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Author Topic: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA  (Read 11927 times)

aktibista

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ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« on: March 22, 2007, 10:07:33 am »
ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA

by
anmol "moe" chaddha

If you depend on mainstream media outlets for the news, chances are that
you have no idea who the hell Joseph Ileto is. Or Kanu Patel. Or Mukesh
Patek, Naoki Kamijima, or Won Joon Yoon.

If you rely on your high school history class to have taught you real
American history, then you surely don't know anything about Fermin Tobera.
Unless you've taken any classes in Asian American Studies, the name Vincent
Chin probably doesn't mean a thing to you.

All of the aforementioned individuals were victims of anti-Asian American
hate crimes which have been becoming frighteningly more common although
you'd never know it from the lack of coverage by media outlets like the Los
Angeles Times, Time magazine, or Newsweek.

We all know about Buford Furrow's attack on the Jewish Community Center in
Granada Hills, California on August 10. The mainstream media made sure that
we knew that Furrow drove down in a van from Washington and scoped out
three other sites before deciding to take on the Center in Granada Hills.

No one could possibly have missed the images of police officers walking
children out of the center in a human chain. Our favorite television shows
were interrupted with updates about the search for Furrow, and then
eventually with reports about his surrender after taking a cab to Las
Vegas. In their reports, these media also added that Furrow killed a postal
worker moments after shooting up the Center. Without a doubt, the extended
coverage on this horrendous attack on the Jewish community was justified.

What is not justified, however, is that the mainstream media universally
considered the identity of the community center as Jewish much more
relevant than the postal worker's identity as Filipino American.
Considering their coverage, or lack thereof, it's not very important that
we even remember his name -- Joseph Ileto. These outlets recoiled from
using the term "hate crime" to describe the attack on Ileto despite
Furrow's admission that as a person of color, Ileto was a perfect target.
Simply put, Joseph Ileto would be alive today if he was not a person of
color -- a seemingly moot point to the mainstream media.

Similarly, we never really heard about Kanu Patel and Mukesh Patek, two
South Asian Americans who were killed in their Maryland Dunkin' Donuts shop
in October, 1998. The accused suspect, Trone Ashford, allegedly ridiculed
their English skills, murdered them, and doused them with gasoline.

We must have missed Time magazine's cover story on Naoki Kamijima, the
victim of a hate crime in Crystal Lake, Illinois, this past April. The
victim was killed in his store by Douglas Vitaioli, who had been checking
out other stores for minorities. In addition, there was minimal coverage
when Won Joon Yoon, a student at Indiana University, was murdered over the
July 4th weekend by Benjamin Neil Smith, a white supremacist on a rampage
against Asian, Jewish, and African Americans.

In a way, it should not surprise us that anti-Asian American violence is
currently being marginalized from the discourse about racial hatred and
hate crimes in America. Most of us never learned about Fermin Tobera, a
Filipino American who was killed in a race riot in Watsonville, California
in 1930. Tobera is widely considered one of the earliest Filipino American
victims of anti-Asian American violence.

By the same token only the politically conscious know about Vincent Chin, a
Chinese American who was beaten to death by two unemployed auto workers in
Detroit in 1982. The two assailants had recently been laid off from their
jobs and responded by blaming the Japanese, reflecting a growing national
sentiment. The two men felt that Chin was the perfect outlet for their
anti-Japanese hostility, and Chin lost his life as a result. Furthering
injustice, the savage killers were sentenced to three years' probation and
a $3,000 fine.

Incidentally, Chin was Chinese American, not Japanese. But, surely to those
two men, like most of America, all Asians look alike, don't they?

At first, it seems reasonable to believe that much more of the focus was on
the Jewish community because of the history of anti-Semitism. However, the
more accurate explanation is that the widespread awareness of the history
of anti-Semitism creates a public consciousness in which we can immediately
connect any attack on Jews to a history of violent oppression. On the flip
side, because anti-Asian American violence has historically been
marginalized, we are unable to link current attacks on Asian Americans to
any such history and the issue of anti-Asian American violence is prevented
from gaining legitimacy.

Interestingly, recent perpetrators of racially-motivated violence, like
Furrow, are consistently constructed as mentally ill or psychotic, by the
mainstream media. The Los Angeles Times which repeatedly identified Ileto
primarily as a postal worker, and secondarily as a Filipino American,
presented an in-depth exploration of Furrow, characterizing him as a
"loner" and "prone to fits of rage."

By placing Furrow and other like-minded killers on the fringes of society,
we are prevented from dealing with the actual, pervasive issue of racial
hostility in America. This ignores the reality that Furrow has significant
ties to white supremacist organizations, which are gaining popularity
across the nation especially in the Midwest. We are only allowed to see
Furrow on the periphery and, thus, deny that his ideologies may be more
common than we'd like to admit.

In failing to depict Ileto's murder as a hate crime, the mainstream media
coverage is not conducive to a national response. It suggests that some
victims deserve more sympathy than others, as determined by a racial double
standard, and fortifies the insulting perception of people of color as
second-class citizens. Furthermore, the marginalization of the Asian
American community prevents the understanding that race relations in
America have gone beyond the dichotomy of black and white, a concept that
is pertinent to an America concerned with the future of a multiracial
society.

