Wyoming Teen Addresses Anti-Asian Racism in Speech, Debate

CHEYENNE (AP) — For one high school student in Wyoming, speech and debate offers an outlet to speak out against anti-Asian rhetoric and racism, especially after the coronavirus pandemic brought more violence against Asian Americans in the last year.

YuYu Yuan is award-winning orator who helped East High School’s speech and debate team in Cheyenne clench its fourth state championship in as many years last weekend.

She's been perfecting a speech titled “Are you sick of me yet?”

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported that the speech runs through the long history of scapegoating ethnic and minority groups for the spread of diseases, and explores how that rhetoric led to widespread xenophobic reactions to COVID-19.