Hikaru Shida and Kevin Nash Weigh In On #StopAsianHate Movement

This past week in Atlanta, a man was arrested after fatally shooting eight people at spas in the area, with six of them being Asian women. Atlanta authorities have said that the shooting “didn’t appear to be” racially-motivated, but the Atlanta community and people online were outraged by this. It is believed that the number of verbal and physical attacks on people of Asian descent have dramatically increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stop AAPI Hate reports there have been 3,795 racially motivated attacks on Asian Americans since the pandemic started (which is likely higher if unreported case are included), while Fight COVID Racism reported there were 947 attacks in Canada. There are some who attribute that to the origin of the virus and the inflammatory language some people in government have taken about the issue. The recent shooting and aftermath caused #StopAsianHate to trend on social media again, with many people speaking out against the shooting and other attacks on Asian people over the past year.

Hikaru Shida commented on the matter in a video posted to her Youtube channel. She said: “Hello everyone, this is Hikaru Shida, AEW Women’s World Champion. Let me tell you my opinion about #StopAsianHate. It has been almost a year and a half since I started to live here. I’ve never felt discriminated, never. And I don’t want to say that I’m lucky because it should be normal for everyone. I hope that people, not only Asian, people all over the world live normal, equal lives. Thank you for watching.”

Kevin Nash added in a post on Twitter: “America is so full of hate. The senseless violence against our Asian American community once again showing how broken we are. Let’s be diligent and protect our Asian Brothers and Sisters.”

America is so full of hate. The senseless violence against our Asian American community once again showing how broken we are. Let's be diligent and protect our Asian Brothers and Sisters.

— Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) March 19, 2021