, complains of “a Chinese Flu with a 99++% recovery rate.” Tom Del Beccaro, a former state GOP chair who now chairs two pro-recall PACs, also penned an Epoch Times op-ed last year (CW: Link goes to Epoch Times) which repeatedly uses the preferred upscale-racist term “CCP virus.”
Related: Hundreds Rally in Oakland and SF Chinatowns to Denounce Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans [SFist]
Image: RecallGavin2020.com
