In The News
News from around the Country
Sacramento, CA - July 2007: A lakeside picnic turned tragic when a man of Sikh descent was bludgeoned to death in what has been called a hate crime based on race and sexual orientation. Six men approached 26-year old Satender Singh and his friends, reportedly harassing them with racial slurs and homophobic epithets, before one of the men punched Singh, causing him to fall and hit his head. His family decided to pull Singh from life support after he was left in a coma from the blow. Police are in the midst of investigations.
New York City, NY- July 2007: Two Asian American men fell victim to a racially-motivated beating in New York's Chinatown the evening of July 2, leading to the arrest of the two offenders. As a 22-year old man crossed Canal Street, a white sedan pulled up and its passengers inside yelled, "This is for the Korean War!" as they climbed out of the car and began to beat him and another Chinese American man nearby. Police nabbed both offenders several days later.
Seattle, WA - June 2007: The subject of a Seattle Post Intelligencer article has now become the subject of a hate mail attack. Shokichi Tokita, a Japanese American whose family was incarcerated and interned during WWII, recently received a hateful letter after a story about his family's experience and hardship after internment was published in the Seattle newspaper. The letter included offensive lines such as, "there's no doubt in my mind that some of you japs [sic] would have stabbed us in the back if Pres. Rosevelt [sic] hadent [sic] put your asses in camps," in addition to other derogatory material.
Queens, NY - May 2007: In what has been charged as a hate crime, a Sikh student's hair was forcibly cut off in his high school's bathroom, resulting in the arrest of another student at Newton High School in Queens, NY. 17-year old Umair Ahmed, a student of Pakistani descent, got into an altercation with the 15-year old Sikh student and demanded he cut his hair as the only acceptable form of apology. When he resisted, Ahmed forced him into the bathroom, removed his turban, and cut his hair as two other students stood as lookouts. The Sikh religion requires men to not cut their hair. The United Sikhs, a Sikh rights coalition, has responded in a statement that the boy and his mother are both "very distressed," but commends the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force for their investigation into the matter.
New York City, NY - March 2007: A Filipino American teenager was the target of a racially motivated attack on March 16, 2007 when a group of teenagers assaulted Marie Stefanie Martinez, 17, while riding a New York MTA bus. A group of nine of ten teenagers surrounded Martinez, while on the MTA bus and taunted her for looking "Chinese." Subsequent to the attack, two teenagers, a 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were arrested for the attack on Martinez. New York Asian American organizations are upset with New York City Police and MTA for their inaction and for the handling of the situation, especially the MTA bus driver who told Martinez to consult her priest because she was wearing a Catholic school uniform. To sign a petition calling for justice for Marie Stefanie Martinez, click here.
San Francisco, CA - March 2007: Joseph Melcher, 25, who is being accused of a triple homicide involving three Asian Americans on October 21, 2006 in San Francisco's Japantown, had hate crime allegations added to the list of charges by San Francisco's District Attorney during his March 23rd day in court. Witnesses of the crime claim that Melcher yelled out to his victims not to mess with "Johnny Boy, whitey San Francisco Coke dealer." Melcher faces lifetime in prison, if he is convicted of the multiple murders and the hate crime charges. The three victims were Robert Stanford, Song Sun Lee and Kam Yan Li.
Queens, NY - January 2007 [Updated from August 2006]: Kevin Brown, 19, of the Auburndale section of Queens plead guilty to a hate crime assault in the beating of two Asian American teens in Queens, New York in August of 2006. Brown is scheduled to be sentenced in March 2007. Another man, Paul Heavey, 21, of Queens has been charged with a hate crime assault, reckless endangerment as a hate crime and other offenses, but has yet to be brought up on the accused charges. In the wake of the plea, Kevin Brown also admitted to assaulting a 64-year old man and his 30-year old son in Queens, New York.
Princeton, NJ - January 2007: Jian Li, a Chinese student at Yale University, who made headlines in late 2006 over his civil lawsuit against Princeton University challenging its admissions policy, was recently targeted in a stereotypic manner by the Daily Princetonian. Under a byline of Jian Li, the paper espoused racial stereotypes, which included: "Hi Princeton! Remember me? I so good at math and science. Perfect 2400 SAT score. Ring Bells? Just in case, let me refresh your memories. I the super smart Asian. Princeton the super dumb college, not accept me."
