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'WE ARE HORRIFIED': Eight slain in Atlanta-area spas shooting rampage
Six of the victims are women of Asian descent
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 17, 2021 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble54 Comments
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, were shot dead in a string of attacks at day spas in and around Atlanta, and a man suspected of carrying out the shootings was arrested in southern Georgia, police said.
Although authorities declined to offer a motive for the violence, the attacks prompted the New York Police Department’s counter-terrorism unit to announce the deployment of additional patrols in Asian communities there as a precaution.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said its consulate-general in Atlanta had confirmed that the victims included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationality.
The bloodshed began about 5 p.m. on Tuesday when four people were killed and another was wounded in a shooting at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, about 40 miles north of Atlanta, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department said.
Crime scene tape surrounds Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 16, 2021.
Crime scene tape surrounds Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHRIS ALUKA BERRY /REUTERS
Two women of Asian descent were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said, adding that the surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
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In Atlanta, the state capital, police officers responding to a call of a “robbery in progress” shortly before 6 p.m. arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon and found three women shot dead, Police Chief Rodney Bryant told reporters.
While investigating the initial report, the officers were called to a separate aromatherapy spa across the street where another woman was found dead from a gunshot wound, Bryant said. All four women killed in Atlanta were of Asian descent.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was visiting South Korea on Wednesday, offered his condolences.
“We are horrified by this violence which has no place in America or anywhere,” Blinken told South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong.
The violence unfolded days after U.S. President Joe Biden used a nationally televised speech to condemn a surge in hate crimes and discrimination against Asian-Americans. Civil rights groups have suggested that former President Donald Trump contributed to the trend by repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the “China virus” because it first emerged there.
“The president has been briefed overnight about the horrific shootings in Atlanta. White House officials have been in touch with the mayor’s office and will remain in touch with the FBI,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, person of interest in a multiple shooting.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, person of interest in a multiple shooting. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP via Getty Images
SUSPECT IN CUSTODY
Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock in Cherokee County, was taken into custody at about 8:30 p.m. in Crisp County, about 150 miles (240 km) south of Atlanta. A photo of Long, who is white, was released by authorities.
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Baker told Reuters that investigators were “very confident” that the same suspect was the gunman in all three shootings. The Atlanta Police Department said the suspect was connected to all the attacks by video evidence from the crime scenes.
Investigators were still working “to confirm with certainty” that the shootings in Atlanta and Cherokee County were related.
Police at the scene of a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven other people were killed at two other Atlanta spas on the same day.
Police at the scene of a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven other people were killed at two other Atlanta spas on the same day. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Long was spotted in southern Georgia, far from the crime scenes, after police in Cherokee County issued a bulletin providing a description and license plates of the vehicle involved in the attacks, Baker said.
He was arrested without incident after a highway pursuit by Georgia state police and Crisp County Sheriff’s deputies, sheriff’s officials said later.
Authorities said that a motive for the shootings was not immediately clear, and that it was not determined whether the victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity.
But the NYPD’s counter-terrorism branch said on Twitter that although there was no known connection to New York City, the department “will be deploying assets to our great Asian communities across the city out of an abundance of caution.”
Atlanta police said they were stepping up patrols around businesses similar to those attacked on Tuesday.
torontosun.com
Six of the victims are women of Asian descent
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 17, 2021 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble54 Comments
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Article content
Eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, were shot dead in a string of attacks at day spas in and around Atlanta, and a man suspected of carrying out the shootings was arrested in southern Georgia, police said.
Although authorities declined to offer a motive for the violence, the attacks prompted the New York Police Department’s counter-terrorism unit to announce the deployment of additional patrols in Asian communities there as a precaution.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said its consulate-general in Atlanta had confirmed that the victims included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationality.
The bloodshed began about 5 p.m. on Tuesday when four people were killed and another was wounded in a shooting at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, about 40 miles north of Atlanta, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department said.
Crime scene tape surrounds Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 16, 2021.
Crime scene tape surrounds Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHRIS ALUKA BERRY /REUTERS
Two women of Asian descent were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said, adding that the surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
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In Atlanta, the state capital, police officers responding to a call of a “robbery in progress” shortly before 6 p.m. arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon and found three women shot dead, Police Chief Rodney Bryant told reporters.
While investigating the initial report, the officers were called to a separate aromatherapy spa across the street where another woman was found dead from a gunshot wound, Bryant said. All four women killed in Atlanta were of Asian descent.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was visiting South Korea on Wednesday, offered his condolences.
“We are horrified by this violence which has no place in America or anywhere,” Blinken told South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong.
The violence unfolded days after U.S. President Joe Biden used a nationally televised speech to condemn a surge in hate crimes and discrimination against Asian-Americans. Civil rights groups have suggested that former President Donald Trump contributed to the trend by repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the “China virus” because it first emerged there.
“The president has been briefed overnight about the horrific shootings in Atlanta. White House officials have been in touch with the mayor’s office and will remain in touch with the FBI,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, person of interest in a multiple shooting.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, person of interest in a multiple shooting. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP via Getty Images
SUSPECT IN CUSTODY
Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock in Cherokee County, was taken into custody at about 8:30 p.m. in Crisp County, about 150 miles (240 km) south of Atlanta. A photo of Long, who is white, was released by authorities.
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Baker told Reuters that investigators were “very confident” that the same suspect was the gunman in all three shootings. The Atlanta Police Department said the suspect was connected to all the attacks by video evidence from the crime scenes.
Investigators were still working “to confirm with certainty” that the shootings in Atlanta and Cherokee County were related.
Police at the scene of a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven other people were killed at two other Atlanta spas on the same day.
Police at the scene of a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven other people were killed at two other Atlanta spas on the same day. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Long was spotted in southern Georgia, far from the crime scenes, after police in Cherokee County issued a bulletin providing a description and license plates of the vehicle involved in the attacks, Baker said.
He was arrested without incident after a highway pursuit by Georgia state police and Crisp County Sheriff’s deputies, sheriff’s officials said later.
Authorities said that a motive for the shootings was not immediately clear, and that it was not determined whether the victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity.
But the NYPD’s counter-terrorism branch said on Twitter that although there was no known connection to New York City, the department “will be deploying assets to our great Asian communities across the city out of an abundance of caution.”
Atlanta police said they were stepping up patrols around businesses similar to those attacked on Tuesday.
'WE ARE HORRIFIED': Eight slain in Atlanta-area spas shooting rampage
Six of the victims are women of Asian descent
Motive in Georgia spa shootings uncertain, but Asian Americans fearful
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 17, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 4 minute read • comment bubble35 Comments
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHRIS ALUKA BERRY /REUTERS
Article content
ATLANTA — Georgia authorities charged a man with the fatal shootings of eight people, including six Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas, and the violence heightened fears among Asian Americans already rattled by a rise in hate crimes directed at them since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The 21-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, told investigators that a sex addiction drove him to commit Tuesday’s killings and indicated he frequented spas in the area, law enforcement officials said.
