In an NBC News virtual city hall on Wednesday, Asian-American advocates, journalists and celebrities will discuss the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, prejudice and racism incidents since the pandemic began.
The prefecture of “The Racism Virus” will air on Wednesday at 8 pm (Eastern Time) on NBC News Now. The event will be attended by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., President of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; basketball star Jeremy Lin; actress Olivia Munn; Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University; the Nobel Prize nominee and activist Amanda Nguyen; comedian Margaret Cho; actor Brian Tee; Kimmy Yam, NBC reporter for Asian America and more.
Vicky Nguyen, investigative and consumer correspondent for NBC News, will be moderator. The event is organized by NBC Asian America and NBC News Now.
The conversation will cover how the Asian-American community has dealt with the stigma of being associated with the coronavirus, which has not only had an economic and personal impact, but has led to an increase in violent attacks, the reports show.
In a teaser shared on the “TODAY” program, Lin talked about how someone called him “coronavirus” during a game.
“I was struggling to know if I should talk about it, if I should bring it up and stuff,” said Lin. “This is verbal and something that happened to me on the court, but I think what I’m trying to do is call attention to what’s happening outside the court, with people, with the elderly, with important people we love and in our community.”
Anti-Asian violence has increased since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. A recent analysis that examined hate crimes in the largest cities in the United States revealed that while hate crimes have generally decreased by 7 percent, hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased by 150 percent in the past year.
Vicky Nguyen said that while it was painful to watch videos of viral attacks, she sees the bright side.
“We are talking about it in a way that I feel like we don’t really talk about, so this is quite a moment,” she said in “TODAY”.
“I am very excited to have so many interesting people from all over the country who are going to join this conversation.”
Read about anti-racism resources to support the Asian American and Pacific Island community on here.
Victims can report bias incidents using the online reporting tool Stop hate AAPI, Emergency Response Network AAPI – a non-profit resource led by the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans – or Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s hate crime tracker.
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