g******4
发帖数: 6339 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 CivilSociety 讨论区 】
发信人: gogo2004 (挑灯看剑), 信区: CivilSociety
标 题: WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR? WHITE PRIVILEGE OR RACIAL JUSTICE IN THE DEATH OF AKAI GURLEY
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Feb 24 16:31:31 2016, 美东)
Second-degree manslaughter. Manslaughter is legally defined as an "
unintentional homicide from criminally negligent or reckless conduct. It can
also refer to an unintentional killing through commission of a crime other
than a felony."
As I witness fellow Chinese Americans, including family, protest former NYPD
officer Peter Liang's manslaughter conviction in the death of Akai Gurley,
I struggle to make sense of it all.
Family elders tell me to have compassion for Liang. "It was an accident. He
was a rookie cop. Don't lump him together with bad cops. The bullet bounced
off the wall and into Gurley's body," they say. They question why white
officers like Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, who killed unarmed African
Americans like Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City,
get to walk free. "Liang is being used by a racist system as a scapegoat for
bad policing," they say.
On the specifics of the case, I disagree with my elders. Liang
unintentionally shot Akai Gurley, the father of a 2 year-old girl, but then
did not try to save his life, and called his supervisor instead of an
ambulance. His reckless behavior fits the definition of manslaughter.
While my elders believe Liang should not have been convicted in the death of
Akai Gurley, I disagree that Liang should be granted the same unjust
immunity that white officers have received in the killings of unarmed Black
men. Liang is not the only police officer who has taken an innocent life,
and he should not be the only one held accountable for doing so. Those who
are angered by the double standard between how the state holds white and
Chinese American officers accountable must fight in solidarity with African
Americans and other people of color to transform a broken justice system.
I am surprised by my elders' sudden political engagement, and have so many
questions.
What are they really mad about? Are they mad that a Chinese American officer
didn't get away with killing an unarmed Black man the way white officers
have? Or are they truly trying to highlight how the criminal justice system
unfairly privileges whites and creates second class citizens of people who
are not white? If they are sincerely interested in drawing attention to the
ways systemic racism harms Asian Americans and African Americans, I would
expect to see them at future #BlackLivesMatter protests over continued
police violence directed at African Americans.
What is it about Peter Liang and his conviction that is riling up a
previously, generally politically apathetic population ? Where were they
when NYPD officers unjustly beat up 84 year-old Kang Chun Wong for
jaywalking in New York City Chinatown, when Chicago police assaulted Chinese
immigrant Jessica Klyzek, or when a Minneapolis police officer was
acquitted of gunning down 19 year-old Fong Lee?
As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, I have experienced and witnessed both
covert and overt anti-Asian racism, which has generally been overlooked by
U.S. society and the state. These experiences allow me to empathize with and
appreciate African American struggles, and motivate my fight for social
justice and research on Asian Americans, education, and racism. We should
fight for our dignity and rights. However, I am deeply disturbed by the
current Peter Liang campaign, which inherently argues for maintaining police
immunity in the perpetration of racial violence against unarmed citizens.
If that's our cause, how then would we fight for Asian American victims of
similar police violence?
In the end, history and morality tell us that fighting from a self-
interested position is only self-defeating. Historically, Chinese Americans
and other Asian Americans have tried to legally gain the privileges of
whiteness and failed. On the other hand, Chinese Americans have also fought
alongside other people of color for racial justice and won transformative
systemic changes that benefit people of all races.
As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, I have often felt culturally and
linguistically distant from my elders. However, as someone who benefited
from the love and nurturing of my immigrant elders, and as the new mother of
a third generation Chinese American child, I want to have an inter-
generational conversation about how we can advocate together for our
struggles and still respect and support the humanity of others.
Just as in the past, we have a choice to either fight for a racist system
that privileges whites to also benefit Asian Americans, or for a
transformative systemic change that benefits everyone.
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2016/02/what-are-we-fighting-for- |
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