D' Arc || The King

On Anti-Asian Hate Crime

The recent shooting at three Asian-owned spas in Atlanta, Georgia, has my rage festering and boiling over.

So, I'm gonna rant.

This crime hasn't been labeled a hate crime because the shooter used the excuse of being a "sex addict" and he was having a "bad day". When I have a bad day, I snack on chips or whatever unhealthy thing I have in my cabinet. I don't go take the gun I bought, spend about an hour in total driving to three spas, and shoot EIGHT women.

That kind of excuse is weak and pathetic. He made a decision that he knew would end with people's death. It wasn't a mistake, it was a choice and a hate crime against Asians. The fact that the police and court aren't calling it that is just as bad because he's basically saying that he killed people because of his inability to control his penis.

Six of the victims were Asian women who worked as massagers and therapists. He blamed Asian women, but also said it wasn't "racially motivated". But okay, he drove past all the strip clubs in Atlanta and killed eight people at three Asian-owned spas!

There are some people out there who are defending the shooter because two of the victims weren't Asian and the spas were more well-defended than strip clubs. Just can we stop with this bull crap? Can we stop gaslighting people of color about if racism exists, just because you don't want to acknowledge how deeply it's rooted everywhere? Quit the mental gymnastics to explain if something isn't racist when the consequences of the action on a specific community of color are so clear!

There are assumptions and speculations that the spas were offering sexual services, but there is NO evidence that supports that speculation. The six Asian women were 44-76, and two of them were licensed massage therapists. Even if they were sex workers in the past, it doesn't immediately justify their murder.

But the fact that he brought this up, makes it very clear that he assumed that they were sex workers, which means he bought into the stereotypes of Asian women. And the way people reacted to the possibility that they were sex workers, making happy ending jokes, and saying that they "deserved it" has just highlighted how vulnerable sex workers are.

No matter what a woman is wearing, no matter what she is doing, she is NOT CONSENTING to be violently attacked and/or murdered because of her choices!

Society is so obsessed with putting the responsibility on women that it can't even police their actions so men can pretend that they are incapable of controlling themselves. Now, I understand that not every single guy sitting next to you is like this, but I wanted to bring this up considering that this has been happening for years. I don't believe that men are mindless monsters, some of my best friends are men. But the more excuses society makes for those kinds of people who don't give two shits about control anymore just lowers the bar of expectation for men.

...

What is sad is that we are acknowledging the racism against Asians now when it has been happening since 1875.

Alright, I could say more, but I'm going to just stop here. Please help and support the Asian community as you do with the Black community. The color of our skin doesn't justify hate crimes and violence against us.