However, authorities did not discount the possibility that the attacks were inspired at least in part by an anti-immigrant or anti-Asian sentiment, or some personal grievance.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, following multiple shootings in the Atlanta area.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, following multiple shootings in the Atlanta area. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP via Getty Images
“The suspect did take responsibility for the shooting,” Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department told a news conference.
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing,” Baker said. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
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Long was charged on Wednesday with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, according to officials in Atlanta and in Cherokee County, about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capital. Long was being held in Cherokee County, where he resided and where the shootings began.
Long was headed for Florida when he was apprehended, perhaps to carry out further shootings, authorities said. A 9mm firearm was found in his car.
Although officials said Long indicated he may have patronized the establishments where Tuesday’s violence occurred, they could not immediately confirm whether he had actually been a customer of those businesses.
And it was not clear whether the suspect may have visited spas for sex.
“This is still an ongoing investigation, and at this time we cannot answer any questions pertaining to the businesses, nor services that any of these locations were offering during or before this incident took place,” Officer C.J. Johnson of the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was briefed by the U.S. attorney general and FBI director on the shootings.
“The question of motivation is still to be determined,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “But whatever the motivation here I know that Asian Americans are very concerned.”
A report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism this month showed that hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 major U.S. cities rose by 149% from 2019 to 2020, a period when overall hate crimes dropped 7%.
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Civil rights advocates have said the rise seemed related to Asians and Asian Americans being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China. Former President Donald Trump called the novel coronavirus the “China virus,” the “China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
“It’s very difficult to ignore that the Asian community has once again been targeted, and it’s happening across the country,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN.
INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
Nonetheless, authorities said nothing that Long told them in interviews indicated he was motivated by racial animosity, though they stressed the investigation was in its early stages.
The bloodshed began Tuesday evening when four people were killed and another was wounded at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Baker said. Two Asian women were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said. The surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
In Atlanta, police officers responding to a robbery report an hour later arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon to find three women shot dead, Police Chief Rodney Bryant told reporters.
The officers were then called to a separate spa across the street where another woman was found fatally shot, Bryant said. All four women killed in Atlanta were Asian.
South Korea on Wednesday said its consulate-general in Atlanta confirmed that the dead included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationalities.
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Long was spotted driving later in southern Georgia, far from the crime scenes, and was arrested without incident after a highway pursuit, authorities said.
His first court appearance was set for Thursday, then postponed without explanation.
Long’s quick apprehension was aided by his family’s cooperation with investigators and by video footage from security cameras at the crime scenes, police said.
Little about Long’s personal life emerged the day after the shootings; he graduated from an Atlanta-area high school in 2017 and attended a nearby Baptist church.
An inactive Instagram account that appeared to have been his bore the tagline: “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life,” according to The Daily Beast.
The killings marked the latest in a string of deadly mass shootings at schools, movie theaters, medical clinics and other public places in the United States in recent years.
Long purchased the gun found in his car legally at Big Woods Goods in Holly Springs, Georgia, CNN reported, citing an attorney for the company.
Gun control is a divisive issue in the United States, which enshrines the right to bear arms in the Constitution. The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a pair of gun control bills as Democrats looked to a shifting political landscape they hoped would improve chances for enacting new laws after years of failed attempts.
“We are witnessing the results of what happens when racist and misogynistic ideologies collide in a society where there is also easy access to guns,” Amnesty International USA said in a statement.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 17, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 4 minute read • comment bubble35 Comments
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. PHOTO BY CHRIS ALUKA BERRY /REUTERS
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ATLANTA — Georgia authorities charged a man with the fatal shootings of eight people, including six Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas, and the violence heightened fears among Asian Americans already rattled by a rise in hate crimes directed at them since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The 21-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, told investigators that a sex addiction drove him to commit Tuesday’s killings and indicated he frequented spas in the area, law enforcement officials said.
However, authorities did not discount the possibility that the attacks were inspired at least in part by an anti-immigrant or anti-Asian sentiment, or some personal grievance.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, following multiple shootings in the Atlanta area.
This undated photo released by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office on March 16, 2021 shows Robert Aaron Long, following multiple shootings in the Atlanta area. PHOTO BY CHEROKEE SHERIFF'S OFFICE /AFP via Getty Images
“The suspect did take responsibility for the shooting,” Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department told a news conference.
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing,” Baker said. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
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Long was charged on Wednesday with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, according to officials in Atlanta and in Cherokee County, about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capital. Long was being held in Cherokee County, where he resided and where the shootings began.
Long was headed for Florida when he was apprehended, perhaps to carry out further shootings, authorities said. A 9mm firearm was found in his car.
Although officials said Long indicated he may have patronized the establishments where Tuesday’s violence occurred, they could not immediately confirm whether he had actually been a customer of those businesses.
And it was not clear whether the suspect may have visited spas for sex.
“This is still an ongoing investigation, and at this time we cannot answer any questions pertaining to the businesses, nor services that any of these locations were offering during or before this incident took place,” Officer C.J. Johnson of the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was briefed by the U.S. attorney general and FBI director on the shootings.
“The question of motivation is still to be determined,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “But whatever the motivation here I know that Asian Americans are very concerned.”
A report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism this month showed that hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 major U.S. cities rose by 149% from 2019 to 2020, a period when overall hate crimes dropped 7%.
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Civil rights advocates have said the rise seemed related to Asians and Asian Americans being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China. Former President Donald Trump called the novel coronavirus the “China virus,” the “China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
“It’s very difficult to ignore that the Asian community has once again been targeted, and it’s happening across the country,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN.
INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
Nonetheless, authorities said nothing that Long told them in interviews indicated he was motivated by racial animosity, though they stressed the investigation was in its early stages.
The bloodshed began Tuesday evening when four people were killed and another was wounded at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Baker said. Two Asian women were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said. The surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
In Atlanta, police officers responding to a robbery report an hour later arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon to find three women shot dead, Police Chief Rodney Bryant told reporters.
The officers were then called to a separate spa across the street where another woman was found fatally shot, Bryant said. All four women killed in Atlanta were Asian.
South Korea on Wednesday said its consulate-general in Atlanta confirmed that the dead included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationalities.
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Long was spotted driving later in southern Georgia, far from the crime scenes, and was arrested without incident after a highway pursuit, authorities said.
His first court appearance was set for Thursday, then postponed without explanation.
Long’s quick apprehension was aided by his family’s cooperation with investigators and by video footage from security cameras at the crime scenes, police said.
Little about Long’s personal life emerged the day after the shootings; he graduated from an Atlanta-area high school in 2017 and attended a nearby Baptist church.
An inactive Instagram account that appeared to have been his bore the tagline: “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life,” according to The Daily Beast.
The killings marked the latest in a string of deadly mass shootings at schools, movie theaters, medical clinics and other public places in the United States in recent years.
Long purchased the gun found in his car legally at Big Woods Goods in Holly Springs, Georgia, CNN reported, citing an attorney for the company.
Gun control is a divisive issue in the United States, which enshrines the right to bear arms in the Constitution. The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a pair of gun control bills as Democrats looked to a shifting political landscape they hoped would improve chances for enacting new laws after years of failed attempts.
“We are witnessing the results of what happens when racist and misogynistic ideologies collide in a society where there is also easy access to guns,” Amnesty International USA said in a statement.
Motive in Georgia spa shootings uncertain, but Asian Americans fearful
ATLANTA — Georgia authorities charged a man with the fatal shootings of eight people, including six Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas, and the violence…
Scientists dubious about blaming 'sex addiction' for heinous crimes
Alleged Atlanta killer joins Harvey Weinstein, Ted Bundy, and Ariel Castro in such claims
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Teo Armus
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 42 minutes ago • 4 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
In this handout provided by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, Robert Aaron Long is pictured in a jail booking photo on March 16, 2021 in Cordele, Georgia.
In this handout provided by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, Robert Aaron Long is pictured in a jail booking photo on March 16, 2021 in Cordele, Georgia. PHOTO BY CRISP COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE /Getty Images
Article content
After a 21-year-old was charged with killing eight people at spas in metro Atlanta, he allegedly told investigators he did not have a racial motive. Even as the deadly shootings heightened Asian Americans’ fears about a surge in violent attacks, police said Robert Aaron Long blamed his “sexual addiction.”
Long, a White man from Woodstock, Ga., is not the first high-profile suspect to make such a claim: Harvey Weinstein, serial killer Ted Bundy, and Ariel Castro, who kidnapped three teenagers and held them captive in his Cleveland basement, have all defended their criminal actions by claiming they were addicted to sex or pornography.
But while the world of entertainment has in recent years popularized the idea of “sex addiction” through films and TV shows, researchers who study human sexuality and addiction say it is far from an established psychiatric diagnosis.
“There’s an idea that when people are too turned on, they cannot control their own behaviours,” David J. Ley, a clinical psychologist and the author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction,” told The Washington Post. “But the research shows that these ‘sex addicts’ don’t demonstrate observable difficulties in self-control.”
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As HuffPost has reported, the American Psychiatric Association in 2012 removed sex addiction from the DSM-5, the nearly 1,000-page guidebook used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders. Some scientists question if it is merely a mask for or symptom of other behaviours.
WANTED TO ELIMINATE ‘TEMPTATION’
Long, who has been charged with murder after allegedly confessing to the killings, called the spas he targeted “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” according to police.
Given that six of the victims were Asian women, many advocates said they were both dubious of and angered by that statement. Even with the presence of other factors, some said it would be difficult to extricate the victims’ race and gender – and his own – from the deadly shootings.
For researchers like Nicole Prause, there is another reason to be skeptical: There is no scientific consensus that such a diagnosis exists.
“There’s no doubt that people are coming into my office upset about sexual behaviours,” Prause, a neuroscientist at Liberos Research in Los Angeles, told The Washington Post. But while “sex addiction is one model for understanding those types of problems, it’s also the least likely.”
MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Motive in Georgia spa shootings uncertain, but Asian Americans fearful
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021.
'WE ARE HORRIFIED': Eight slain in Atlanta-area spas shooting rampage
In a peer-reviewed study at the University of California at Los Angeles, Prause found significant differences in the brain’s response to sex when compared to behaviours like cigarettes, alcohol or gambling.
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While people addicted to these things often demonstrate neurological “cues” upon viewing their “drug” of choice, no such brain waves appeared in people who said they were addicted to sex, her team’s research found. Sex also fails to follow the trajectory marked by other addictive behaviours over time, which start out as pleasurable but become a necessity for avoiding negative emotions, Prause added.
TREATMENT MAY EXACERBATE ISSUES
The debate over whether sex addiction is real has not stopped other high-profile men accused or convicted of a wide range of impropriety from seeking out treatment for such a condition. As their sexual transgressions came to light, Anthony Weiner, Weinstein, and Tiger Woods all checked themselves into rehab centres with that goal in mind.
Reportedly, Long may have done the same. From late 2019 to early 2020, he stayed for about six months at a rehab centre in Georgia, his roommate at the centre told CNN. While Long was seeking treatment for sex addiction, all other patients were suffering from addiction to drugs or alcohol.
Ley, the psychologist and author, argued that treatment like the kind reportedly received by Long – a devout Christian – may in fact exacerbate the issues at hand.
Self-identification as a sex addict is most closely linked to growing up in a conservative or religious environment, he said. One peer-reviewed study, for instance, found that attempting to suppress sexual thoughts and fantasies among religious people only increased the presence of those thoughts.
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“There is absolutely no scientific evidence that sex addiction treatment works,” Ley said, but judges, juries and others may nonetheless “send people to sex addiction treatment thinking it’s going to reduce their risk.”
Rob Weiss, the chief clinical officer at Seeking Integrity Treatment Programs in Los Angeles, disputes the notion that sex addiction – or its cousin, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder – is not diagnosable, or that it cannot be treated.
Weiss told The Post the long-term program reportedly undergone by Long differs from the treatment he and some other mental health practitioners around the country might provide.
But he also cast doubt on Long’s claims for a different reason: The patients he treats in Los Angeles show there is no connection between sex addiction and violence, he said.
“They’ve ruined their lives, their partners’ lives, and their family’s lives, all because they can’t control their behaviour,” he said. “But they’re not killing people.”
torontosun.com
Alleged Atlanta killer joins Harvey Weinstein, Ted Bundy, and Ariel Castro in such claims
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Teo Armus
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 42 minutes ago • 4 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
In this handout provided by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, Robert Aaron Long is pictured in a jail booking photo on March 16, 2021 in Cordele, Georgia.
In this handout provided by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, Robert Aaron Long is pictured in a jail booking photo on March 16, 2021 in Cordele, Georgia. PHOTO BY CRISP COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE /Getty Images
Article content
After a 21-year-old was charged with killing eight people at spas in metro Atlanta, he allegedly told investigators he did not have a racial motive. Even as the deadly shootings heightened Asian Americans’ fears about a surge in violent attacks, police said Robert Aaron Long blamed his “sexual addiction.”
Long, a White man from Woodstock, Ga., is not the first high-profile suspect to make such a claim: Harvey Weinstein, serial killer Ted Bundy, and Ariel Castro, who kidnapped three teenagers and held them captive in his Cleveland basement, have all defended their criminal actions by claiming they were addicted to sex or pornography.
But while the world of entertainment has in recent years popularized the idea of “sex addiction” through films and TV shows, researchers who study human sexuality and addiction say it is far from an established psychiatric diagnosis.
“There’s an idea that when people are too turned on, they cannot control their own behaviours,” David J. Ley, a clinical psychologist and the author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction,” told The Washington Post. “But the research shows that these ‘sex addicts’ don’t demonstrate observable difficulties in self-control.”
