“Speak Up When You See Us Attacked for Simply Being Who We Are”

For nearly two years, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) healthcare workers like Dr. Michelle Lee, a radiology resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, have fought COVID-19 from the front lines, while simultaneously battling a growing wave of anti-Asian attacks.

In an opinion piece published in The Washington Post, Dr. Lee discusses the recent tragedies in New York City involving AAPI women, and how the violence continues to hit too close to home. “Despite being born and raised in New York City, I now worry for my physical safety more when taking public transportation than I have while working in a hospital during the pandemic,” she writes.

In the wake of a staggering rise in attacks against people of Asian descent and anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City — the New York Police Department reported a 361 percent rise between December 2020 and December 2021 — Dr. Lee calls for everyone to honor the memories of the victims of these senseless acts. “Michelle Go, a manager at Deloitte, also volunteered and advocated for the homeless. Christina Yuna Lee, a creative producer at the digital music platform Splice, helped lead diversity and inclusion causes at her company. These women believed in change and the compassionate treatment of other minority and vulnerable communities,” she writes “We should embrace these same principles when demanding better. And all Americans need to acknowledge the escalating violence toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, especially women — to speak up when you see us attacked for simply being who we are.”

Read the full op-ed here.