“Over the past few days I’ve found myself at a loss for words at the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes. The racist, verbal and physical assaults have left my community fearful to step outside,” The Newsroom alum wrote. “These hate crimes have spiked since Covid and continue to increase even though we ask for help, even though we ask our fellow Americans to be outraged for us, even though we ask for more mainstream media coverage.” Munn went on to highlight victims of recent attacks, including a Filipino American man who was slashed in the face in Manhattan, as well as a 91-year-old Asian American man who was attacked while walking in Oakland, a 64-year-old Vietnamese American woman was assaulted in San Jose and an 84-year-old Thai American who was murdered in San Francisco. “To simply exist as a minority in this country is seen as a protest to some,” Munn wrote. “We need help amplifying the outrage. We need help to feel safe in our country. We need help to be safe in our country.” Naomi Osaka, who has been vocal in the Black Lives Matter movement, also called out the hate toward the Asian community. The Japanese tennis star tweeted on Feb. 6, “The amount of hate, racism, and blame for COVID towards the Asian community is disgusting.” She added, “The fact that this topic is not very widely covered makes me concerned. I only found videos and information because I was scrolling through my IG feed and by some algorithm it appeared.” On Jan. 26, President Joe Biden signed a memorandum condemning racism, xenophobia and intolerance against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Per the memorandum, “During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric has put Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) persons, families, communities, and businesses at risk.” Actor Daniel Wu told CBS News on Tuesday that the executive order is a “step in the right direction.” He said, “What the federal government can do further on is reach out to community groups that are already in this space and have been doing this work for years and find out more about how they can help.” During the joint interview, fellow actor Daniel Dae Kim spoke about the importance of allyship. “Allyship means so much because if only Asian Americans care about Asian American issues, then we’re really speaking in an echo chamber,” he said. “It’s really important that we have people from the African American community, the Latinx community, the White community, all of us working together.” In a message ahead of the Lunar New Year, Dae Kim encouraged the AAPI community to be proud. He said, “Be proud to be Asian. Be proud to be American. You’ve earned the right to be both and we can all work together to be a united America. That’s the hope. That’s the dream.”
See what stars are saying about anti-Asian hate crimes:
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