'He emboldens racists worldwide': Why I'm afraid of a Trump election win

Ahead of the US election on 3 November, Yahoo News UK has been asking campaigners in Britain what a Donald Trump election victory would mean to them. Here, we speak to Hau-Yu Tam, of the End the Virus of Racism group.

Watch: ‘Trump whips up racist rhetoric... it emboldens racists worldwide’

“I mean… it’s just awful to think about. It is really scary.”

Hau-Yu Tam is contemplating how it will feel if Donald Trump is re-elected next week.

The president has faced serial accusations of racism during his first term in office. Just some examples of this include:

• his labelling of COVID-19 as the “China virus” and “kung-flu”

• his promotion of white supremacism from his Twitter account

• his travel ban on people from Muslim-majority countries

• his racially charged attack on four congresswomen in which he told them to leave the US

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations of racism.

Tam is part of the End the Virus of Racism group, which is fundraising to launch the UK’s first non-profit organisation dedicated to addressing racism faced by people of east and south-east Asian heritage.

Attacks on east and south-east Asians in the US have spiked during the pandemic, but Tam argues Trump has “emboldened racists” worldwide, including in the UK.

In the summer, the group told Yahoo News UK how they suspect Trump’s “hateful rhetoric” has been a contributing factor to a spike in racist attacks against east and south-east Asians in the UK during the pandemic.

“Racism knows no borders,” Tam told this website ahead of the election.

“The things these political leaders say absolutely have an impact on a domestic level. If these incidents are taking place across so many countries around the world and overlapping with other forms of racism like Islamophobia, anti-blackness, it legitimises racism and emboldens racists.”

Watch the full video at the top of this page.