'You brought the kung flu here': Man charged with federal hate crime following attack against Asian student

'You brought the kung flu here': Man charged with federal hate crime following attack against Asian student



A black man in Ohio now faces federal hate crime charges after he allegedly attacked an Asian student and hurled racially-charged invectives at him.

On Wednesday, Darrin Johnson, 26, was indicted by a federal grand jury for a hate crime charge stemming from an August 2021 attack. The incident took place near the University of Cincinnati, just as students were returning to campus. At the time, Johnson supposedly yelled various ethnic slurs at the Asian American student, including "get away from me, you Asian," "go back to your country," and "you [brought] the kung flu here."

He also allegedly threatened to kill the young man, identified only as Tyler. "You're going to die for bringing it," Johnson allegedly stated.

After the verbal assault, Johnson punched the unnamed victim in the head, reports claimed. The force of the blow caused the man to fall backwards and strike his head on a car bumper. Police said that Johnson continued assaulting Tyler, who is a UC student, while he was bleeding on the ground. Tyler suffered several injuries during the attack, including facial lacerations and a concussion.

Two witnesses to the event then physically contained Johnson and waited for police to arrive, reports said.



In October 2021, Johnson pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and criminal intimidation for the incident and was sentenced to nearly a year in jail — 360 days. Johnson has since served that sentence. Johnson was arrested again on Thursday morning, following the grand jury indictment.

There are several federal officials involved in this case. U.S. attorney Kenneth Parker and FBI special agent J. William Rivers announced the charges, and assistant U.S. attorney Megan Gaffney Painter will be prosecuting the case. They believe that Johnson was motivated to attack Tyler because of his race.

Johnson faces up to 10 years in federal prison, if convicted.

Tyler spoke to reporters following the federal indictment.

"I feel really hopeful that things are going to go in the right direction," he said. "And I hope [Johnson] gets the mental treatment he needs."


H/T: Fox News

Ted Lieu on Atlanta mass killing: Remember Trump’s ‘kung flu’?



Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) hit out at former President Donald Trump over his use of the term "kung flu" in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and took to Twitter to connect the comments to Tuesday's mass killing in Atlanta.

What's a very brief history?

The accused killer — 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia — reportedly opened fire on Tuesday night at three different spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people.

At least six of those people were ultimately identified as women of Asian descent.

Authorities arrested a 21-year-old suspect in connection with the murders, and police did not rule out the possibility of a hate crime.

What are the details?

On Tuesday night, Lieu took to Twitter to remind the public that Trump used the term "kung flu" to describe the virus, prompting people to act discriminatorily against Americans of Asian descent.

"According to this report," Lieu wrote, "6 of the 8 murder victims in the Atlanta area mass shooting are Asian women. Was this a hate crime? We need more evidence. But we do know the alleged murderer targeted three locations where the victims would disproportionately be Asian women."

According to this report, 6 of the 8 murder victims in the Atlanta area mass shooting are Asian women. Was this a h… https://t.co/ax6ZaOiSn1
— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu)1615953279.0

The Democratic lawmaker also shared a tweet from actress Mindy Kaling, who addressed the mass killing and blasted the "normalizing of anti-Asian hate speech in the past year."

She wrote, "The targeting of our Asian brothers and sisters is sickening, but not surprising given the normalizing of anti-Asian hate speech in the past year. We have to #StopAsianHate, enough is enough!"

In response to Kaling's tweet, Lieu wrote, "The former president used racist phrases like Kung Flu that inflamed discrimination against the Asian American community. Officials that continue to use ethnic identifiers in describing the virus are part of the problem. Please instead be a part of the solution. #StopAsianHate."

The former President used racist phrases like Kung Flu that inflamed discrimination against the Asian American comm… https://t.co/vPhgvHmarA
— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu)1615958889.0

Poll: 66 Percent of Voters Disapprove of Terms 'Kung Flu,' 'China Virus'

A new poll has found that 66 percent of registered voters find it inappropriate to use the terms "kung flu" or "China virus" when referring to COVID-19, while 34 percent said it is appropriate.