How we address the hate in the Asian day spa murders
A white man is charged with killing six women of Asian descent, plus two other non-Asian victims, at three day spas in Georgia. The assailant allegedly shot and critically wounded a man who happened to be in front of one of the spas during the attack.
The massacre broke a cultural dam, a barrier that has prevented this country from confronting a pattern of dehumanizing people of Asian descent or identity, especially women, and relegating them to the margins of society. At those margins, Asian-Americans and others of Asian descent have been the victims of targeted violence and abuse. That history of anti-Asian violence is long and such attacks are increasing. The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center cited almost 4,000 incidents targeting people of Asian or Pacific Islander identity over the past year.
A particularly insidious anti-Asian stereotype is that Asian women are less than equal persons as compared to Westerners because Asian women are subservient and docile. This trope extends to day spas and the assumption that Asian women who work there exist to serve customers’ every whim and want. The result is that the hopes, dreams and suffering of Asian women count for less than non-Asians.
This ‘lesser’ xenophobic stereotype likely played a role in the execution of the six Asian women. The defendant admitted to the attacks and provided some self-serving non-explanation. His statements appear to attempt to justify ending temptation through execution. The alleged murderer wants you to believe the attacks were a product of an affliction he suffers, not a conscience choice about who to kill and why.
The Asian women who were killed were not random, unlucky victims. Bias appears to be built into the nature of the acts and the choices the assailant made.
The legal system, however, may not allow the prosecutors to tell the story of the hate in the hurt for several reasons.
The killings took place in two jurisdictions —— four murders in Fulton County and four murders in Cherokee County. As a result, two district attorneys will make separate charging decisions about the defendant’s actions.
The state’s murder statute carries maximum penalties of death or life imprisonment. The DAs could reach different conclusions about whether to seek the death penalty. There will be enormous pressure to keep the case simple and straight-forward to lessen the opportunity for error in a death penalty-eligible case.
Also, because they are murder cases, the prosecutions may not include any hate crime component. Georgia’s new hate crimes law is not a stand-alone offense; it is only a sentencing enhancement provision. Given the extra evidentiary requirements, either or both DAs might forego it.
At the federal level, a civil rights prosecution faces a high hurdle. Any federal charges would need to be justified based on an unvindicated federal interest, such as an inadequate penalty or result in the state case. That’s not likely given the penalties for first degree murder.
In addition, the federal criminal civil rights statutes can be unwieldy and present proof challenges in court. At this stage, the FBI and the Department of Justice prosecutors will monitor the local authorities instead of actively participating in an investigation or seeking charges.
Despite the understandable demands that the Asian day spa massacres be classified as hate crimes of national significance, the actual cases likely will not reflect that fact. In the end, the murders of six Asian women and two others in Georgia may need to play a galvanizing public role, as opposed to a legal one, in combating the scourge of the lesser Asian stereotype.
Long after the criminal case is closed, the nation should be identifying and implementing ways to improve and protect the lives of Asian-Americans. The only lesser in the conversation should be the falsehoods that have survived far too long.