Basketball star Jeremy Lin took to social media early Wednesday morning to reflect on the series of shooting attacks targeting Atlanta-area nail salons that left eight dead, including six people of Asian descent.
Lin, presently playing for the Golden State Warriors' G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, said the episode was "heartbreaking," and offered prayers and words of encouragement to fellow Asian-Americans.
"This is sooo heartbreaking," Lin said in a tweet. "praying for our world. To my Asian American family, please take time to grieve but know youre loved, seen and IMPORTANT. We have to keep standing up, speaking out, rallying together and fighting change. We cannot lose hope!!"
The 32-year-old closed his post with a heart emoji and the hashtag, #StopAsianHate.
Hate crimes against Asian-Americans have reportedly seen a sharp uptick in the past year, amid efforts to scapegoat China for the global pandemic, despite the findings of WHO researchers who have debunked a widely peddled conspiracy theory that the virus was hatched in a Chinese lab, and intentionally spread from there.
The Biden administration expressed "deep concerns" about the WHO's findings, in keeping with its predecessors in the Trump administration, and this week continued years of US saber-rattling with tough warnings for China about using "aggression" and "coercion" ahead of diplomatic talks.
Lin meanwhile had recently opened up about bigotry targeting people of Asian descent, revealing he has even been called "coronavirus" by an opposing player on the court.
Lin became the first player of Chinese-American descent to play in the NBA when he debuted with the Warriors back in 2010, to relatively little fanfare. But his star rose immeasurably the following year with the Knicks, when he enjoyed his torrid weeks-long breakout that spurred the "Linsanity" craze in New York in 2011-12.
Stints with the Rockets, Lakers, Nets, Hornets, Hawks and Raptors followed, including winning an NBA title with Toronto in 2018-19. Lin played in China in 2019, but chose to remain stateside this season to join the Warriors' developmental squad.