Advertisement
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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
As HuffPost has reported, the American Psychiatric Association in 2012 removed sex addiction from the DSM-5, the nearly 1,000-page guidebook used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders. Some scientists question if it is merely a mask for or symptom of other behaviours.
WANTED TO ELIMINATE ‘TEMPTATION’
Long, who has been charged with murder after allegedly confessing to the killings, called the spas he targeted “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” according to police.
Given that six of the victims were Asian women, many advocates said they were both dubious of and angered by that statement. Even with the presence of other factors, some said it would be difficult to extricate the victims’ race and gender – and his own – from the deadly shootings.
For researchers like Nicole Prause, there is another reason to be skeptical: There is no scientific consensus that such a diagnosis exists.
“There’s no doubt that people are coming into my office upset about sexual behaviours,” Prause, a neuroscientist at Liberos Research in Los Angeles, told The Washington Post. But while “sex addiction is one model for understanding those types of problems, it’s also the least likely.”
Atlanta police officers are seen outside Gold Spa after deadly shootings at a massage parlour and two day spas in the Atlanta area, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Motive in Georgia spa shootings uncertain, but Asian Americans fearful
Surveillance footage shows the suspect in a trio of multiple fatal shootings at Atlanta-area spas on March 16, 2021.
'WE ARE HORRIFIED': Eight slain in Atlanta-area spas shooting rampage
In a peer-reviewed study at the University of California at Los Angeles, Prause found significant differences in the brain’s response to sex when compared to behaviours like cigarettes, alcohol or gambling.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
While people addicted to these things often demonstrate neurological “cues” upon viewing their “drug” of choice, no such brain waves appeared in people who said they were addicted to sex, her team’s research found. Sex also fails to follow the trajectory marked by other addictive behaviours over time, which start out as pleasurable but become a necessity for avoiding negative emotions, Prause added.
TREATMENT MAY EXACERBATE ISSUES
The debate over whether sex addiction is real has not stopped other high-profile men accused or convicted of a wide range of impropriety from seeking out treatment for such a condition. As their sexual transgressions came to light, Anthony Weiner, Weinstein, and Tiger Woods all checked themselves into rehab centres with that goal in mind.
Reportedly, Long may have done the same. From late 2019 to early 2020, he stayed for about six months at a rehab centre in Georgia, his roommate at the centre told CNN. While Long was seeking treatment for sex addiction, all other patients were suffering from addiction to drugs or alcohol.
Ley, the psychologist and author, argued that treatment like the kind reportedly received by Long – a devout Christian – may in fact exacerbate the issues at hand.
Self-identification as a sex addict is most closely linked to growing up in a conservative or religious environment, he said. One peer-reviewed study, for instance, found that attempting to suppress sexual thoughts and fantasies among religious people only increased the presence of those thoughts.
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“There is absolutely no scientific evidence that sex addiction treatment works,” Ley said, but judges, juries and others may nonetheless “send people to sex addiction treatment thinking it’s going to reduce their risk.”
Rob Weiss, the chief clinical officer at Seeking Integrity Treatment Programs in Los Angeles, disputes the notion that sex addiction – or its cousin, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder – is not diagnosable, or that it cannot be treated.
Weiss told The Post the long-term program reportedly undergone by Long differs from the treatment he and some other mental health practitioners around the country might provide.
But he also cast doubt on Long’s claims for a different reason: The patients he treats in Los Angeles show there is no connection between sex addiction and violence, he said.
“They’ve ruined their lives, their partners’ lives, and their family’s lives, all because they can’t control their behaviour,” he said. “But they’re not killing people.”
Scientists dubious about blaming 'sex addiction' for heinous crimes
Alleged Atlanta killer joins Harvey Weinstein, Ted Bundy, and Ariel Castro in such claims
Probe into killing of 6 Asian women, 2 others 'far from over': Atlanta police
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 20 minutes ago • 4 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /Getty Images
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ATLANTA — Police in Georgia sought clues on Thursday to what sparked the fatal shootings of eight people, six of them Asian woman, in a string of Atlanta-area attacks that heightened fear and outrage over a recent surge of hate crimes directed at Asian Americans.
The 21-year-old accused gunman, Robert Aaron Long, who is white, suggested to investigators that a sex addiction led him to carry out Tuesday’s violent rampage at three spas – two of them in Atlanta and one in Cherokee County about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capitol, law enforcement officials said.
But authorities did not rule out the possibility that the attacks were provoked, at least in part, by anti-immigrant or anti-Asian sentiments, or some other grievance.
The shootings triggered an outcry from civil rights advocates and political leaders who condemned a rise in incidents of anti-Asian discrimination and violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
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“We don’t yet know the motive, but what we do know is that the Asian-American community is feeling enormous pain tonight,” U.S. President Joe Biden said on Twitter on Wednesday. “The recent attacks against the community are un-American. They must stop.”
Earlier in the day, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department told a news conference the suspect had confessed to opening fire at the three establishments.
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing,” Baker said. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
Long, arrested within hours of the killings, was charged on Wednesday with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. He was being held in Cherokee County, where he resided and where the shootings began.
His first court appearance had been set for Thursday but was postponed without explanation.
Officials said Long indicated he may have patronized the very establishments he is accused attacking with a 9mm gun found in his car, but authorities could not immediately confirm whether he had been a customer at the spas.
And it was not clear whether the suspect may have visited spas for sex.
“At this time we cannot answer any questions pertaining to the businesses, nor services that any of these locations were offering during or before this incident took place,” Officer C.J. Johnson of the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.
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In an update issued Wednesday night, the department added: “Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled anything out.”
Regardless of the suspect’s motives, the killings put the issue of anti-Asian hate crimes at the centre of national discourse.
A report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism this month showed that hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 major U.S. cities rose by 149% from 2019 to 2020, a period when overall hate crimes dropped 7%.
Civil rights advocates have said the rise seemed related to Asians and Asian Americans being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China. Former President Donald Trump called the novel coronavirus the “China virus,” the “China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
“The horrific violence overnight in Georgia is another reminder of why we need urgently to address the fear gripping the Asian-American community, in part stemming from racist incidents related to the coronavirus pandemic,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Wednesday. The panel’s civil rights subcommittee planned to hold a previously scheduled hearing Thursday on discrimination and violence facing Asian Americans.
The bloodshed began Tuesday evening when four people were killed and another was wounded at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Baker said. Two Asian women were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said. The surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
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In Atlanta, police officers responding to a robbery report an hour later arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon to find three women shot dead, then discovered another woman fatally shot in a separate spa across the street. All four women killed in Atlanta were Asian.
South Korea on Wednesday said its consulate-general in Atlanta confirmed that the dead included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationalities.
Little about Long’s personal life emerged the day after the shootings; he graduated from an Atlanta-area high school in 2017 and attended a nearby Baptist church.
An inactive Instagram account that appeared to have been his bore the tagline: “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life,” according to The Daily Beast.
Long legally purchased the suspected murder weapon at a sporting goods store in Holly Springs, Georgia, CNN reported, citing an attorney for the company.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 20 minutes ago • 4 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /Getty Images
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ATLANTA — Police in Georgia sought clues on Thursday to what sparked the fatal shootings of eight people, six of them Asian woman, in a string of Atlanta-area attacks that heightened fear and outrage over a recent surge of hate crimes directed at Asian Americans.
The 21-year-old accused gunman, Robert Aaron Long, who is white, suggested to investigators that a sex addiction led him to carry out Tuesday’s violent rampage at three spas – two of them in Atlanta and one in Cherokee County about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capitol, law enforcement officials said.
But authorities did not rule out the possibility that the attacks were provoked, at least in part, by anti-immigrant or anti-Asian sentiments, or some other grievance.
The shootings triggered an outcry from civil rights advocates and political leaders who condemned a rise in incidents of anti-Asian discrimination and violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
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“We don’t yet know the motive, but what we do know is that the Asian-American community is feeling enormous pain tonight,” U.S. President Joe Biden said on Twitter on Wednesday. “The recent attacks against the community are un-American. They must stop.”
Earlier in the day, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department told a news conference the suspect had confessed to opening fire at the three establishments.
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing,” Baker said. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
Long, arrested within hours of the killings, was charged on Wednesday with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. He was being held in Cherokee County, where he resided and where the shootings began.
His first court appearance had been set for Thursday but was postponed without explanation.
Officials said Long indicated he may have patronized the very establishments he is accused attacking with a 9mm gun found in his car, but authorities could not immediately confirm whether he had been a customer at the spas.
And it was not clear whether the suspect may have visited spas for sex.
“At this time we cannot answer any questions pertaining to the businesses, nor services that any of these locations were offering during or before this incident took place,” Officer C.J. Johnson of the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.
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In an update issued Wednesday night, the department added: “Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled anything out.”
Regardless of the suspect’s motives, the killings put the issue of anti-Asian hate crimes at the centre of national discourse.
A report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism this month showed that hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 major U.S. cities rose by 149% from 2019 to 2020, a period when overall hate crimes dropped 7%.
Civil rights advocates have said the rise seemed related to Asians and Asian Americans being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China. Former President Donald Trump called the novel coronavirus the “China virus,” the “China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
“The horrific violence overnight in Georgia is another reminder of why we need urgently to address the fear gripping the Asian-American community, in part stemming from racist incidents related to the coronavirus pandemic,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Wednesday. The panel’s civil rights subcommittee planned to hold a previously scheduled hearing Thursday on discrimination and violence facing Asian Americans.
The bloodshed began Tuesday evening when four people were killed and another was wounded at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Baker said. Two Asian women were among the dead there, along with a white woman and a white man, Baker said. The surviving victim was a Hispanic man.
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In Atlanta, police officers responding to a robbery report an hour later arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon to find three women shot dead, then discovered another woman fatally shot in a separate spa across the street. All four women killed in Atlanta were Asian.
South Korea on Wednesday said its consulate-general in Atlanta confirmed that the dead included four women of Korean descent but was verifying their nationalities.
Little about Long’s personal life emerged the day after the shootings; he graduated from an Atlanta-area high school in 2017 and attended a nearby Baptist church.
An inactive Instagram account that appeared to have been his bore the tagline: “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life,” according to The Daily Beast.
Long legally purchased the suspected murder weapon at a sporting goods store in Holly Springs, Georgia, CNN reported, citing an attorney for the company.
Georgia police search for motive in spa murders as Asian Americans decry attacks
ATLANTA — Homicide detectives on Thursday weighed the possible motives of a gunman accused of fatally shooting several Asian women in Atlanta-area spas, as a…
Long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in U.S.
Six of the Atlanta spa massacre victims were women of Asian descent
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Gillian Brockell
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 19 minutes ago • 5 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Julie Tran holds her phone during a candlelight vigil in Garden Grove, California, on March 17, 2021 to unite against the recent spate of violence targetting Asians and to express grief and outrage after yesterday's shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta, Georgia, including at least six Asian women.
Julie Tran holds her phone during a candlelight vigil in Garden Grove, California, on March 17, 2021 to unite against the recent spate of violence targetting Asians and to express grief and outrage after yesterday's shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta, Georgia, including at least six Asian women. PHOTO BY APU GOMES /AFP via Getty Images
Article content
A gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas Tuesday night — six of the victims were women of Asian descent, sparking fears among advocacy groups that the killings may have been racially motivated.
Anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked 150% since the pandemic began, according to a recent study.
People of Asian descent have been living in the United States for more than 160 years, and have long been the target of bigotry. Here is a look at the violence and racism that Asian immigrants and Asian Americans have faced since before the Civil War.
People v. Hall:
Chinese immigrants began coming to the United States in significant numbers in the 1850s, largely to California and other Western states, to work in mining and railroad construction. There was high demand for these dangerous, low-wage jobs, and Chinese immigrants were willing to fill them. Almost immediately, the racist trope of “Asians coming to steal White jobs” was born. And in 1854, the California Supreme Court reinforced racism against Asian immigrants in People v. Hall, ruling that people of Asian descent could not testify against a White person in court, virtually guaranteeing that Whites could escape punishment for anti-Asian violence. In this case, it was murder: George Hall shot and killed Chinese immigrant Ling Sing, and the testimony of witnesses was rejected because they were also Asian.
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Chinese massacre of 1871:
On Oct. 24, 1871, following the murder of a White man caught in the crossfire between rival Chinese groups, more than 500 White and Hispanic rioters surrounded and attacked Los Angeles’ small Chinese community, centered in a red-light district known as Negro Alley. At least 17 Chinese men and boys were lynched, including a prominent local doctor. They were hanged across several downtown sites, anywhere the rioters could find a beam to string a noose. Eight of the rioters were eventually convicted of manslaughter, but their convictions were overturned. No one else was ever punished.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:
Economic woes in the 1870s spawned another spike in anti-Asian racism and scapegoating. In 1882, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration for 20 years. President Chester A. Arthur vetoed it, but then signed another version with a 10-year ban. The first law placing a restriction on immigration to the United States, it was extended for more than 60 years before it was repealed in 1943.
Rock Springs massacre, 1885:
In Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, long-standing aggression against Chinese miners exploded in September 1885, when 100 to 150 vigilantes surrounded and attacked Chinese mineworkers, killing 28 people and burning 79 homes. Hundreds fled to a nearby town, then were tricked into boarding a train they were told would take them to safety in San Francisco. Instead, it took them back to Rock Springs, where they were forced back into the mine. Federal troops stayed for 13 years to impose order.