New York City, NY - December 2006: Rosie O'Donnell, co-host for ABC's "The View," was discussing Danny DeVito's new movie and his seemingly drunken appearance on Chinese media when O'Donnell states, "The fact is that it's news all over the world. You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching chong, ching chong, Danny DeVito, ching chong chong chong chong, drunk, The View, ching chong." Asian American media groups and organizations like the Organization of Chinese Americans have responded to O'Donnell's actions calling her words an insult to Chinese and all Asian Pacific Americans. Since then, O'Donnell has insincerely apologized stating, "...and I'm sorry for those people who felt hurt or were teased on the playground."
St. Peters, MO - October 2006: Maqbool Ali Kahn, a Pakistani American man, his Indian American wife and their sons, ages ten and four, awoke on the morning of Halloween to discover that they had become the recent victims of vandalism when their garage was scrawled with racist graffiti. The letters "KKK" as well as the words "Kill Muslim" were sprayed in silver paint across the face of the garage door. As of now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into taking the case over as a hate crime.
Brooklyn, NY - October 2006: Five Brooklyn teen have been arrested and accused of committing a hate crime against a Pakistani man on Sunday, October 29, 2006. While eating ice cream outside a local Dunkin Donuts in Brooklyn, New York, a group of 10 to 15 teens taunted Shahid Amber with racial slurs before three from the group went up to Amber knocked the ice cream out of his hands and spit on his face. Subsequent to the spitting came a series of punches and kicks to the head, breaking Amber's nose and jaw. "They were saying, you Muslim scumbag, you have f---ed up this country. You don't have the right to live here. Go back to your country," reports Amber. Those arrested were charged with assault, assault as a hate crime, menacing, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, for the brass knuckles used by Amber's attackers.
Fremont, CA - October 2006: Alia Ansari, a Muslim mother of six who lived in Fremont, was murdered in broad daylight with a bullet to the head as she walked down the street with her 3-year-old daughter. Local Muslim leaders fear it is a hate crime, stating she carried no purse or money, but was wearing her hijab, or head scarf, which may have distinguished her to the killer. "Whoever did this did not see Alia Ansari…He saw a symbol of something that people are taught to hate," said one leader. A press conference and public memorial services have been held. Fremont JACL President Alan Mikuni has been contacted.
Queens, NY - August 2006: Four Asian males while driving at 2:30 AM in Queens, New York, on August 12, 2006, were racially assaulted by 19-year-old Kevin Brown and 20-year-old Paul Heavey who had pulled up next to them. The two white males were allegedly shouting racially slurs at the Asians' vehicle. As the four Asian men tried to escape, they were again caught up to by Brown and Heavey. When 19-year-old John Lu got out of the car to inspect it for damage, Brown and Heavey attacked Lu by punching him several times in the head and body. The driver of the Lexus carrying the four Asian men, Reynold Liang, got out of the car to help Lu, but was also attacked, which resulted in a fractured skull. The two assailants were arrested by police twenty minutes later. The arrest of Brown and Heavey by police officers also turned bloody as officers Graziano Cillo and Scott Lutz were injured when Brown crashed his car into the police vehicle. Brown and Heavey were charged with assault as a hate crime, reckless endangerment as a hate crime and criminal mischief as a hate crime, and Brown was charged additionally with resisting arrest.
New York City – August 2006: New York DJ Star, Troi Torain, of Power 105 Radio Station is attempting to sue New York City councilman, John Liu, for having the DJ fired from his job in May of 2006. Torain was released from his position after making anti-Asian remarks against a rival DJ from Hot 97 Radio in New York City. In addition, Torain threatened to sexually abuse the rival DJ's four-year-old daughter. As a result, Torain was arrested in May for harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Edison, NJ – August 2006: Spilling over from a July 4th arrest of Rajnikant Parikh, an Indian American community member of Edison, approximately 75 protestors gathered outside of the township's municipal complex calling for the suspension of Edison police officer Michael Dotro. The 75 Indian American protestors were met with 30 counterprotestors in support of the Edison police. While Parikh supporters demanded action for the alleged police brutailtiy committed by Officer Dotro, counterprotestors held signs reading "If you act like an animal, you get treated like an animal." Korean American Mayor Jun H. Choi called for respectful diversity of Edison and cooperation between community members and police.
