Filmed attack of Asian couple in Tacoma was hateful, regardless of motive. Now what?
In some ways, it would be easier if it fit neatly into the box.
If the November attack of an Asian couple in Tacoma — captured on video and widely shared online — was clearly a racially motivated assault, at least we’d know what to do with it and what to make of it. If the crime was a textbook example of the kind of violent hate against Asian Americans we’ve seen across the country, we’d already know the playing field and how to cast our judgments quickly and decisively, because we’ve had practice and the practice seems to consume us.
As people, we’d know how to talk about it, and, sadly, the sides we would take in an argument. As media, we would know how to cover it. As a society, we’d know how to categorize it, color it black and white and file it away in the archive of senselessness that life requires us to make sense of.
The trouble is, the assault — this crime — doesn’t seem to fit. Life is messy.
So what now?
What if all we really have to guide us are the unique complexities of what transpired and the lives that are now forever impacted? What if the need to label isn’t nearly as important as the need to understand? What if that is what the victims of the crime, the young accused assailant and the community actually deserve — more than anything?
While it’s only natural that news of the broad-daylight attack spurred questions of whether the recorded ugliness constitutes a chargeable hate crime, the reality of what we know — at least at this juncture — seems to suggest that this is an inquiry that will leave us searching for answers unlikely to cleanly materialize. Was it a hate crime? Was it not a hate crime? Without knowing what the assailant was thinking, we’re destined to come up empty, no matter how much we crave certainty.
What we do know is that the Asian couple attacked while walking were violated physically and emotionally in ways that are difficult to comprehend. The callous brazenness of the assault is chilling, as is the video. The crime was vile and — yes — hateful, regardless of motives. The victims were human, though they weren’t treated that way.
Arrested and charged last week, we know that the 15-year-old accused of the assault was 14 when the crime occurred. He was a boy with a still developing brain, in other words, who’s now left to deal with the repercussions of the crime he’s accused of. According to charging documents, he’s also Black, which only complicates matters if we let it. The boy’s race doesn’t take away from the severity of the crime any more than it supports white denial of the longstanding problems that continue to be laid bare in this country. The boy is human, even if his alleged actions were inhumane.
On a broader level, we also know that the filmed attack has justifiably sent waves of fear and anger through the community. For Asian American and Pacific Islanders who were already on edge because of the recent increase in violence against them, the assault surely feels like hate even if it doesn’t meet the legal requirement to be charged as such in a court of law.
After all of this churning, we’re essentially left where we started, for better or worse. The crime defies reason and rationale, but that doesn’t mean that we should — or can — throw up our hands and simply give up.
Instead, our job now — as daunting as it might seem — is to judge what has happened for what it is, and then react accordingly.
In the courts, this will pit our need for retribution against the goal of rehabilitation that should be inherent to the juvenile justice system. Punishment is important. So is the question of who we want to be as people. Can we extend mercy and a chance for redemption, even when it’s most difficult?
In our hearts, the challenge might be even steeper.
How do we confront the idea of a hate crime when the circumstances of what happened defy the easy narratives we prefer?
What then?
