Show an ad over header. AMP

I am the FIRST!!!

Why attacks against the AAPI community are difficult to prosecute as hate crimes

Six of the eight victims that an Atlanta area assailant gunned down this Tuesday night were Asian women, but whether those shootings will be prosecuted as hate crimes remains unknown as investigations continue.

Why it matters: "As the debate over what legally qualifies as anti-Asian bias unfolds, the community is grappling with the reality that the law is simply not designed to account for many of the ways in which Asian-Americans experience racism," the New York Times writes.


Driving the news: Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, was charged with murder this week after confessing that he killed eight people in shootings at three spas in the Atlanta area.

  • Local law enforcement says it is still too early to call the shootings a hate crime. Long told investigators that he had a sex addiction and he saw the spas as a "temptation he wanted to eliminate."

The big picture: TheFBI describes federal hate crimes as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity."

  • Attacks on against Asians and Asian Americans have been on the rise, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, noting anti-Asian hate crimes rose 149% last year. Stop AAPI Hate received nearly 3,800 self-reported incidents from March 19 last year to Feb. 2.
  • But, but, but: "Many incidents have either not led to arrests or have not been charged as hate crimes, making it difficult to capture with reliable data the extent to which Asian-Americans are being targeted," the Times writes.
  • Experts told the Times it is difficult to prosecute attacks against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community because there's no universal anti-Asian symbol that clearly demonstrates a racist motive — such as a noose or a swastika.
  • "Proving a hate crime isn’t just about the identity of the victims but also the suspect’s motives and state of mind — specifically, whether an accused assailant targeted people because of their race and gender or other characteristics covered by state and federal hate-crime statutes," the Wall Street Journal writes.

What they're saying: David Barkley, senior Southeast counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, told AJC that Georgia's hate crime law adopted by state lawmakers last year protects categories including race, gender, religion and national origin.

  • Since Long said his “sex addiction” provoked the attacks, and if it’s proven that he specifically targeted women, that would constitute a hate crime under the gender provision, according to Barkley.

Go deeper: Atlanta shooting tests Georgia's new hate crime law

regular 4 post ff

infinite scroll 4 pff

News04

2021 will demand new kinds of video conferencing

Last year entrenched videoconferencing at the center of our work and private lives — but also showed us the limits and drawbacks of the tools we now depend on.

What's happening: Services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx were a lifeline in 2020, channeling everything from work and school to parties and doctor's appointments into our homebound lives.

Keep reading...Show less

Biden administration suspends oil and gas leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Interior Department suspended nearly a dozen oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday, the agency announced.

Why it matters: The move, which will require a new environmental analysis, will undo former President Trump's most significant environmental actions in his final days in office.

Keep reading...Show less

Biden order: End the monopoly game

President Biden wants to remake the U.S. economy by injecting more competition into highly concentrated industries including airlines, Big Tech and agriculture to improve choices and prices for consumers.

Why it matters: The ambitious executive order signed Friday directs the federal government to step up antitrust enforcement and regulation. The move marks a sea change from four decades of a hands-off-big-business approach ushered in by Ronald Reagan.

Keep reading...Show less

"No more lies": What drove Cubans to protest

Data: Proyecto Inventario; Map: Will Chase/Axios

Sara Naranjo, 88, took to Cuba's streets this past week because she is "done with being hungry, unemployed, without water, without power." Naranjo is one of thousands of Cubans to take part in what activists said were the largest anti-government protests on the island in decades.

What's happening: People like Naranjo, who remembers Cuba before the revolution, joined thousands of younger Cubans, who have only known Communism, in the massive street protests despite their fear of the government’s harsh response.

Keep reading...Show less

Insights

mail-copy

Get Goodhumans in your inbox

Most Read

More Stories
<!ENTITY lol2 “&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;“> <!ENTITY lol3 “&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;“> <!ENTITY lol4 “&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;“> ]> &lol4;