It did not take long for what everyone expected Robert Aaron Long’s motive was to be reported:
The Atlanta shooter said: "I'm going to kill all Asians," according to local Korean media interview with a surviving witness. The story now reported in one of South Korea's top newspapers, Chosun Ilbo. https://t.co/3XtJnSa6DK
— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) March 17, 2021
An employee of Gold Spa contacted four nearby Korean businesses and told them that a white man had committed the crime after saying that he would kill all Asians, according to the Atlanta edition of @hankookilbo. https://t.co/ADu90R9y4x
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) March 17, 2021
His social media feed lines up with what the eyewitnesses are telling the Korean language press. As always, take the reporting on the social media posts with a grain of salt:
Quick coda: It doesn't look clear whether the social media post is legitimate — His Facebook profile is down and people have not been able to verify.
— Jeong Park (@JeongPark52) March 17, 2021
It should not be a surprise to anyone that Long was lying when he told the police that he committed his act of domestic terrorism against Asian-Americans and Asians living in America because of a possible sex addiction. Which led Cherokee County, GA Sheriffs Captain Jay Baker to make this exceedingly stupid remark:
"Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did" — a law enforcement official explains Robert Aaron Long's decision to kill 8 people in a strange manner pic.twitter.com/u0zFcqjbNK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2021
Apparently the police really dropped the ball, which, perhaps, explains Captain Baker’s stupid statement.
The outlet also reports a source who "knows the Korean spa scene well," who said police yesterday had surveyed the area, visited Korean stores and told their employees to take precaution because there's a "shooter who says he wants to kill Asians" https://t.co/IH0MnuFp0Y
— Jeong Park (@JeongPark52) March 17, 2021
Hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans and Asians residing in or visiting the US went up by about 150% last year. Atlanta has a very, very large number of strip clubs, gentlemen’s clubs, massage parlors, sex shops and emporiums. That the only three places that the possible sex addict felt the need to target were the ones owned by Asians/Asian Americans and predominantly employing Asians/Asian Americans should have been what is known as a clue that this was specifically targeted at the Asian American community.
If someone broke into the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department and stole all the toilet seats, Captain Baker would likely tell the press that his investigators were stymied because they had nothing to go on…
Every time a Republican elected or appointed official or a conservative movement official or a conservative “news” personality – from the anchors on Fox News to the commenters – refers to COVID-19 with a derogatory slur instead of “COVID-19” or insinuates that immigrants – documented or undocumented – as well as those seeking asylum or refugee status are somehow bringing COVID-19 in and will make things worse, all they’re doing is feeding the fear, grievance, and victimization of their political base, their supporters, and their viewers. If you want to know where Long was radicalized, the answer is simple. Right here in the US, by Trump, Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, Kevin McCarthy, at least 2/3rds of McCarthy’s House Republican Caucus, at least 1/2 of the Senate Republican Caucus, by hundreds of elected and appointed Republican officials, by Fox News, OANN, Newsmax, Breitbart, Ben Shapiro and his execrable writers and commenters at the Daily Wire, by right wing talk radio, by right wing social and digital media.
Open thread!