Jeremy Lin participated in an Instagram Live fundraiser this week that helped raise $37,000 for the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice following three shootings at spas in the city just over a week ago.
Partnering with Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and Facebook vice president of social impact Naomi Gleit, the Lin-led fundraiser raised $7,000 in donations. Lin contributed $5,000 and Facebook added $25,000 to raise funds for the cause.
The shootings occurred on March 16 and were committed by Robert Aaron Long, who shot and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. The killings spawned an outcry over the troubling rise in the past year of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and individuals of Asian descent in the U.S.
Lin reacted to the tragedy in Atlanta by penning a powerful essay published by TIME on March 22. Lin, a Taiwanese American raised in the Bay Area, also opened up this week about racism he has experienced during Mental Health Coalition‘s “121” Instagram Live series.
“One thing that I did last year was I started getting a sports psychologist, which is basically a therapist,” he said in a candid conversation with mental health activist Dr. Jenny Wang and his brother, Josh Lin, as transcribed by PEOPLE. “It’s interesting because when you came on, one of the first thing you said was, ‘When you were experiencing this on the court, were you able to name it? And did you consider this as racial trauma?’ That word trauma really stuck with me.”
“I didn’t realize it, but because of the way I grew up and because of the experiences I had, I ended up just thinking, ‘This is just the way it is. This is just the way the world is,’ ” Lin continued. “It wasn’t until I got some mental help that I started to see like, ‘Oh no, there are so many traumas that I have gone through.’
“And when you go through trauma, it means there are wounds there and things that need to be addressed.”
Lin currently plays for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the G League, the Golden State Warriors’ affiliate, after starring overseas in the Chinese Basketball Association during the 2019-20 season following a nearly decade-long stint in the NBA.
Earlier this season, Lin was called “coronavirus” by an opposing player during a G League game, which stems in part from how “Kung Flu” and “China Virus” unfortunately became racially charged terms used for COVID-19. Lin wrote in his TIME essay that Asian Americans “watched with dread” as the terms were “thrown around last year.”
The incident spawned a G League investigation and the player was identified. His name was not released as the matter was handled “internally,” a decision Lin supported.
However, Lin posted a powerful message on Facebook about the experience.
“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,” Lin wrote.
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