Why the Atlanta Spa Shootings were Definitely Hate Crimes
(And why it’s problematic that we even need to have this conversation)
Words Matter
On the 16th of March, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long opened fire on three separate spa parlours in Atlanta Georgia, killing eight people, six of whom were Asian women. Their names were Soon Chung Park, age 74; Sun Cha Kim, age 69; Yong Ae Yue, age 63; Hyun Jung Grant, age 51; Daoyou Feng, age 44; and Xiaojie Tan, age 49. (Korean and Chinese Names in image below by Julie Ae Kim.) The other victims were Paul Andre Michels, 54, and Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; as well as Elcias R Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, who was the only victim to survive the attack and is currently in intensive care.
This comes within in a week of the confirmation of the murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who was abducted and murdered while walking home in London, and whose death shook the UK and spurred an international discussion about women’s safety and male violence. The spa massacre also comes in the midst of a global spike in hate crimes against Asians and those of Asian descent. These attacks are happening all around the world as a result of scapegoat-based anti-Asian racism in relation to COVID-19, but have been particularly prevalent and violent in the United States.
In the wake of this tragedy, the hashtag #StopAsianHate has gone viral, and ongoing movements to draw attention to racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders (AAPI), and others of Asian descent around the world have finally received some media attention.
However, as more information about the tragedy surfaced, it came to light that Long claims to be a sex addict and to have killed these women not based on their race, but to ‘eliminate’ a ‘temptation’ he couldn’t resist. Georgia Authorities have not as yet determined that the attack was a hate crime and some have been quick to dismiss the idea that race was a factor in this horrific attack.
There are several things that we need to get really clear on:
A hate crime can occur without being explicitly intended as a hate crime.
A hate crime can be confirmed without the confirmation of the perpetrator. (Or in other words, in the words of Brittany Packnett Cunningham, ‘you don’t need a racist misogynist to say “I’m a racist misogynist” to know their a racist misogynist.’)
Long being a sex addict and killing these women to eliminate a temptation, and the killing being a hate crime are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are inextricably linked.
A hate crime is defined in the US as one motivated by bias relating to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Whether Long intended this as a statement-making attack on the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community as a whole is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether his actions were motivated by his own racist and misogynistic views of these women. I think we can say without question that they were.
The fact is that Long viewed these women as expendable, their lives of little more value than a magazine he might throw away or a browser he might close in order to ‘eliminate temptation.’ The fact that he also saw them as objects of sexual desire does little to assuage his obvious dehumanisation of these women, but rather, reinforces evidence to the contrary and indicates racial fetishism was likely at play.
Racial fetishism is sexually fetishizing those belonging to a specific race or ethnic group. Fetishism is different than a preference. It is far more reductive, depersonalising and reducing marginalised people down to stereotypes and commodities to be used and disposed of. Racial fetishism is more sinister than simple objectification (which is dangerous in its own right), because racial fetishism is usually linked to existing racial power hierarchies and white-supremacy. In an interview with Metro.co.uk psychologist Dr Roberta Babb said of racial fetishism that, ‘it reduces minoritised people to one dimensional objects which provide sexual services, fulfil fantasies and who cannot be hurt. This also speaks to racial fetishism’s dark and violent history which is rooted in slavery and colonialism.’
The AAPI community and their allies advocating against anti-Asian racism have warned for decades about the harmful impacts of fetishization of Asian women by white men. In a TikTok video and Instagram Reel on 17th of March, Eileen Huang highlighted just a few of these impacts, saying that fetishization ‘makes Asian women —especially those who are lower class migrants— sex trafficking victims and domestic abuse survivors. It makes [Asian women] porn categories and racist jokes. It turns working class, undocumented and poor Asian women into objects of control and violence, and it’s what makes white supremacists feel entitled to our bodies and our lives.’
I find it inconceivable that in the current climate of dehumanizing language and violence towards the AAPI community in the US, commonplace fetishization of Asian women by white American men, and widespread misogyny and violence against women in general (but particularly women of colour); that self-proclaimed sex-addict, Robert Long’s massacre targeting Asian women for the claimed purpose of ‘eliminating temptation’ was not rooted in racism and misogyny.
And I have to ask, how naïve are we (or, more to the point, how deeply entrenched in white supremacy and patriarchy are we) if we believe any differently?
What has drawn even further attention to this issue was the statement made by Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker. Baker described Long’s motivations by saying that Long had an "issue with porn" and was "attempting to take out that temptation," that "he was fed up, at the end of his rope,” and “had a bad day, and this is what he did."
Baker’s comments obviously fuelled a major backlash online. The sympathetic tones here are unmistakable and are deeply reflective of the institutionalized white-supremacist patriarchy in the US.
Baker was removed as spokesperson for the case after it was discovered that he had posted online promoting racist T-shirts linking COVID-19 with China.
However, there is no mistaking the bias and double standards within the justice system, media, and broader culture along lines of race and gender. If we have any doubt of this, let us consider the language typically used to describe sexual assault victims, so often emphasizing what they did wrong, rather than focusing on the actions of their attackers.
Click to see full post- not a real newspaper story, but a graphic animation created to illustrate this point.
Let us look at the relentless negative media treatment of Meghan Markle, the first woman of colour to join the British royal family. Let us consider the fact that so many BIPOC children and young people are treated as adults and thugs (in many cases resulting in their injury or death), when violent white criminals are so often apprehended without injury and then shown sympathy by law enforcement and media coverage.
