The Asian community (again) under attack: hate crimes and the debate that opens the Monterey Park shooting

This weekend’s shooting in Monterey ParkCalifornia, is the fifth mass murder this month in USA. It is also the deadliest attack since the May 24 massacre at the Uvalde, Texas primary. The alleged murderer, Huu Can Tran (72 years old) -who killed ten people celebrating the Chinese New Year-, was found dead inside his car.

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According to “El Confidencial”, the attacker “he was known around the area” and often “visited the dance studio Star Ballroomwhere the shooting”. In fact, the portal reports citing “CNN”, he would have been a professor at said institution in the early 2000s. As his ex-wife recounted, he was a person “hostile to students”.

The medium adds: “It is not known why Huu Can Tran opened fire in the Star Ballroom, or how he got hold of the 30-round semi-automatic pistol with which he attacked the ballroom attendees”.

The AFP agency points out that, during 2022, in USA there were 647 mass shootings -”defined as incidents with four or more people shot or killed, not including the attacker“-, while more than 44 thousand people lost their lives by gunshot wounds, more than half of them by suicide.

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Horror figures

The AP agency points out that Monterrey Park It has 60,000 inhabitants, most of whom are of Asian descent. His celebrations for Chinese New Year They are usually very attractive to enthusiasts: in previous years close to 100,000 people have attended to celebrate it.

Hence, one of the theories is that this is a hate crime, a shadow that haunts the United States.

CNN recalls that, in 2021, some 10,000 people reported having been victims of “hate crime because of your race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or disability”. “Attacks targeting black people increased to 2,755 since 1930, and the number targeting Asians increased to 274 from 161″, writes the medium.

The pandemic played a role in these types of crimes.

The supposed “Chinese origin” of the coronavirus stigmatized citizens of that ancestry. “From March to May 2020 alone, more than 800 Covid-19-related hate incidents were reported in 34 counties across the state, according to a report released by the Asia Pacific Policy Planning Council.”, notes the BBC.

In this regard, the Argentine analyst residing in the United States, Hernán Molinacomments: “This type of behavior can be explained in several ways. On the one hand, there is the intolerance and lack of diversity that, within a polarized country and with a President like Donald Trump, they overflow Trump made fun of Asian people and it is not something minor: when someone with that position behaves like this publicly, he in some way guarantees that the rest express themselves in the same way”.

And he adds: “His conduct made prejudices deepen and hatred materialize”.

Between March and December 2020, aim Stop AAPI Hate2,808 complaints were registered for “racist acts against people of Asian origin”. The “8.7% involved physical aggression and 71% included verbal harassment”, adds the BBC.

The other reason that Molina highlights is the easy access to weapons. “The one he used was banned in California, calling into question the effectiveness of state laws. They would have to be federal and focused on the need to restrict access”.

However, for the specialist It wouldn’t necessarily be a crime. of hate because the perpetrator was part of the same community that was attacked. “It seems that it was a person with mental health problems. According to some media, he had violent tendencies and, furthermore, he felt persecuted and belittled. That could be the basis of your reaction”.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.