The number of Asian Americans killed in hate crimes in the last year is
equal to the total amount in the previous decade. According to Margaret
Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the nation's growing Asian American population may be pushing more
bigots over the edge. An updated version of the "yellow peril," if you
will.

In April 1997, Rhonert Park police officers Jack Shields and Mike Lynch
shot and killed Kwan Chung Kao in Sonoma County. According to the cops,
they shot Kao, who was drunk and waving a broomstick, because they thought
he was an expert in martial arts.

Evidently to mainstream America, Asian Americans are little more than
limited-English-speaking convenience store owners and martial arts experts
-- Apus and Bruce Lees.






Protesting against the American-backed military regime and the war destroying their country



jvcolossus8

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2007, 03:50:56 pm »
 pokepoint:: for that info. let's go hang the rednecks! time for "YELLOW FEVER"

-Anti-BAYOTicâ„¢-

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2007, 09:46:17 pm »
brosco tlaga ang mga amerikano..tsk tsk..kaya nga hinde ako naawa sa kanila pagnanamatay sila sa giyera...Si karen Davila nabiktima na rin ng ganyan pero syempre nakipagdebate rin sya at hinde nagpatalo...Yan din ang reason kung bakit dumami ang mga terorista...Piling kasi ng mga amerikano eh mga diyos sila...BULLS....T! to them...
Awake to righteousness,and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of GOD 1 corinthians 15:34


Uncle_bob

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2007, 10:02:31 pm »
brosco tlaga ang mga amerikano..tsk tsk..kaya nga hinde ako naawa sa kanila pagnanamatay sila sa giyera...Si karen Davila nabiktima na rin ng ganyan pero syempre nakipagdebate rin sya at hinde nagpatalo...Yan din ang reason kung bakit dumami ang mga terorista...Piling kasi ng mga amerikano eh mga diyos sila...BULLS....T! to them...

Gusto mo dude upakan na natin cla eh... ANO!?


skapinoy

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2007, 10:12:17 pm »
pokepoint:: for that info. let's go hang the rednecks! time for "YELLOW FEVER"
hate is baggage...racial prejudice wont end by adding another hate..napansin ko lng khit nde amerikano malakas tlga racial discrimination sa pinoy specially when u r working even more when u have a good job,they feel like we stole that job from them,filipinos are the best workforce thats why companies hook us up. all i can say to us filipinos is live and let live..lets do our shit works our asses off, and for safety precautions learn self-deffense,the world is a concrete jungle. and if we feel like we've had enough then lets all head home.

yobibs

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2007, 12:02:07 am »
pokepoint:: for that info. let's go hang the rednecks! time for "YELLOW FEVER"
hate is baggage...racial prejudice wont end by adding another hate..napansin ko lng khit nde amerikano malakas tlga racial discrimination sa pinoy specially when u r working even more when u have a good job,they feel like we stole that job from them,filipinos are the best workforce thats why companies hook us up. all i can say to us filipinos is live and let live..lets do our shit works our asses off, and for safety precautions learn self-deffense,the world is a concrete jungle. and if we feel like we've had enough then lets all head home.
You got that right ! You can not fight ignorance and hatred ... It is also their problem not mine ... I do want to let you guys know that there is more kind hearted and good people than the useless, hateful ones ! Inggit lang sila kasi successful tayo at respetado sa trabaho at business... hindi ko sinayang ang opportunity na binigay sa akin ... sila wala ! angal lang ng angal at gusto lang bigyan . Sa mga gustong pumunta dito para bumuti ang buhay ... mag aral at mag sipag ... wag kayong matatakot sa mga racists ... dakilang mga duwag sila ... puro yakyak lang ... pag pinatulan ... iyakin ! pag andito na kayo at may umaapi sa inyo ... email n'yo ako ... pupuntahan ko ... I got your back .... seriously ... Dude ! Don't ever forget ... PINOY RULES ! gun::

Tomas Pablico

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2007, 01:21:43 am »
we must also be careful not to do the same, that is, to heat-up hatred between us and them. kahit saang lugar, di mawawala ang mga lokoloko at mayayabang na ang maipagmamayabang lang ay ang kanilang kayabangan. however, despite this, justice system is much better and justice in our homeland is nothing compared here. napaparusahan ang karamihan sa kanila na lumalabag sa batas kahit ano man ang kulay nila, sa atin, wala - i can cite numerous examples but i don't need to.

just be a good espiya man laffman::

Pure Askal

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Re: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN AMERICA
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2007, 09:38:36 pm »
I've stayed in some southern rural areas many times and whenever they find out that I'm a Filipino, they start to be more "open" and friendly!

Why? Because WE RULE! OUR UNMATCHABLE TLC IS LEGENDARY IN HOSP. OUR HARD WORKING TRAITS SHINE AMONG FELLOW WORKERS. YUp. We have a good rep.

To be fair with them, even we Pinoys act that way in our country. Remember how people treat Asian Indians, Chinese and fellow Pinoys from the other towns? We call them Bumbay who eats kids, 5-6 or Chekwa tulo laway.

Peace out!
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