CNN ran no less than 3 gazillion segments about a supposed “surge” in violence against Asian Americans this week, but there was something really strange about each one. Though the anchors and reporters were careful to note the race of the victims, they studiously avoided saying even a word about the race of the attackers.
It’s not really that strange. It’s because the suspects seen on video in each of the attacks were black. Do you think CNN might have showed more urgency in identifying their race had they been white? I do!
During one of the segments that aired Wednesday on New Day, correspondent Kyung Lah had nearly nothing to say about any of the suspects who were seen on video violently shoving elderly people to the ground and robbing convenience stores. But she did reserve a few words about one man in particular because he “invoked President Trump.” (That man was a self-described alcoholic from the United Kingdom who did not physically attack anyone, though he did insult a group of nearby restaurant patrons as “f—ng Asian piece of s—.”)
But there were other clips. The first one involved Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old San Francisco man of Thai descent, who was on his routine morning walk in late January when a man in a hoodie charged in his direction and shoved him to the ground. Ratanapakdee was hospitalized and died two days later. Police have identified and charged 19-year-old Antoine Watson for the crime. Watson, who has pleaded not guilty, is black.
Another clip from late January showed the assault of a 91-year-old man in the Chinatown section of Oakland, California. A man walking up behind him in a hoodie and uses both arms to push the unsuspecting victim to the ground before the assailant walks away. Police have since identified 28-year-old Yahya Muslim as the perpetrator and linked him to similar attacks of two other elderly people from the same day. Muslim is black.
The CNN package aired another two incidents of violent or aggressive behavior against Asian Americans, and in both, the aggressors were black.
We’ve been instructed for the last four years to be on high alert for more crimes committed by white nationalists. It’s fine if we want to name that race, but since we’re on the subject of Asian Americans, how about CNN name the race of their attackers?
