Olivia Munnis speaking out against the rise of violence against Asian Americans.
In an impassioned Instagram post Wednesday, the actress and television personality called for “help” in the fight against such crimes, which have seen an increase amid the ongoingCOVID-19crisis.
“Over the past few days I’ve found myself at a loss for words at the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes,” began Munn, 40. “The racist, verbal and physical assaults have left my community fearful to step outside.”
She continued, “Thesehate crimes have spiked since Covidand 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.”
“In just the past week a91-year-old Asian American man was attacked from behindas he walked down the street in Oakland, an 84-year-old Thai American was murdered in San Francisco, a 64-year-old Vietnamese American woman was assaulted in San Jose and a Filipino American man was slashed in the face in Manhattan,” added theSixactress.
Olivia Munn.Taylor Hill/Getty Images
“To simply exist as a minority in the country is seen as a protest to some. We need help amplifying the outage. Weneed help to feel safe in our country. We need help to be safe in our country,” she continued, signing off her message, “With Love, Olivia Munn / Proud Asian American.”
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ActorDaniel Wu— who, along withDaniel Dae Kim, offered a$25,000 reward for information leading to a suspectresponsible for a series of Jan. 31 assaults (anarrest has since been madein connection with these specific attacks) — spoke at a press conference Monday about the rise in attacks against Asians in the U.S. over the past year.
“Racist rhetoric from the pandemic have targeted us as being the reason for coronavirus,” said Wu, 46, according toABC News. “And so, Asians across the board have been targeted, being pushed, attacked, spat on. Outside of San Francisco, in Los Angeles andin New York, these incidents are happeningall over the country.”
Daniel Dae Kim (L); Daniel Wu.Theo Wargo/Getty Images; MediaPunch/Shutterstock
“I’m directing federal agencies to combat resurgence of xenophobia, particularly against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, thatwe’ve seen skyrocket during this pandemic,” Biden, 78, said in a speech on Jan. 26. “This is unacceptable and it’s un-American. I’ve asked the Department of Justice to strengthen its partnership with theAsian American and Pacific Islander community to prevent those hate crimes.”
He continued, “I’ve also asked the Department of Health and Human Services to put out best practices for combating xenophobia in our national response to COVID.”
About 31 percent of Asian Americans said they have been subjected to discrimination since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to aPew Research Center reportreleased last July.
source: people.com
