<p>TOPEKA, Kan. — 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. </p>
<p>In social media comments posted Friday, state Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, said the man confronted him and, using an expletive, questioned why he was wearing a face mask. Xu told the Associated Press that the patron also questioned if he was carrying the virus. </p>
<p>“That’s a pretty specific dog whistle at Asian Americans from the last year,” Xu told the AP. “Most of the anti-Asian American rhetoric that has happened has had some form of that message.”</p>
<p>Many members of the Asian American community see the shootings at three Georgia massage parlors 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. </p>
<p>Moments after the confrontation, Xu said he heard the patron searching for him in the bar, yelling that he was going to “kick his ass.” </p>
<p>In a post shared over 200 times, Xu said he visited the Russell sports bar after featuring as a guest on a PBS television show based in nearby Bunker Hill. Waitresses apologized to him after the incident and a patron bought him a drink, Xu said. He said people at the bar told him the patron was from out of state.</p>
<p>“Everybody at the bar who’s actually from Russell was amazing and kind and I had a good time,” Xu said, adding that he doesn’t think where the incident happened is important. </p>
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<p>Andy Tsubasa Field is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.</p>
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<p>On Twitter, follow Andy Tsubasa Field at <a href="https://twitter.com/AndyTsubasaF">https://twitter.com/AndyTsubasaF</a></p>
