“Everybody is scared, everybody is hiding.” woman on a 911 call to authorities during Atlanta shooting rampage
“…temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
“…had a really bad day… lashing out… may have had a sex addition…”
“… “The shooter said it wasn’t racially motivated” – press conference spokesmen repeating suspect’s unsubstantiated, self-serving claims
16 March 2021, Atlanta Georgia – a 21-year-old man buys a gun; hours later he has been arrested for multiple murders across three spas.
The accused murderer is white; the victims include six Asian American women.
Four of the victims have been identified as Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44. Elcias R Hernandez-Ortiz was identified as having been injured.
Although armed and known at the time to be dangerous, the suspect was run off the road and arrested without any shot fired or any altercation.
If you are ever going to take a One Pulse for America Action, make it this one.
By now you are, we hope, aware of this crime and shocking remarks made at an Atlanta Police Department press conference.
Here is some recommended reading.
Here are some points arising which will go in our letter:
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- In the climate of hatred faced by our Asian American fellow citizens, inflamed by Trump’s disgraceful hate speech (‘China ‘flu, Kung ‘flu) why would we as citizens – as decent people – not immediately conclude this is a hate crime? Perhaps for legal reasons the state is unwilling to do so – but even if we side with those who are cowardly about calling out this blatant racism: this was an attempt to attack women: and as such it is 100% a hate crime. Even the officers who shockingly put forward the accused’s feeble excuses at their press conference admitted he had a’ sex problem’. Therefore, it is not too early to say 100% this is a misogynistic crime. We are going to ask the state to swiftly confirm it is a racist crime as well.
- Speaking of what was said by officers at the press conference, spokesperson Jay Baker is accused by the Daily Beast of… selling racist Covid-19 shirts online. How did he get into the force and on the panel? He and his attitudes must be expelled from law enforcement.
- Using the press conference to share the suspect’s unsubstantiated claims of mitigation and denial of racist intent was an inexcusable abuse of the event. It gives the remarks authority as they were made by police spokespeople at an official event. Sharing the remarks means future juries and press coverage could well be influenced in the accused’s favor. In fact – press coverage is already being slanted, referring to the accused as ‘church-going’. The next time there is a shooting by a white male, all they will need do is say they had a bad day and a sex issue – if we stay quiet about this. Of course the shooter would not admit to this being a racist crime: Georgia passed laws increasing the sentencing for racially-charged crimes. For the authorities to not have immediately labeled this as hate crime gives the defense maneuver room in court to say there was uncertainty about the intent. If it was too early to say these killings were racist/misogynist: then it’s too early to share the accused’s self-serving statements that could thwart the determination of his intent.
Actions:
1. We will send a letter to the relevant Georgia authorities. To sign it add your name, town and state in the comments in the comments section on the Facebook post. The letter can be found here: https://www.onepulseforamerica.com/action-alert/open-letter/letter-to-ga-governor-kemp-et-al/
2. Comment on the authorities’ press conference and condemn them for their sympathetic statements supporting the accused: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id6NO0oFV8U
3. George Takei and Jay Kuo have some powerful tweets on this appalling subject; if you have a Twitter account, please visit their pages, follow, and share their comments @GeorgeTakei , @nycjayjay – and please feel free to comment on / share this call for Jay Baker to resign https://twitter.com/po_murray/status/1372333608711688193
4. The country is experiencing anti-Asian American violence, not least as a certain ex-president keeps up the vile, racist attempt to link Asian Americans to Covid-19. People are being attacked randomly in the streets, beaten. Here are a few ways to help (please feel free to suggest further resources):
https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
https://time.com/5947603/how-to-help-fight-anti-asian-violence/