12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by officer Timothy Loehmann in Cleveland, Ohio while playing with a toy gun in a park.
Finally let us also consider the different language used to refer to perpetrators of certain crimes and when they are applied to different people. Language such as ‘thug,’ ‘terrorist,’ and ‘rapist,’ so easily applied to suspects of colour, when ‘shooter,’ ‘suspect,’ or ‘defendant,’ are more often used for white suspects/perpetrators of the same crimes.
Media and mainstream culture are steeped in bias, both racial and misogynistic (as well as along other intersections of marginalisation). The topic of women’s safety and male violence and have come into the spotlight again and again with movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, #TakeBackTheNight and #TakeBackTheseStreets (in response to the death of Sarah Everard); but these movements have generally failed to consider the intersectional implications of misogyny and racism that Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour (BIWOC) experience. They have not shone a spotlight on Islamophobic harassment and violence toward Muslim women, such as having their hijabs or niqabs ripped off in the street.
They have not drawn attention to the fact that while a staggering one in three women will experience physical and/or sexual violence on average globally, this number varies greatly based on intersections of gender with race, sexual orientation, transgender identity, disability, or other forms of marginalisation (such as poverty, homelessness, or migrant status). Marginalised women are significantly more likely to experience sexual violence than non-marginalised women (cisgendered, heterosexual, white, not living with disabilities, etc.).
Race and gender are intimately interwoven for women of colour. The term misogynoir was coined by Moya Bailey to describe the combined impact of misogyny and racism experienced by black women, but it has sometimes been expanded in its use to describe the intertwined experiences of racism and misogyny experienced by other women of colour as well. Asian and AAPI women are no exception. According to a study by the group Stop AAPI Hate, over the course of the spike in AAPI hate crimes in the US (March 2020 to present), Asian women reported 2.3 times more hate incidents than men.
It is impossible to detangle racism and misogyny from this type of targeted violence against women of colour. I will say it again- the fact that Long targeted Asian women to ‘eliminate temptation’ does not remove the racial and misogynistic nature of his crime. The fact that he had objectified and dehumanised them so far as to see them as nothing more than a temptation to be eliminated is a clear reflection of the entitlement of white supremacist patriarchy.
It would be incredibly naive of us to ignore this clear connection, and the fact that mainstream America is stumbling over this connection is a reflection of how deeply white-supremacist patriarchy runs in the US.
The unabashed double standard in which the mainstream media seem to so easily find sympathy for white male perpetrators, but have so little sympathy for women and people of colour, is enough to make you to jump up and down and scream in frustration, and this coming from a white, cisgender woman who benefits, at least partially, from this system.
In her book, Feminism Interrupted, Lola Olufemi speaks about the reluctance of popular culture and mainstream media to label white male perpetrators accurately. She says, “The white supremacist desire for power expresses itself through masculine violence. […] Rather than dismiss these murders [referring to Islamophobic terrorist attacks and hate crimes by white men] as unavoidable, we must look at how white supremacy and masculinity converge, ask why both seem to sit so comfortably together, and develop strategies to dismantle both.”
It shouldn’t need clarifying, but I’ll say it anyway: calling out the privilege afforded to white men is NOT an attack on all white men. It is a condemnation of white-supremacist patriarchy.
Whatever your background, gender, race, ethnicity, etc., if you refuse to confront and condemn white-supremacist patriarchy, you are part of the problem.
Allowing the ‘sex addict’ excuse to take any weight off of Long’s crimes is a further objectification of these women by society and a form of victim blaming. It is a reinforcing of white-supremacy, misogyny, and patriarchy. Instead, we need to ask ourselves, why we don’t treat women, women of colour, BIPOC, and other marginalised individuals with the same sympathy, leniency, and humanisation that we do white men. We need to get really honest with ourselves, dig deep, and do the work. If we can do that, then there is hope of changing and creating a more just and equitable world.
Useful Resources for Further Learning & Action:
Learn More About Intersections of Misogyny:
Support the AAPI Community:
Quick Links…
Donate:
Donate directly to the NAPAAWF Georgia Chapter
Go Fund Me: Stop Asian Hate: Together We Can Make a Difference with AAPI
Go Fund Me: Victims of Violent Crimes in the Bay Area
Go Fund Me: Support the Cause Against Anti Asian Violence
Donate directly to the Asian American Advocacy Fund
Support, Follow & Amplify:
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center: Website, Twitter, Instagram
Kim Saira (she/her): Instagram (@kimsaira)
Annie Wu (she/her): Instagram (@annie_wu _22)
Other Actions:
Call your legislators and ask what they are doing for the Asian community
Volunteer to escort elderly Asian-Americans or others of Asian descent: through Compassion in Oakland or look for similar initiatives in your community
Amplify AAPI voices on social media
Talk about the issues with those in your orbit
Support local Asian businesses
Read and Learn:
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (nonfiction/antiracism/memoir)
If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar (nonfiction/poetry/feminism/Queer/LGBT)
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (fiction/historical fiction/novel)
Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong (nonfiction/comedy/memoir)
Latest Stop AAPI National Report by Stop AAPI Hate (report)
Full AAPI Resource Card…
Full resource card with statistics, news updates, resources to educate, resources for allyship, organisations to donate to, ways to report an incident, mental health resources, petitions, social media, other actions, and corporate statements:
