Santa Cruz Warriors’ Jeremy Lin wants to build awareness for Asian hate crimes after he revealed he was called “coronavirus” on court.
In a conversation with CNN’s Don Lemon, Lin says he has seen a rise in racism across the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began and that the country must address anti-Asian violence.
“This has been something that’s really blowing up or boiling up for a little bit for me,” Lin told Lemon on March 2. “I’ve seen since last year, around January when everything started to happen, I’ve just seen the rise in a lot of these attacks and hate crimes.”
On Feb. 26, Lin, 32, posted a message on Instagram about his experience with racism.
After revealing his experience, Lin said that he won’t reveal who called him “coronavirus” in the G League.
“It’s not about trying to take somebody down … It’s about building awareness and it’s about promoting solidarity,” said Lin.
The G League is in the process of investigating the incident against Lin.
Lin also spoke about what he wants to see done moving forward.
“At the end of the day what I would love to see is that people spend more time listening and hearing than judging and condemning and I would love to see cross cultural solidarity,” he said. “I would love to see people supporting anti-racism not just in one people group, but across the board.”
Lin also revealed that he is donating money for every single three-pointer he makes.
One of the organizations that he donates to is doing cross-cultural work, anti-racism work and youth empowerment around different issues that have to do with race and social justice.
Lin’s full conversation on CNN: