Eight people are dead after a shooting spree at three Asian-operated spas in the Atlanta area on Wednesday.
The Asian-American community in the United States is under attack – a direct result of the the former President's rhetoric. So many Asians in leadership are speaking out against this hate, in Congress and in their states, as well as many well-known Asian celebrities: Lisa Ling, Jeremy Lin, Olivia Munn, Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy Liu, George Takei. Respect to all who are speaking out. But the shock comes when they are publicly trolled by those in positions of power, who point to China as the source of COVID-19 or implicate the government of China.
The one thing has nothing to do with the other.
Troll Nº 1, Captain Jay Baker, spokesperson for the Cherokee County (Georgia) Sheriff's Office – during a press conference following the traumatic Atlanta-area killings, Cpt Baker said of the accused shooter:
He does claim that it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places – and it's a temptation to him that he wanted to eliminate. … Yes, he understood the gravity of it, and he was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.
I understand that Cpt Baker is paraphrasing the words of the accused perpetrator, but does he have to sound so empathetic? "a really bad day"? In addition, Cpt Baker should acknowledge that the victims are not at fault for being objectified by others, and that calling the victims "a temptation", just a few hours after their murders, is not the best choice for a police spokesperson. Otherwise, if you are trying to explain the attacker's motivation as a 'sex addiction' (caused by diabetes?), it seems like a long way to go to avoid calling it a hate crime, either against Asians or against women or against Asian women.
Soon after the presser, it came to light that last March, Cpt Baker advertised t-shirts for sale in a Facebook post with the caption: "Covid-19: Imported from Chy-na" – and I think I'm justified in assuming the spelling of "Chy-na"comes from the former-President's pronunciation of China.
It is frightening to think that a police captain is advertising race-baiting apparel. Also, why is it always Facebook? Anyway, he is no longer giving press conferences.
Troll Nº 2, Rep Chip Roy (R-Texas) – during a House Judiciary hearing on anti-Asian violence and hate (link to the full hearing video stream), Rep Roy said:
We believe in justice. There's an old saying in Texas about 'find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree.' You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys, that's what we believe. My concern about this hearing is that it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society, free speech, and away from the rule of law and taking out bad guys. … So now we're talking about whether talking about China, the 'Chicoms', the Chinese Communist Party, whatever phrasing we want to use. And if some people are saying, 'hey I think those guys are the bad guys' for whatever reason. And let me just state clearly, I do. I think the Chinese Communist Party, running the country of China, I think they're the bad guys.
First of all, "Chicoms"? what the hell is that? is that like J-Lo? How fun – he has a derogatory nickname for us. Second, a person who talks about justice by 'rope and tree' clearly does not understand America's criminal justice system, and probably should not be in Congress, let alone a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Again, if the subject of a hearing is anti-Asian hate, why bring up "Chicoms"? are you using the hearing to rationalize the hate? With regard to his own rhetoric, Rep Roy remains unapologetic: "We need more justice and less thought policing." He seems to offer a choice between "policing of rhetoric" and living in a world where hate is accepted. Easy choice for me.
Asian Americans have nothing to do with the coronavirus, nothing to do with wet markets or virology labs in Wuhan, nothing to do with the government in China, and definitely nothing to do with the perversions of some nutcase in Georgia. Nothing. We are Asian Americans. And many of the people who have been attacked are not ethnically Chinese – they are (to name a few) Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Korean, and some are Chinese. Still, many of these attacks are not being charged as hate crimes, and it sure sounds like the police in Georgia and many Republicans in Congress are carving out space for excuse-making.
But let's say all the victims are ethnically Chinese; the Asian-American community is still not to blame for COVID-19, or for the actions of the Chinese Communist Party – our community and all those issues are wholly unrelated.
The fact that people like Rep Roy and Cpt Baker feel the need to connect anti-Asian hate with their own distorted concerns is the very definition of bigotry. They are lumping people together because they 'look alike', accusing them based on their race, and dismissing their very real fears. Asians are being attacked and killed. It is fair – utterly and completely fair – for us to dismiss irrelevant worries about "thought policing" and condemn any comments based on ignorance and hate.
Because that is strait up racist.
cases: 122,516,517 global • 30,361,015 USA • 816,623 Portugal
deaths: 2,705,613 global • 552,505 USA • 16,754 Portugal