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San Francisco plague outbreak:
In 1900, an outbreak of bubonic plague struck San Francisco. It is likely that the outbreak began with a ship from Australia, but since the first stateside victim was a Chinese immigrant, the whole community was blamed for it. Overnight, the city’s Chinatown was surrounded by police, preventing anyone but White residents from going in or out. Chinese residents were also subjected to home searches and property destruction by force. The episode was a prelude to the racism that has been aimed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, which former President Donald Trump frequently called “the China virus,” “the Wuhan virus,” and the “Kung Flu.”
Japanese internment during the Second World War:
By the 1940s, tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans had built lives in the United States. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered the Second World War, the U.S. government forced all of them into internment camps for the duration of the war over suspicions they might aid the enemy. Conditions in the camps were extreme, blazing hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. No spies were ever found. When they were freed, many returned to find their homes and businesses vandalized or confiscated. In 1988, survivors received a presidential apology and $20,000 each in reparations.
Vietnamese shrimpers and the KKK:
At the close of the Vietnam War, the United States resettled many Vietnamese fleeing the communists. In Texas, many of those immigrants took up shrimping. “We like the weather, we like the shrimping, we like a chance to start our own businesses,” Nguyen Van Nam told The Washington Post in 1984. As they worked hard and began to dominate the industry, the trope of Asians coming to take White jobs returned, and this time it was wearing a white hood. Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam trained his members in commando-style attacks; they patrolled the waters in their regalia and set boats owned by Vietnamese people on fire.
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The murder of Vincent Chin:
Vincent Chin was out on the town. On June 19, 1982, thlantae 27-year-old Chinese American was about to marry and was celebrating with friends in Detroit. Then two White men picked a bar fight, blaming Chin for “the Japanese” taking their auto-industry jobs. Outside the bar, the men beat Chin with a baseball bat. He died several days later. His assailants took a manslaughter plea bargain, which carried a possible sentence of 15 years. Instead, the judge gave the men probation and a $3,000 fine. The lenient sentence outraged and galvanized the Asian American community, helping to unite them across ethnic lines and work for civil rights.
The L.A. riots:
Tensions had been building between the Black and Korean American communities in Los Angeles for years. Then came the April 29, 1992, acquittal of the police officers caught on camera beating Rodney King. As the city erupted in riots, Korean American businesses became targets; thousands were damaged during the unrest.
9/11-inspired hatred:
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hate crimes spiked against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, including people of South Asian descent. Only four days after the attacks, aircraft mechanic Frank Silva Roque murdered Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh American gas station owner originally from India, whom Roque mistook for Muslim. The post-9/11 period led to greater awareness and advocacy between the South and East Asian communities.
torontosun.com
Six of the Atlanta spa massacre victims were women of Asian descent
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Gillian Brockell
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 19 minutes ago • 5 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Julie Tran holds her phone during a candlelight vigil in Garden Grove, California, on March 17, 2021 to unite against the recent spate of violence targetting Asians and to express grief and outrage after yesterday's shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta, Georgia, including at least six Asian women.
Julie Tran holds her phone during a candlelight vigil in Garden Grove, California, on March 17, 2021 to unite against the recent spate of violence targetting Asians and to express grief and outrage after yesterday's shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta, Georgia, including at least six Asian women. PHOTO BY APU GOMES /AFP via Getty Images
Article content
A gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas Tuesday night — six of the victims were women of Asian descent, sparking fears among advocacy groups that the killings may have been racially motivated.
Anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked 150% since the pandemic began, according to a recent study.
People of Asian descent have been living in the United States for more than 160 years, and have long been the target of bigotry. Here is a look at the violence and racism that Asian immigrants and Asian Americans have faced since before the Civil War.
People v. Hall:
Chinese immigrants began coming to the United States in significant numbers in the 1850s, largely to California and other Western states, to work in mining and railroad construction. There was high demand for these dangerous, low-wage jobs, and Chinese immigrants were willing to fill them. Almost immediately, the racist trope of “Asians coming to steal White jobs” was born. And in 1854, the California Supreme Court reinforced racism against Asian immigrants in People v. Hall, ruling that people of Asian descent could not testify against a White person in court, virtually guaranteeing that Whites could escape punishment for anti-Asian violence. In this case, it was murder: George Hall shot and killed Chinese immigrant Ling Sing, and the testimony of witnesses was rejected because they were also Asian.
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Article content
Chinese massacre of 1871:
On Oct. 24, 1871, following the murder of a White man caught in the crossfire between rival Chinese groups, more than 500 White and Hispanic rioters surrounded and attacked Los Angeles’ small Chinese community, centered in a red-light district known as Negro Alley. At least 17 Chinese men and boys were lynched, including a prominent local doctor. They were hanged across several downtown sites, anywhere the rioters could find a beam to string a noose. Eight of the rioters were eventually convicted of manslaughter, but their convictions were overturned. No one else was ever punished.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:
Economic woes in the 1870s spawned another spike in anti-Asian racism and scapegoating. In 1882, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration for 20 years. President Chester A. Arthur vetoed it, but then signed another version with a 10-year ban. The first law placing a restriction on immigration to the United States, it was extended for more than 60 years before it was repealed in 1943.
Rock Springs massacre, 1885:
In Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, long-standing aggression against Chinese miners exploded in September 1885, when 100 to 150 vigilantes surrounded and attacked Chinese mineworkers, killing 28 people and burning 79 homes. Hundreds fled to a nearby town, then were tricked into boarding a train they were told would take them to safety in San Francisco. Instead, it took them back to Rock Springs, where they were forced back into the mine. Federal troops stayed for 13 years to impose order.
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Article content
San Francisco plague outbreak:
In 1900, an outbreak of bubonic plague struck San Francisco. It is likely that the outbreak began with a ship from Australia, but since the first stateside victim was a Chinese immigrant, the whole community was blamed for it. Overnight, the city’s Chinatown was surrounded by police, preventing anyone but White residents from going in or out. Chinese residents were also subjected to home searches and property destruction by force. The episode was a prelude to the racism that has been aimed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, which former President Donald Trump frequently called “the China virus,” “the Wuhan virus,” and the “Kung Flu.”
Japanese internment during the Second World War:
By the 1940s, tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans had built lives in the United States. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered the Second World War, the U.S. government forced all of them into internment camps for the duration of the war over suspicions they might aid the enemy. Conditions in the camps were extreme, blazing hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. No spies were ever found. When they were freed, many returned to find their homes and businesses vandalized or confiscated. In 1988, survivors received a presidential apology and $20,000 each in reparations.
Vietnamese shrimpers and the KKK:
At the close of the Vietnam War, the United States resettled many Vietnamese fleeing the communists. In Texas, many of those immigrants took up shrimping. “We like the weather, we like the shrimping, we like a chance to start our own businesses,” Nguyen Van Nam told The Washington Post in 1984. As they worked hard and began to dominate the industry, the trope of Asians coming to take White jobs returned, and this time it was wearing a white hood. Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam trained his members in commando-style attacks; they patrolled the waters in their regalia and set boats owned by Vietnamese people on fire.
