Anti-Asian American Violence is Not So Simple

We are in the middle of a very serious epidemic in America.  I don’t mean COVID.  I mean the epidemic of violent crimes against Asian Americans in this country.  The large uptake in crimes that seem to target Asian Americans is very alarming and deeply disturbing, to say the least.  The media wants to point the finger at former President Donald Trump, but the matter is not so simple.  

The rash of violent crimes are occurring in California (my former home state) and New York, mainly Democrat blue states.  According to Stop AAPI Hate, a non-profit organization that is tracking hate crimes, California — the state with the largest Asian American population — accounted for nearly half of the recent hate crime incidents.  New York was second in the hate crime incidents reported.

The major issue that this problem is presenting is multifactorial.

Let’s begin by talking about the issue of early criminal release and decriminalizing violent crimes in California.  Proposition 47 in 2014, passed California under the guise of “freeing up police to focus on more serious crimes.”  All this proposition did was to directly increase crimes of theft that largely affect small businesses and residential homes, where criminals can vandalize property for under $950 and walk away with a citation.  Basically, you can steal up to $950 worth of goods and the property owner/store owner has no recourse except to file a report, but no arrest will likely be made.  

Furthermore, Proposition 57 in 2016, had “non violent” criminals being early released for good behavior.  The term “non-violent” was a very loose term.  When you read the fine print of the bill, “non violent” crime classifications included drive by shootings, assault with a deadly weapon, and human trafficking.  All these wonderful-sounding bills were proposed primarily by Democrat legislators seeking to somehow create a more civil society.  We can keep passing laws in California about how to punish violent criminals, but all of these other counter bills seem to create is a merry go round for criminals who will be immediately released after committing violent crimes.  And clearly, this issue has been looming in our neighborhoods year after year.   

And finally, Governor Newsom of California granted release of nearly 8,000 violent criminals in July 2020 during the COVID pandemic in the “name of humanity.”  Many law enforcement authorities have estimated that the actual number of criminal inmates released may be closer to 15,000 of known violent criminals, ostensibly to “ease the burden of COVID” on our prison system. 

There are known violent criminals wandering the streets of California targeting mainly older and defenseless Asian Americans as crimes of opportunity.  

Self defense is our God given and Constitutional right.  Let’s not forget that California has the strictest gun laws in the nation, almost making legal gun ownership very difficult.   I will never forget the images of the LA Riots and seeing Koreans on TV with rifles/guns on rooftops to protect their homes and businesses.  That was over 25 years ago. How times have changed for 2nd amendment advocates in California. 

California has eroded our 2nd amendment right every year with nonsensical laws that only disarm law abiding citizens, which does nothing to prevent gun violence.  The laws passed by the California Legislature have done nothing to prevent gun violence, nor proven to be effective in curbing gun violence. And let’s not forget that these same legislators are protected with armed California Highway Patrol and Capitol Sergeants at work, and carry concealed weapons permits for themselves and their families.

So here we have a perfect storm, almost by design.  Laws are decriminalized, criminals are released, the police are stripped of power and villainized, and then law abiding citizens are severely inhibited from protecting themselves.  Despite having numerous legislators of Asian descent (almost all are Democrats) in California, these same legislators have created this problem through a myriad of insane laws and provide no real solutions.  Then these legislators claim “racism” and conveniently blame the former president.

The overgrowth of hate crimes is appalling and yet, not one significant march or rally in support of the Asian American community was organized by our legislators in California.  All of our so called Asian American leaders in the California Assembly and Senate are vigorously tweeting angry voices, while comfortably sitting in their gated community homes.  These were the same “leaders” who were out marching for George Floyd during the height of the COVID pandemic.  But these same “leaders” could not be inconvenienced to get out of their homes for 84-year old Vichar Ratanapakdee, or 30-year-old Navy veteran Angelo Quinto.  

The media wants us to blame white supremacy yet the majority of crimes have been committed by non white people against Asian Americans.  Let’s not blame crimes on the group who had little do with the large percentage of violent crimes committed against Asian Americans.  These crimes are not crimes of racism but crimes of opportunity, and the responsibility lies purely with the Democrat legislators who have created this toxic environment.  And blame the people to keep voting for Democrat legislators, who have no interest in protecting our community nor serving the Asian American family. 

The solution, as the problem, will be multifactorial. But I suggest we start by selecting legislators who demonstrate real actions, and not just tweets and hashtags.