The murder of six Asian women at the hands of Robert Aaron Long in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this week has drawn attention to the spike in hate crimes against Asians in America and actress Olivia Munn has come out condemning these ghastly attacks.

Munn wrote:

“I am tired of people humanising white terrorists and excusing their murderous acts. ‘He was a sex addict. He was having a really bad day’.

“It’s meaningless to help a community that’s being attacked and who feel helpless to stop it. This is a way to try to justify and rationalise what he did instead of just calling it what it is: a hate crime against Asian women.

“We have to hold him to account. We have to hold people who think that way to account. You have an entire population living under threat. Asian Americans are targeted. You wanna talk mental health? Let’s talk about how there’s a mental health crisis about living in a country that attacks you just for being you. We need help. Please. #StopAsianHate.”

                                                                              

Olivia Munn
Proud Asian American

The actress who did a fantastic job in the TV show The Newsroom noted a significant upsurge in both physical and verbal abuse of Asians in America since the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said that Asians are being marginalised in the United States and that she is scared for her people. Munn is calling on fellow Americans to be outraged by these assaults and hate aimed at Asian people.

This is not the first time Munn has voiced her concerns on this matter. With President Donald Trump calling the coronavirus the ‘China virus’ and ‘Kung flu’, some white Americans have turned their hate upon Asians blaming them for the ravages of the virus. The way Munn sees it, this is a form of domestic terrorism.

Only last month, Munn said: “The racist verbal and physical assaults have left my community fearful to step outside. These hate crimes have spiked since COVID and continue to increase even though we ask for help.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of both Asian and Jamaican descent, said she stood firmly with Asian-American communities after the Atlanta shootings. The vice president said the country should speak out in solidarity with “our Asian-American brothers and sisters” and that none of us should be silent in the face of any form of hate.

Said Munn: “They put a target on our back and it just can’t be open season for Asians right now. We are living in a country that is attacking us simply for being us. And we really don’t know what we have to do to get help. We need more people to care about us.”