‘All Races’ Lives Are Precious,’ the United States Cries Desperately

Published in Hankyoreh
(South Korea) on 19 March 2021
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Sean Kim. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
A movement to stand against racial discrimination and hate crimes and to mourn the lives of the eight victims of the Atlanta shootings, four of whom were Korean women, is spreading across the United States. In order to pay respect to the victims, President Joe Biden ordered that all American flags at federal buildings both in the United States and abroad, as well as those with the military, be flown at half staff. On March 19, Biden visited Atlanta to meet with local Asian American leaders together with Vice President Kamala Harris. It is hopeful that this tragedy will be an opportunity for American society to stop discrimination based on skin color and finally come to the consensus that "all races’ lives are precious."

On March 18, Atlanta police said that “nothing is off the table” when asked if the suspect could be charged with a hate crime. After saying that “it is too early to determine whether the shooting was a hate crime” the day before citing the suspect’s "sex addiction," it seems as if they changed their attitude after widespread public criticism that the police were covering up a racial hate crime. The New York Times reported that in the United States, where racially motivated hate crimes and discrimination have become a serious social problem, Asian Americans in particular are experiencing difficulty legally proving discrimination against them. Although standards for proving hate crimes against Black, Jewish and LGBTQIA+ Americans have been established to a certain degree, the Times reported that systemic legal standards have not been as well established for Asians in comparison.

Asian Americans and other minorities living in the United States are under severe threat, to the extent that the very reasonable observation that "all lives are precious" becomes a desperate cry. The lives of Asian Americans have become especially endangered after Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric, which included references to a "China virus," and which instigated flagrantly hateful politics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a sign of hope that after this incident, protests are taking place across the United States with signs and chants to “Stop Asian Hate” and cries that “Asian lives matter, Black lives matter and white lives matter, too.” American society must heighten the consciousness that appeared with the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed last year by a white police officer who knelt on his neck, and make change happen by standing against discrimination and hate crimes against all minorities. The Biden administration, which emphasizes the values of democracy and human rights in international relations, can no longer neglect the domestic reality in which people are killed over their skin color.


한인 여성 4명을 비롯해 8명의 목숨을 앗아간 애틀랜타 총격 사건 희생자를 추모하고 인종차별과 증오 범죄에 맞서려는 움직임이 미국 곳곳으로 확산되고 있다. 조 바이든 미국 대통령은 이번 사건 희생자들을 추모하기 위해 국내외의 미 연방 관공서와 군에 조기 게양을 명령했다. 바이든 대통령은 카멀라 해리스 부통령과 함께 19일(현지시각) 애틀랜타를 방문해 아시아계 미국인 지도자들과 만난다. 이번 비극이 미국 사회 전체가 피부색을 문제 삼는 차별을 멈추고 ‘모든 인종의 생명이 소중하다’는 공감대를 이루는 계기가 되기를 바란다.
애틀랜타 경찰은 용의자를 “증오 범죄 혐의로 기소하는 방안을 배제하지 않는다”고 18일 밝혔다. 전날 용의자의 ‘성 중독’을 언급하며 “증오 범죄로 판단하기 이르다”고 했다가, 인종차별적 증오 범죄를 은폐하려 한다는 비판 여론이 확산되자 태도를 바꾼 것으로 보인다. 미국 내 인종차별적 증오 범죄가 심각한 상황에서 특히 아시아계 미국인들은 차별을 법적으로 입증하기가 어려운 현실이라고 <뉴욕 타임스>는 전했다. 흑인, 유대인, 성 소수자에 대한 증오 범죄를 입증할 표본은 그나마 마련돼 있지만, 아시아계 혐오에 대해서는 법체계가 상대적으로 허술하다는 지적이다.
‘모든 생명이 소중하다’는 지극히 당연한 말이 절실한 외침으로 등장할 정도로 아시아계를 비롯한 소수계 미국인들의 삶은 심각한 위협을 받아왔다. 특히 코로나19 대유행 이후 도널드 트럼프 대통령이 ‘중국 바이러스’를 거론하며 노골적으로 선동한 증오의 정치로 아시아계의 삶은 더욱 위험에 빠졌다.
이 사건 뒤 미국 곳곳에서 “아시아계 혐오를 멈춰라”(Stop Asian Hate) “아시아인의 생명은 소중하고, 흑인 생명도 소중하고, 백인 생명도 소중하다”는 펼침막을 들거나 구호를 외치는 시위가 이어지고 있는 것은 희망의 신호다. 지난해 백인 경찰에게 짓눌려 사망한 흑인 조지 플로이드 사건 때 등장한 ‘흑인의 생명은 소중하다’(#BlackLivesMatter)의 문제의식이 한 단계 더 나아가, 미국 사회가 소수계에 대한 차별과 증오 범죄에 맞서는 분명한 변화를 만들어내야 할 것이다. 국제관계에서 민주주의와 인권의 가치를 강조하는 바이든 정부가 피부색 때문에 사람이 죽어가는 반인권적 국내 현실을 더이상 방치해서는 안 된다.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Thailand: Appeasing China Won’t Help Counter Trump

Canada: Carney Takes Us Backward with Americans on Trade

Australia: Australia Boosts Corporate Law Enforcement as America Goes Soft

Ireland: We Must Stand Up to Trump on Climate. The Alternative Is Too Bleak To Contemplate

Australia: Donald Trump Is Taking Over the US Federal Reserve and Financial Markets Have Missed the Point

Topics

Peru: Blockade ‘For Now’

Japan: US President and the Federal Reserve Board: Harmonious Dialogue To Support the Dollar

Austria: The EU Must Recognize That a Tariff Deal with Trump Is Hardly Worth Anything

Mexico: The Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Venezuela and President Nicholás Maduro

Hong Kong: Cordial Cross-Strait Relations Will Spare Taiwan Trump’s Demands, Says Paul Kuoboug Chang

Germany: The Tariffs Have Side Effects — For the US Too*

Ireland: We Must Stand Up to Trump on Climate. The Alternative Is Too Bleak To Contemplate

Canada: Carney Takes Us Backward with Americans on Trade

Related Articles

Mexico: The Far Right: Triumph of Idiocy

India: Trump’s Tariffs Have Hit South Korea and Japan: India Has Been Wise in Charting a Cautious Path

Austria: Deterrence, but Not for Everyone

Hong Kong: China, Japan, South Korea Pave Way for Summit Talks; Liu Teng-Chung: Responding to Trump

India: Is Trump’s US in a Constitutional Crisis?