Jeremy Lin spoke out on Wednesday against the rise in targeted attacks against Asian-Americans in the wake of shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors that left eight people dead, the majority of them women of Asian descent, leading to fears the killer had a racial motive.
Lin, who plays for the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, was speaking in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night. The 32-year-old point guard made headlines in February after revealing that he was called “coronavirus” on the court without saying when or where it happened.
The first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, Lin said the violence in Georgia was the natural progression of an escalating trend he’s observed over the past year.
“It feels very different,” Lin said. “Growing up it was always something that might be a little bit more subtle or verbal, but I think what we’re seeing right now is a lot of physical, actual violence, lives being taken, a lot of Asian-Americans who are looking over their shoulders when they go outside, when they go to the grocery store. And we’re starting to slowly see more and more reporting of what is going on, but this is something that is definitely hitting different.”
He added: “It feels like it’s happening more and it feels like it’s getting worse. Even for me, I’m starting to question: ‘If I speak out more, am I encouraging more people to have even more hate?’ By other people seeing these headlines, are we encouraging more people to do more crazy things and to hurt more Asian-Americans? It’s just a very fearful thought process.”
Lin went on to criticize the inflammatory rhetoric of Donald Trump, whose use of racist terms in reference to the coronavirus has been credited with stoking anger and violence against the Asian-American community.
“The previous administration and the rhetoric that was being used,” Lin said. “You can even hear in the audio recordings, the cheers, the laughs, when it was called the ‘Kung Flu Virus’ and everybody was cheering. I think there’s just a lot of racially charged hatred right now that we’re seeing and feeling.”
He continued: “Asians have always been projected as being others or outsiders. We’re starting to see a lot of those microaggressions turn into actual acts of violence and it is really hard to watch. So I encourage people to watch these videos to see this is actually happening. These are real stories, real lives.
“We can’t stop speaking out, we can’t stop fighting and we can’t lose hope. If we lose hope, that’s the end of it.”
Lin’s remarks came three weeks after he went public about an act of racism he experienced while playing with the Warriors’ team in the NBA’s developmental G League at its bubble venue in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The G League launched an investigation after Lin said he was called “coronavirus” on the court, prompting the veteran to speak up about the incident in a heartfelt Facebook post.
“Being an Asian American doesn’t mean we don’t experience poverty and racism. Being a 9-year NBA veteran doesn’t protect me from being called ‘coronavirus’ on the court,” Lin wrote. “Being a man of faith doesn’t mean I don’t fight for justice, for myself and for others. So here we are again, sharing how we feel. Is anyone listening?”
Lin played 29 games for the Warriors as a rookie in 2010-11, then went to the New York Knicks and gained the popularity that spawned the nickname “Linsanity”. A Taiwanese American, Lin was born in the Southern California city of Torrance but grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lin, who last year pledged up to $1m to coronavirus relief efforts, said there was a generational shift in Asian Americans.
“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans. We are tired of being told that we don’t experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble. We are tired of Asian American kids growing up and being asked where they’re REALLY from, of having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we’re inherently unattractive. We are tired of the stereotypes in Hollywood affecting our psyche and limiting who we think we can be. We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren’t as real.
“I want better for my elders who worked so hard and sacrificed so much to make a life for themselves here. I want better for my niece and nephew and future kids. I want better for the next generation of Asian American athletes than to have to work so hard to just be ‘deceptively athletic.’”
Lin followed that post with another the next day, saying he did not plan on publicly outing the player who used the term.
“I know this will disappoint some of you but I’m not naming or shaming anyone,” Lin tweeted. “What good does it do in this situation for someone to be torn down? It doesn’t make my community safer or solve any of our long-term problems with racism.”
In addition to his stints with the Warriors and Knicks, Lin has also played for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks and in 2019 became the first Asian-American to win an NBA championship, doing so with the Toronto Raptors.