Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty
Olivia Munnhad an emotional response to PresidentJoe Biden’s order on Thursday to haveAmerican flags lowered to half-staffin memory of the eight people killedin Tuesday’s spree shootingat three Atlanta-area spas.
“That for us, was just so powerful,” Munn, 40, said of Biden’s order during an appearance on SiriusXM’sGayle King in the HouseThursday.
Six of the victims were Asian women. The massacre – which occurred at three different massage parlors – comes at a time when violence against Asian Americans has been rising.
According to a recent Harris poll, 75 percent of Asian Americans are fearful of increased hate and discrimination toward them. Connie Chung Joe, CEO of the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, says that there have been at least 2,800 hate incidents targeting Asians nationwide in the past year but that those numbers may be deceptively low.
Munn also shared that she has a group chat, which includes the “brilliant” and “eloquent” journalist Lisa Ling, where they discussed the half-staff order.
“Lisa’s like, ‘It just means so much to us to have someone at that level say that these eight women, these [six] Asian women, that they matter and that all of the flags across our country will go at half-staff for them,’ " Munn, whose mother is a refugee from Vietnam, recalled.
The actress added, “It was an emotional moment for all of us, and we all took a moment and just cried together.”
Biden, 78, ordered the White House, military grounds and other federal government buildings to lower the American flag through Monday “as a mark of respect.”
Local investigatorshave saidthat the suspect in the Atlanta massacre, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, seemed to have a sex addiction and the spas were “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
He “may have frequented some of these places in the past,” Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynold said Wednesday.
The investigation is ongoing.
Victims include Soon Chung Park, 74, Hyun Jung Grant, 51, Suncha Kim, 69, Yong Ae Yue, 63, Delaina Ashley Yuan, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, Xiaojie Yan, 49, and Daoyou Feng, 44, theNew York Timesreported.
“Whatever the motivation here, I know Asian Americans are — they are very concerned, because as you know I have been speaking about the brutality against Asian Americans for the last couple of months and I think it is very, very troubling,” Biden said Wednesday, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
Drew Angerer/Getty
She appeared alongside her friend Sam Cheng whosemother was attacked outside a New York City bakeryon Feb. 16.
Munn told Parsons, “You know, there’ve been so many attacks against the Asian community, especially the elders in our community. Over the past year, it’s been an astronomical rise. I mean, just in New York alone, it’s a 1,900 percent increase in just a year.”
Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
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The actress added that many older victims of these hate crimes are often reluctant to speak out about attacks.
RELATED VIDEO: Olivia Munn Speaks Out on Anti-Asian Violence After ‘Devastating’ Attack on Friend’s Mom
“Our parents have been conditioned to keep their head down, to take it on the chin, to keep going to be treated like second-class citizens,” she said, adding that Cheng’s mother likely wouldn’t have reported the assault.
To learn more and to report crimes, go to:Asian Americans Advancing Justice,Stop the AAPI Hate,National Council of Asian Pacific Americans,Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA, andAsian Pacific Policy & Planning Council.
source: people.com
