The coalition Stop AAPI Hate said in a statement, “There has been a documented pattern of recent attacks against our community, as we have received nearly 3,800 reports of hate incidents across the country since March 2020. Not enough has been done to protect Asian Americans from heightened levels of hate, discrimination and violence. Concrete action must be taken now. Anything else is unacceptable.”
While many actors have been quick to voice their support for the Asian community, tennis champion Naomi Osaka has spoken out against the issue, too. Posting a picture to Instagram of her recent Tweet, the athlete wrote: “If people loved Asian people as much as they love bubble tea, anime, mochi, sushi, match etc…Imagine profiting/enjoying things that come from a culture and then attacking/diminishing the ethnic group that created it.”
She then added, “#StopAsianHate. It’s really sad that this even has to be a hashtag/slogan. It should be common sense, but it seems like common sense is uncommon in this world now.”
Actor Sandra Oh also spoke at a protest march following the shooting in Atlanta, where she led the protest in a chant of “I am proud to be Asian!” Oh said at the event, “For many of us in our community, this is the first time we are even able to voice our fear and our anger and I really am so grateful to everyone willing to listen.”