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Article content
The murder of Vincent Chin:
Vincent Chin was out on the town. On June 19, 1982, thlantae 27-year-old Chinese American was about to marry and was celebrating with friends in Detroit. Then two White men picked a bar fight, blaming Chin for “the Japanese” taking their auto-industry jobs. Outside the bar, the men beat Chin with a baseball bat. He died several days later. His assailants took a manslaughter plea bargain, which carried a possible sentence of 15 years. Instead, the judge gave the men probation and a $3,000 fine. The lenient sentence outraged and galvanized the Asian American community, helping to unite them across ethnic lines and work for civil rights.
The L.A. riots:
Tensions had been building between the Black and Korean American communities in Los Angeles for years. Then came the April 29, 1992, acquittal of the police officers caught on camera beating Rodney King. As the city erupted in riots, Korean American businesses became targets; thousands were damaged during the unrest.
9/11-inspired hatred:
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hate crimes spiked against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, including people of South Asian descent. Only four days after the attacks, aircraft mechanic Frank Silva Roque murdered Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh American gas station owner originally from India, whom Roque mistook for Muslim. The post-9/11 period led to greater awareness and advocacy between the South and East Asian communities.
Long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in U.S.
Six of the Atlanta spa massacre victims were women of Asian descent
Even the woke can be racist 
Kinda against the MSM narrative
Should Noah be de-platformed now?
Where is cancel culture on this?
Where is cancel culture on this?
Georgia police search for motive in spa murders as Asian Americans decry attacks
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble13 Comments
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /Getty Images
Article content
ATLANTA — Homicide detectives on Thursday weighed the possible motives of a gunman accused of fatally shooting several Asian women in Atlanta-area spas, as a U.S. lawmaker said the Asian-American community was “bleeding” from a recent surge in violence and discrimination.
Robert Aaron Long has been charged with murdering four people at two day spas in Atlanta and four others at a massage parlor in Cherokee County, about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capital, on Tuesday. The four victims in Atlanta and two of the dead in Cherokee County were women of Asian descent.
“Nothing is off the table for our investigation,” Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton said at a news conference in response to a question about whether police were looking at the killings as possible hate crimes.
“We had four Asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure that we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides was,” he said.
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Investigators have determined that Long had previously frequented both spas in Atlanta where he is accused of opening fire with a 9mm gun he purchased earlier in the day.
Investigators said Long, a 21-year-old Atlanta-area resident who is white, suggested to them that sexual frustration led him to commit violence. Numerous political leaders and civil rights advocates have speculated the killings were motivated at least in part by rising anti-Asian sentiment since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff at the White House to honor the victims of Tuesday’s rampage. He and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Atlanta on Friday to offer support to the Asian-American community.
In Washington, U.S. lawmakers, professors and actor Daniel Dae Kim said the Asian-American community was reeling from a year of heightened anti-Asian attacks and discrimination.
“Our community is bleeding, we are in pain and for the last year we’ve been screaming out for help,” Democratic Representative Grace Meng, who is of Taiwanese descent, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday.
The Georgia killings have prompted police departments to step up patrols and visibility in Asian-American communities around the country, including New York City, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The incidence of hate crimes against Asian Americans rose by 149% in 2020 in 16 major cities compared with 2019, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
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Civil rights advocates have connected the rise in incidents to the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China. Some Americans, including Republican former President Donald Trump, started calling the coronavirus the “China virus,” “the China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
Hampton said Long patronized both establishments attacked in Atlanta, the Gold Spa beauty salon and an aromatherapy spa across the street, but it was not clear whether he “specifically targeted” any of the victims at those two businesses.
Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday that Long had confessed to the shootings and indicated he had a sex addiction and “wanted to eliminate” the temptation the establishments represented to him.
A former roommate who spent several months living with Long in a halfway house for recovering addicts told Reuters Long had been treated for sex addiction, was “deeply religious” and would become “very emotionally distraught that he frequented” spas for “explicitly sexual activity.”
Long was headed for Florida when he was apprehended, perhaps to carry out further shootings, authorities said.
He had been scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Cherokee County on Thursday, but the hearing was canceled after he waived his right to the proceeding, according to a statement from his lawyer.
The attorney, Daran Burns, said his firm had been appointed to represent Long by the county’s Office of Indigent Defense, and that Burns met with his client at the county jail on Wednesday.
Burns made no mention of Long’s guilt or innocence, but said his firm “will conduct a thorough investigation on our client’s behalf.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Rich Mckay
Publishing date:Mar 18, 2021 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble13 Comments
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
People hug outside Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed, in Acworth, Ga., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY ELIJAH NOUVELAGE /Getty Images
Article content
ATLANTA — Homicide detectives on Thursday weighed the possible motives of a gunman accused of fatally shooting several Asian women in Atlanta-area spas, as a U.S. lawmaker said the Asian-American community was “bleeding” from a recent surge in violence and discrimination.
Robert Aaron Long has been charged with murdering four people at two day spas in Atlanta and four others at a massage parlor in Cherokee County, about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capital, on Tuesday. The four victims in Atlanta and two of the dead in Cherokee County were women of Asian descent.
“Nothing is off the table for our investigation,” Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton said at a news conference in response to a question about whether police were looking at the killings as possible hate crimes.
“We had four Asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure that we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides was,” he said.
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Investigators have determined that Long had previously frequented both spas in Atlanta where he is accused of opening fire with a 9mm gun he purchased earlier in the day.
Investigators said Long, a 21-year-old Atlanta-area resident who is white, suggested to them that sexual frustration led him to commit violence. Numerous political leaders and civil rights advocates have speculated the killings were motivated at least in part by rising anti-Asian sentiment since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff at the White House to honor the victims of Tuesday’s rampage. He and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Atlanta on Friday to offer support to the Asian-American community.
In Washington, U.S. lawmakers, professors and actor Daniel Dae Kim said the Asian-American community was reeling from a year of heightened anti-Asian attacks and discrimination.
“Our community is bleeding, we are in pain and for the last year we’ve been screaming out for help,” Democratic Representative Grace Meng, who is of Taiwanese descent, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday.
The Georgia killings have prompted police departments to step up patrols and visibility in Asian-American communities around the country, including New York City, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The incidence of hate crimes against Asian Americans rose by 149% in 2020 in 16 major cities compared with 2019, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
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Civil rights advocates have connected the rise in incidents to the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China. Some Americans, including Republican former President Donald Trump, started calling the coronavirus the “China virus,” “the China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
Hampton said Long patronized both establishments attacked in Atlanta, the Gold Spa beauty salon and an aromatherapy spa across the street, but it was not clear whether he “specifically targeted” any of the victims at those two businesses.
Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday that Long had confessed to the shootings and indicated he had a sex addiction and “wanted to eliminate” the temptation the establishments represented to him.
A former roommate who spent several months living with Long in a halfway house for recovering addicts told Reuters Long had been treated for sex addiction, was “deeply religious” and would become “very emotionally distraught that he frequented” spas for “explicitly sexual activity.”
