Tariq Nelson

Whenever one of these crazy shootings happen everyone is hoping and praying that the perpetrator is not from their group. They make the prayer “Oh God, please don’t let him be______”

And whichever group he happens to be from then goes into damage control because their community is about to go under the microscope.

Had the maniac at Virginia Tech been black, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others would have probably been out telling people to understand what this guy has gone through and that society caused him to do this. We would hear about how something must be done about gang violence, poverty and all of that.

In private, blacks would have a lot of choice names for the maniac (such as C.A.N.) that caused so much embarassment. Especially had it been over a white woman. In a few months he would be fair game for comedy skits.

Had he been white, we would have heard about “angry white males” and neo-white supremists would have come on TV talking about how the white man is the one getting the shaft nowadays and how apparently the shooter was angry about it.

Had he been Muslim and/or Arab, chaos would have ensued and the calls for prison camps would have reached fever pitch.

Had it been a female, we wouldn’t have known what to think. Never heard of such.

When the news comes out, everyone just waits and hopes the maniac is not “one of us”

There’s a crucial moment early in many crime investigations when the first description of the assailant comes out. When the attack happens on campus, like it did Monday at Virginia Tech University, the initial question is obvious: student, faculty, staff or outsider?

Then come the details. Student. Male. Black coat. Stoic. Maroon hat. Determined

When the gunman is identified, there’s the possibility of more tense moments when, after all rumors and accounts are sorted out, the ethnicity is announced. In this case, the first official word came that the shooter was an Asian student, but it was unclear whether he was an international student studying in Virginia or, as it turned out, an Asian immigrant who grew up in Virginia.

…and at that point non-Asians can breathe a sigh of relief that they will not be vilified and remove potential embarassment from the back of their minds while still being appalled. At this point some bigots were hoping and speculating that it was a Muslim.

Then, finally, confirmation: the killer was Korean. That news—along with a face plastered across television sets and tabloid-style Web pages—arrived early Tuesday and was repeated in nearly every account.

Bigots were still wanted to know if he was a convert. Some media officials even came to the masjid in Blacksburg to find out if he was a convert to Islam. 

Soon, the conversation had turned to heritage. Facebook groups started with titles such as “I’m Korean and Have a Gun, Don’t Be Scared,” “Why did the Virginia Tech shooter have to be an ASIAN” and “This is Not About Ethnicity.”

South Korean government officials expressed their dismay that a native son would commit such a crime. National Korean groups sent their condolences. Korean student groups created message boards to both express grief and prepare for the venom likely coming their way.

Brian Choi, the newly elected president of the Korean Student Association at the University of Michigan, said he was surprised to learn of the gunman’s identity. “We tend to be known as the model minority; you don’t expect Asians to act in that manner,” he said. “There is a sense of shame and disgrace — we don’t want to be associated with that.”

[...]

But by Wednesday the gunman’s “resident alien” status had already emerged as a major storyline. The student in charge of the Korean Student Association at Virginia Tech, who did not return messages for comment, told Newsweek that he had received calls from multiple Korean students on the campus telling him they felt “horrified and scared.” A Korean college student told Inside Higher Ed that her non-Korean roommate’s parents warned her that, to avoid any danger, it would be best not to eat at a Korean restaurant.

Hugo Schwyzer, a history and gender studies professor at Pasadena City College who writes frequently about ethnicity, gender and student life, said he is concerned that as a result of the attention given to Seung-Hui’s background, Asian students will be teased and further typecast as socially awkward and introverted.

[...]

The reality, says Eun Sook Lee, director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, is that had the shooter been white, no one would have made a big deal out of his background after the first reference.

“What I’m saying is that in Columbine, the whole white community didn’t have to apologize and take responsibility,” she said. “We need to extend our hand and extend our condolences because it is a tragedy. But it will also be a tragedy if this comes to symbolize Korean Americans.”

[...]

“[Seung-Hui] was an American sociopath who committed a crime,” she said. “That’s nothing to do with what we’re about

I don’t think that Asians or Koreans will face a backlash, but it is sad that everyone is afraid of everyone else’s bigotry and racism. The silver lining is that more people are realizing that everyone - including the “model minority” has some maniacs amongst them. That is how they should be seen: as lunatics.

As those of us that are living can take lessons from this, I will note that no one wants to hear about how he blamed rich kids or society at large for his rampage. It is seen as illegitimate. No one is saying “well we need to look into that” or “yeah it was a tragedy, but you need to look at this”

The families of the victims were so offended that NBC aired the maniacs excuses that they canceled their interviews. “Yeah…but” is just horribly offensive in light of lives being taken. No sensible person wants to hear what comes after the “but” now, or any other time.

This was a rampage by a deranged lunatic…PERIOD. End of story. No “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” about it.