A hate crime law passed in Georgia amid outrage over the murder of Ahmaud Arbery could get its first major test as part of the murder case against a white man accused of shooting six women of Asian descent this week and killed at massage cases in Atlanta.
Prosecutors in Georgia who will decide whether to pursue an expansion of hate crimes declined to comment. But one said she was “well aware of the feelings of terrorism being experienced in the Asian American community.”
Until last year, Georgia was one of four states without a hate crime law. But lawmakers quickly killed dead in June during racial violence against black Americans, including the murder of Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was chased by several white men and fatally shot while running out in February 2020 . .
The new law allows for an extra penalty for certain crimes if it is motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender or mental or physical disability of the victim.
Governor Brian Kemp called the new legislation a “powerful step forward” and added when he signed it into law: “Georgians have been protesting, and state legislators … have taken the opportunity. ‘
The killing of eight people in Georgia this week caused national mourning and a showdown of racism and violence against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. The attack also drew attention to the interplay between racism and misogyny, including hyper-sexualized depictions of Asian women in American culture.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, is charged with the murders of six women of Asian descent and two other men. He told police the attacks on two spas in Atlanta and a massage parlor near the suburb of Woodstock were not racially motivated. He claimed to have sex addiction.
Asian lawmakers, activists and scholars have argued that the race and gender of the victims are central to the attack.
“To think that someone ran three businesses in Asia that were staffed by Asian American women … and that had no race or gender in mind is just absurd,” said Grace Pai, director of the organization at Asian Americans. Advancing Justice in Chicago.
Elaine Kim, an emeritus professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said: ‘I think it’s likely that the killer not only had a sex addiction, but also an addiction to fantasies about Asian women as sex objects. ‘
Such sentiments were echoed on Saturday as a diverse crowd gathered in a park across the Georgian capital to rally victims of the shooting.
Speakers included U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and Georgia State Representative Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American in the Georgia House.
“I just wanted to take a turn to say to my Asian sisters and brothers: ‘We see you, and, more importantly, we’ll stand with you,’ Warnock said aloud. “We’re all in this thing together.”
Bernard Dong, a 24-year-old student of Georgia Tech in China, said he came to the protest to demand rights not only for Asians but also for all minorities.
“Asians are often too quiet, but times are changing,” he said, adding that he was “angry and disgusted” about the shooting and violence against Asians, minorities and women.
Otis Wilson, a 38-year-old photographer, said people should pay attention to discrimination against those of Asian descent.
“We went through it with the Black community last year, and we are not the only ones who went through it,” he said.
Cherokee District Attorney Shannon Wallace and Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis will decide to continue to improve the hate crime.
Wallace said she could not answer specific questions, but said she was “fully aware of the feelings of terrorism being experienced in the Asian-American community.” A Willis representative did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Department of Justice can file federal charges of hate crimes, independent of state prosecution. Federal investigators have not found evidence to prove that Long targeted the victims because of their race, two unnamed officials told the Associated Press.
Georgia State University law professor Tanya Washington said it was important that the new hate crime law be used.
“Unless we test it with cases like this, we will not have a law on how you prove that prejudice motivated the behavior,” she said.
Since someone convicted of multiple murders is unlikely to be released from prison, an argument can be made that it is not worth the effort, time, and expense to pursue a designation of hate crime that is relatively small. imposed additional punishment. But Republican State Representative Chuck Efstration, who sponsored the hate crimes bill, said it was not just about punishment.
“It’s important that the law calls things what they are,” he said. “It’s important to victims and it’s important to society.”
State Senator Michelle Au, a Democrat, said the law should be used to give him teeth.
Au believes there has been nationwide resistance to accusing Asian Americans of hate crimes because they are seen as a model minority, a stereotype that they are hardworking, educated and free from social problems. She said she had heard from many voters over the past year that Asian Americans – and especially people of Chinese descent – were suffering from prejudice because the coronavirus originated in China and Donald Trump used racial terms to describe it.
“People feel burned because they see it happening every day,” she said. ‘They feel very clearly that it is race-driven, but it is not tied down or labeled. And people feel frustrated by the lack of visibility and the aspect being ignored. ”