>>> A 21-YEAR-OLD WHITE MAN
CONFESSES TO KILLING EIGHT
PEOPLE AND I HAVESHERIFF’S DEPUT
BAKER CHALLENGES HIS INNER DR.
PHIL TO SAY THIS.
>> HE DOES CLAIM IT WAS NOT
RACIALLY MOTIVATED.
HE APPARENTLY HAS AN ISSUE AND
SEES THESE LOCATIO AS
SOMETHING THAT ALLOWS HIM TO,
UMM, TO GO TO THESE PLACES AND
IT’S A TEMPTATION FOR HIM THAT
HE WANTED TO ELIMINATE.
HE WAS PRETTY MUCH FED UP, AT
THE END OF HIS ROPE.
YESTERDAY WAS A REALLY BAD DAY
FOR HIM AND THIS IS WHAT HE DID.
>> A REALLY BAD DAY, FOR HIM.
NOT RACIALLY MOTIVATED?
CHILD, PLEASE.
WHEN SIX OF THE EIGHT PEOPLE
KILLED BY A WHITE MAN WERE OF
ASIAN DESCENT, THAT CLAIM
STRAINS CREDULITY ESPECIALLY
AFTER A YEAR IN WHICH
DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE
AGAINST ASIAN-AMERICANS HAS
SKYROCKETED THANKS IN PART TO
DONALD TRUMP AND OTHERS WHO
DESCRIBE THE CORONAVIRUS
PANDEMIC IN RACIST TERMS.
A STUDY RELEASED THIS WEEK BY
STOP AAPI HATE SHOWS THE IMPACT.
BETWEEN MARCH 19, 2020, AND
FEBRUARY 28 OF THIS YEAR, THE
GROUP REPORTS 3,795 INSTANCES OF
DISCRIMINATION RAREGEINGE RANGIN
VERBAL HARASSMENT TO PHYSICAL
ASSAULT.
THIS IS SCAPEGOATING AT ITS
WORST.
BUT LET’S BE HONEST,
SCAPEGOATING IS AS AMERICAN AS
APPLE PIE.
IT IS THE EVIL COUSIN OF WHITE
SUPREMACY.
TOGETHER THEY REINFORCE THE
NOTION THAT WHITE IS ALWAYS IN
THE RIGHT, ALWAYS GIVEN THE
BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, ALWAYS
GIVEN DEFERENCE.
THEREFORE THE LIVES OF THE ASIAN
VICTIMS IN THE ATLANTA AREA ARE
IGNORED WHILE THE EMOTIONS AND
FEELINGS OF THE WHITE MAN WHO
CONFESSED TO KILLING THEM ARE
GIVEN DUE CONSIDERATION.
AND AS A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA, I
WANT TO KNOW THIS.
HOW DOES A WHITE MASS SHOOTER
SEEM TO ALWAYS GET CAPTURED
WITHOUT INCIDENT?
THE ATLANTA SPA SHOOTING SUSPECT
WAS NABBED BY THE COPS WITHOUT
INCIDENT.
THE MASS SHOOTER AT MARJORY
STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL IN
PARKLAND, FLORIDA IN 2018 WAS
CAUGHT WITHOUT INCIDENT.
WHEN THE ARRESTING OFFICER FIRST
SAW THE 19-YEAR-OLD HE TOLD "THE
WASHINGTON POST," QUOTE, HE
LOOKED LIKE A TYPICALLY HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENT.
AND THE WHITE NATIONALIST WHO
KILLED NINE PARISHIONERS IN
THEIR SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH WAS
CAPTURED WITHOUT INCIDENT DURING
A TRAFFIC STOP.
AND NO, THE ARRESTING OFFICERS
DID NOT TAKE HIM TO BURGER KING
AS WIDELY BELIEVED.
THEY WENT OUT AND BOUGHT IT AND
BROUGHT IT TO HIM IN JAIL.
MEANWHILE, NOT TOO MANY BLACKS
SURVIVE THEIR ENCOUNTERS WITH
POLICE.
12-YEAR-OLD TAMIR RICE WAS
KILLED BY A POLICE OFFICER IN A
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK BEFORE HIS CAR
HAD EVEN STOPPED.
THE WORLD WATCHED THE WANING
LIFE OF GEORGE FLOYD UNDER THE
KNEE OF A POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS
SO BLASE ABOUT THE WHOLE THING
THAT HE PUT HIS HAND IN HIS
POCKET DURING THE
CELLPHONE-RECORDED HORROR.
THE JUSTIFICATION IN SUCH
KILLINGS IS OFTEN THAT THE
POLICE FEARED FOR THEIR LIVES.
BUT TAMIR RICE HAD A TOY GUN AND
WAS THREATENING NO ONE.
GEORGE FLOYD WAS ARRESTED FOR
PASSING A FAKE $20 BILL.
THE INDIFFERENCE TO LIVES NOT
WHITE MUST STOP.
THE DISREGARD FOR THE FEAR OF
WHITE TERROR MUST STOP.
AND THE LONELY SUFFERING IN
SILENCE BY THOSE NOT WHITE MUST
STOP.
IN AN OP-ED FOR "THE WASHINGTON
POST" LAST YEAR, A NOVELIST
WROTE, BECAUSE PEOPLE IN POWER
SEE US AS EITHER MODEL MINORITIES OR THE PERMANENT
MINORITIES OR THE PERMANENT
FOREIGN SUBSERVIENT CLASS, THEY
ASSUME WE WON’T MAKE NOISE.
THAT ISN’T A SAFE ASSUMPTION
ANYMORE.
AS WE SAW IN THE AFTERMATH OF
THE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD LAST
YEAR, THE GORGEOUS MOSAIC THAT
IS AMERICA TOOK TO THE STREETS
TO PROTEST INJUSTICE AND I AM
HUMANITYE MAN
INHUMANITY.
THE OUTRAGE OVER THE DEATHS OF
DELAINA YAUN, PAUL MICHELS,
XIAOJIE TAN, DAOYOU FENG, SOON
PARK, HYUN JUNG GRANT, SUNCHA
KIM, AND YONG YUE IS EVIDENCE
THAT THE SPIRIT ENDURES.
WE MUST NOT BE COWED BY THE
TERROR UNLEASHED BY WHITE MEN
DROWNING IN THE DEEP END OF
RACISM, XENOPHOBIA AND MISOGYNY.
WE MUST NOT BE COWED BY THOSE
WHO WANT TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT
OR LAY BLAME ELSEWHERE.
AND WE MUST NOT LET FELLOW
AMERICANS OF ASIAN DESCENT THINK
FOR ONE MINUTE THEY’RE ALONE.
THEY’RE NOT.