Santa Clara County, CA – July 2006: Forty-year-old Iqbal Singh, a resident of Santa Clara's Sikh community, was stabbed in the neck on Sunday, July 30, 2006 while leaving his home to attend religious services around 10:30 AM. In an apparent hate crime, the twenty-year-old perpetrator was, who was later apprehended by police, claimed that Singh was a member of the Taliban, an Afghani Islamic Fundamentalist group. This incident is the second hate incident to occur in the same weekend for Santa Clara. City officials intend to begin the first of several meetings in Santa Clara to combat the recent flurry of hate incidents.
Toledo, OH – June 2006: As a prank, a DJ at Tower 98 radio in Toledo repeatedly called a Japanese restaurant with remarks such as “me love you long time,” “ching, chong chung,” and “Me speakee no English.” The DJ and the station program director refused to acknowledge that there was any thing wrong with this stunt. A local Asian American group, Asian Communities United (ACU) protested the incident, which included an online petition with over 1,500 signatures that was presented to the station owners. Following negotiations, the station suspended the DJ without pay and the station’s program director was let go. ACU is continuing its negotiation with the station owners to institute diversity training among the station’s personnel.
Los Angeles – January 2006: CBS radio personality Adam Carolla repeated alengthly rant of “ching chong, ching chong” in mocking the Asian Excellence Awards, a show that recognizes accomplishments in the entertainment industry. Following widespread protests and complaints from throughout the country, Carolla apologized for offending the Asian community though he was not sanctioned by CBS for his behavior.
Farmers Branch, Texas – January 2006: The police chief in Farmers Branch was suspended following derogatory remarks he made regarding a Vietnamese police recruit. According to media accounts, the police chief, Jimmy Fawcett, reportedly said, “As long as I’m chief, we won’t have any gooks working in Farmers Branch.” Fawcett was suspended for six days without pay and he apologized to those present who heard his remarks.
January 2006 – Spencer Gifts: a specialty retail gift chain featured t-shirts with stereotyped Asian caricatures and offensive text. One shirt featured a rooster with “Suk Mai Cock Poultry Farm” and another t-shirt read “Hang Out With Your Wang Out.” Following protests from the community, the New Jersey-based retailer expressed “deepest regrets for any offense derived from merchandise carried in our stores” saying that they would discontinue the line of clothing.
Government Actions
Sacramento – June 2006: The California Department of Justice recently released their 2005 hate crime statistics report, which shows a decline of 4.5 percent to 1,691 in the number of hate crimes reported from 2004. There were 916 incidents involving race or ethnicity, including 50 that were anti-Asian. 1,096 of the incidents were violent crimes such as intimidation, aggravated assault or simple assault. The remaining 595 incidents were property crimes, primarily vandalism.
Washington, D.C: In its annual hate crime statistics report for 2004, the FBI reported that 12,711 law enforcement agencies nationwide submitted reports showing 7,649 hate crime incidents. There were 7,642 single-bias incidents. Among the single-bias incidents, racially motivated crimes accounted for 52.9 percent, religious bias accounted for 18 percent, bias against sexual orientation accounted for 15.7 percent and bias against ethnicity or national origin accounted for 12.7 percent of the single-bias incidents.
Racial bias motivated crimes against 5,119 hate crime victims of single-bias incidents. Nearly 68 percent of the victims were the object of an anti-black bias. Slightly more than 20 percent were victims of an anti-white bias, 5.2 percent were victimized because of an anti-Asian or Pacific Islander bias and 2 percent were victims due to an anti-American Indian or Alaskan native bias.
Illinois – June 27, 2005: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed legislation to make it a hate crime to use electronic communication to harass someone because of their race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability.
Washington, D.C. – A hate crimes prevention amendment offered by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) was adopted. This amendment would add crimes motivated by discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to the federal hate crimes statute. It would also provide additional federal assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
Sacramento – California Assembly Bill 378 introduced by Assembly Member Judy Chu (D-49th District) provides hate crime victims with a fair opportunity to seek civil recovery from their attackers by extending the statute of limitations from one year to three years for recovering the $25,000 civil penalty under the Ralph and/or Bane Act.
California Hate Crime Statistics – The number of hate crimes in California decreased by 5.5% in 2004 to the lowest in a decade, according to the report, “Hate Crime in California 2004,” released by the Attorney General’s Office. Of note, however, is that while hate crimes overall have decreased in the state, hate crimes directed at African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Pacific Islanders increased. Los Angeles County reported the highest number of hate crimes at 501, and San Francisco was second with 144 crimes reported.