Diverse Asian Americana
Re “After shooting, asking why,” column, Jan. 25
In recent issues of The Times, the newspaper has inadvertently introduced the broader community to the diverse (ethnically and socioeconomically) Asian American community.
The shootings of Asians by Asians is on the ugly side of the ledger, and the triumphant possibilities in sports are on the plus side. The alleged shooters in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, and new Lakers forward Rui Hachimura and Olympic gold medal winner Nathan Chen, are all part of Asian Americana.
Add to this cornucopia of people my grandson, who is on one side sixth-generation Japanese American and on the other ethnically Chinese. There you have it.
We can buy guns and kill people. We can win Olympic gold medals. We can put a basketball through a hoop.
We have “model minority” and forever foreigner (“where are you from?) stereotypes, as well as the unrelenting “tiger mom.” There’s another dimension, captured by Stanford University psychologist Helen Hsu’s quote in Erika D. Smith’s column: “There are people in our community who are really, really, really not doing well and we don’t talk about them.”
In other words, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are just like everyone else.
Warren Furutani Gardena
When I read about Monterey Park gunman Huu Can Tran’s recent visits to a police station in Hemet, I couldn’t help but wonder if things would have ended differently if free mental health services had been available at this police station.
Then I go on to ask myself the same question with different killers and different venues. What if there had been free and accessible mental health centers in their schools, on the corner, next to their work, in stores or at the library?
What if?
But there wasn’t. Because money. Because stigma. Because a growing public anathema due to the frequency of these horrific displays of societal fracture.
It needs to change. We need to heal.
Cathryn Roos
Prescott, Ariz.