By Kim Minji

Korean American singer-songwriter Eric Nam has blasted anti-Asian racism in the U.S. in an op-ed carried by the American magazine Time.

In his March 22 piece titled "If You're Surprised by the Anti-Asian Violence in Atlanta, You Haven't Been Listening. It's Time to Hear Our Voices," he stressed the message of "Stop Asian hate" in the wake of the March 16 shooting spree in Atlanta that killed eight people, including four ethnic Koreans.

"While prosecutors and law enforcement still debate whether to designate the murders as hate crimes," he said, "millions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), including myself, are left feeling abandoned and overwhelmed with memories of our past, the realities of our present and fears for our collective future in a country we love."

"As attacks on AAPIs have spiked over the last 12 months, the calls for help and the warning signs from our community have felt ignored -- as if the stories were about people living on the other side of the world, not about your neighbors in America."

"Why are women of our community the outlet for and victims of your sexual addiction? How dare you," Nam added, criticizing the notion by Atlanta officials that sex addiction and not racism was the perpetrator's motive.

"Please hear us now because being silent now is being complicit," he said. "We must all continue to be active in creating the change that we so badly want and need for ourselves and our future generations."

kimmj7725@korea.kr