Editorial | Reflecting on the Atlanta shooting

Graphic by RUPALI INGLE, Illustrator

First, let’s call this what it was: a hypersexualized hate crime. 

Eight people  — six of whom were Asian women — were shot and killed in a March 16 hate crime across three massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia. The suspect’s motivation for these killings was to reduce the “temptation” for his “sexual addiction,” as reported by Atlanta police. A sheriff’s deputy summated the killing spree by saying the suspect just had “a really bad day.” 

Everything about this harrowing event and the response to it suggests a desperately needed readjustment in how American society views Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. The suspect’s motivation points toward a longstanding fetishization of Asian women. The sheriff’s deputy’s disgusting sympathy for a murderer demonstrates a societal safety net for white men, no matter how egregious their actions. 

It shouldn’t take this much inhumanity and tragedy to prompt people to acknowledge and condemn Asian hate. The Panther has reported and shared opinions on this phenomena before. Similar to the summer’s resurgence of activism for the Black Lives Matter movement, the response to violence, while admirable, suggests a sensationalism of the precious lives lost rather than a deep look at the institutions that enable cases of racial discrimination in the U.S.

Anti-Asian reports of violence and harassment are multiplying at a sharp, alarming rate since the pandemic’s inception. Hate crimes and hate speech directed toward Asian Americans have only intensified following former President Donald Trump’s “China virus” rhetoric. Sexualized and non-sexualized racism toward the AAPI has been overlooked for many years, through offensive physicality “jokes” and long-standing stereotypes in the entertainment industry.

Through their labeling as the “model minority,” AAPI communities have been societally ordered for too long to stay submissive and bear the brunt of racist attacks. As such, we’ve reached out to members of the AAPI community at Chapman, and those standing in solidarity, to accurately capture the true weight of this incident and support voices calling for societal reform.

Here are their responses:

Mitchell Tanaka, junior television writing and production major

Considering the massive spike in hate crimes against the AAPI community, the events of this week are — in the most devastating way possible — not very shocking to me. The very fact that there is still a debate over whether this shooting was a hate crime is baffling, but again not entirely unexpected. 

Officials in the government and news need to stop falling into the mindset that someone who commits a hate crime has to explicitly state that they want to harm a certain community. It's ridiculous. And the fact that a shooting has to be a catalyst for recognizing AAPI hate really speaks volumes about how desensitized we all have become to racial violence.

An excerpt from the Asian Pacific Student Association’s opinion piece

Historically, from the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment Camps to the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, from the model minority myth to the perpetual foreigner stereotype, the AAPI community has always been the target of xenophobic and racist violence and marginalization in America. It should not take a tremendous act of violence for Asian concerns to be heard and heeded, and even then, there are those who will still discount the effects of decades of micro-aggression and marginalization.

Colette Ngo, first-year graduate student pursuing master’s in business administration

I’m devastated. For too long, Asian Americans have been taught to keep our heads down and remain silent. We’re fed up. It’s time to change the way the media depicts us as stereotypes in their films. It’s time to show compassion to one another. To our AAPI allies, please continue speaking up. Thank you for standing in solidarity with us. 

Wenshen Jia, professor in the School of Communication

A wave of hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. began as a direct result of the rise of populism openly fueled by a group of leading politicians in this country during the past few years. Tuesday’s Atlanta massage parlor shootings are just a new part of this nation-wide wave. In order to tame such a wave and uproot hate crimes against Asians, a nation-wide education to shed the biased view of Asian Americans in the U.S. as "perpetual foreigners" is not only necessary, but also urgent.

Maisune Abu-Elhaija, second-year graduate student pursuing Ph.D. in education

The recent Atlanta shooting and hate crime toward Asians and Asian Americans should not be racially gaslit. It is not an isolated incident and it stems from historical ignorance and racism brought to light in an egregious murder. When educators discuss the harm of the Model Minority Myth (MMM), we must listen. MMM perpetuates this idea that Asians have “arrived” to inclusion and don’t need the same support as other marginalized folks. This shooting shows how grossly wrong that is.

Rei Magosaki, associate professor in the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

I am deeply affected by this alarming tragedy and share the acute pain and inexpressible sorrow with many Asian Americans. I belong to a group of Asian American literary scholars (Circle of Asian American Literary Studies) and want to share a statement written shortly after the shooting … I feel that more than ever, this is a time of solidarity with others in the Asian American community, and I want to boost a distinctively collective voice of Asian American literary scholars born in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Lisa Leitz, chair of the Peace Studies department

Since the pandemic began, the Asian and Pacific Islander communities have faced intensified violence and discrimination. We must end the racist tropes utilized by the former president and the fetishization of Asian women demonstrated in this week’s murders. 

White and other non-AAPI members of the Chapman community, let’s put action behind our words of solidarity, and support increased curricular and co-curricular offerings that empower our BIPOC students and examine solutions to the historical and contemporary evils of racism and its intersections with other axes of oppression. Our campus must cultivate space for healing, education and celebrations of the diverse Asian and Pacific Islander cultures.

Melissa Cho, junior broadcast journalism major

I am greatly moved by the overwhelming amount of support my community has been receiving online. If only this movement could've started a year earlier. But then again, I'm thankful that people are finally taking tangible actions to donate and educate themselves. 

I remember hearing racially charged statements from students toward Asians on campus the day the university-wide email was sent out regarding classes going fully remote due to COVID-19. I hope those people have had a change of heart.