Long was headed for Florida when he was apprehended, perhaps to carry out further shootings, authorities said.
He had been scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Cherokee County on Thursday, but the hearing was canceled after he waived his right to the proceeding, according to a statement from his lawyer.
The attorney, Daran Burns, said his firm had been appointed to represent Long by the county’s Office of Indigent Defense, and that Burns met with his client at the county jail on Wednesday.
Burns made no mention of Long’s guilt or innocence, but said his firm “will conduct a thorough investigation on our client’s behalf.”
Georgia police search for motive in spa murders as Asian Americans decry attacks
ATLANTA — Homicide detectives on Thursday weighed the possible motives of a gunman accused of fatally shooting several Asian women in Atlanta-area spas, as a…
Asian grandma fights back against random attacker in San Fran
Author of the articleostmedia News
Publishing date:Mar 19, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 1 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Xiao Zhen Xie, 76, fought back when she was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Xiao Zhen Xie, 76, fought back when she was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /GOFUNDME
Article content
A feisty 76-year-old Asian woman who was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco earlier this week fought back with a wooden board, according to TV station KPIX 5.
Xiao Zhen Xie was waiting at a traffic light on Market St. around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday when a man punched her in the left eye in a completely unprovoked assault, she told the TV station through a translator.
“You bum, why did you hit me?” the woman said to the man on the stretcher in Chinese reported KPIX 5, whose sports director was out for a morning run when he came upon the incident.
Despite the shocking attack, Xie picked up a wooden board and hit her assailant back.
“I am amazed by her bravery,” her grandson John Chen wrote in a GoFundMe page he set up to help cover medical bills that had already reached close to $690,000 by Friday afternoon in just over 24 hours.
PEOPLE reported her alleged attacker, Stephen Jenkins, 39, was taken to the hospital for “a prior medical condition,” according to San Francisco police, and later arrested.
Police told PEOPLE they are investigating to determine if race was a factor in the attack.
Chen says his grandmother, who is a cancer survivor and has diabetes, has two black eyes and a swollen wrist and “she has been severely affected mentally, physically, and emotionally. She also stated that she is afraid to step out of her home from now on. This traumatic event has left her with PTSD.”
Jenkins faces two charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of elder abuse.
KPIX 5 says there was a second victim, an 83-year-old Asian man, who ended up in the hospital.
torontosun.com
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublishing date:Mar 19, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 1 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Xiao Zhen Xie, 76, fought back when she was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Xiao Zhen Xie, 76, fought back when she was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /GOFUNDME
Article content
A feisty 76-year-old Asian woman who was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco earlier this week fought back with a wooden board, according to TV station KPIX 5.
Xiao Zhen Xie was waiting at a traffic light on Market St. around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday when a man punched her in the left eye in a completely unprovoked assault, she told the TV station through a translator.
“You bum, why did you hit me?” the woman said to the man on the stretcher in Chinese reported KPIX 5, whose sports director was out for a morning run when he came upon the incident.
Despite the shocking attack, Xie picked up a wooden board and hit her assailant back.
“I am amazed by her bravery,” her grandson John Chen wrote in a GoFundMe page he set up to help cover medical bills that had already reached close to $690,000 by Friday afternoon in just over 24 hours.
PEOPLE reported her alleged attacker, Stephen Jenkins, 39, was taken to the hospital for “a prior medical condition,” according to San Francisco police, and later arrested.
Police told PEOPLE they are investigating to determine if race was a factor in the attack.
Chen says his grandmother, who is a cancer survivor and has diabetes, has two black eyes and a swollen wrist and “she has been severely affected mentally, physically, and emotionally. She also stated that she is afraid to step out of her home from now on. This traumatic event has left her with PTSD.”
Jenkins faces two charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of elder abuse.
KPIX 5 says there was a second victim, an 83-year-old Asian man, who ended up in the hospital.
Help my grandmother recover from this trauma, organized by John Chen
Hi everyone, I am fundraising for my grandmother that was racially attacked tod… John Chen needs your support for Help my grandmother recover from this trauma
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Asian grandma fights back against random attacker in San Fran
A fiesty 76-year-old Asian woman who was attacked by a stranger in San Francisco earlier this week fought back with a wooden board, according to TV station KPIX 5.
Trump's fault for saying Wuhu virus
From GAB
L@SomeBitchIKnow
7h·
Ooooh boy. Buckle up, there's a lot to unpack with this post.
So the Board of Education Commissioner for San Francisco public schools, Alison Collins, has come under fire in the last 24 hours for a series of racist tweets that resurfaced that are... insane.
In this string of tweets, written on December 4, 2016, Alison asks Twitter for "news stories highlighting hate speech or bullying of Asian students." Her goal was to "combat anti-black racism in the Asian community."
She says "Asians ... won't engage in critical race convos unless they see how they are impacted by white supremacy" and that Asian people "believe they benefit from the 'model minority' BS."
But wait. It gets worse.
She then says Asian people "use white supremacist thinking to get ahead."
She finished off by saying, "Where are the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump? Don't Asian Americans know they are on his list as well? Do they think they won't be deported? Profiled? Beaten? Being a house ni--er is still being a ni--er. You're still considered 'the help.'"
Tweet archive: https://archive.ph/ptLX8
Alison is the driving force behind San Francisco's Lowell High School, ranked 68th among public schools in the US last year, dropping merit-based admission and moving instead to a lottery.
The demographics at Lowell High School are: 60% Asian, 18% white, and 1.8% black.
Larry Elder writes, "According to The Wall Street Journal, the problem is Asian American excellence: 'One school board commissioner, Alison Collins, has called merit-based admissions ‘racist.’ The real problem progressives have with Lowell is that too many Asian-Americans are passing the entrance exam.'"
Article: https://www.joplinglobe.com/opinion...cle_ef9e1a3a-8271-11eb-a39a-4b55ba4db381.html
This woman SHAPES the education system in San Francisco and hides behind the thin veil of being an ally to Asian students... when in reality she turns around and calls their success racist and that it makes them "house n*****s."
This is unfolding live, right now, today and yesterday. It will be fun to keep an eye on.
L@SomeBitchIKnow
7h·
Ooooh boy. Buckle up, there's a lot to unpack with this post.
So the Board of Education Commissioner for San Francisco public schools, Alison Collins, has come under fire in the last 24 hours for a series of racist tweets that resurfaced that are... insane.
In this string of tweets, written on December 4, 2016, Alison asks Twitter for "news stories highlighting hate speech or bullying of Asian students." Her goal was to "combat anti-black racism in the Asian community."
She says "Asians ... won't engage in critical race convos unless they see how they are impacted by white supremacy" and that Asian people "believe they benefit from the 'model minority' BS."
But wait. It gets worse.
She then says Asian people "use white supremacist thinking to get ahead."
She finished off by saying, "Where are the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump? Don't Asian Americans know they are on his list as well? Do they think they won't be deported? Profiled? Beaten? Being a house ni--er is still being a ni--er. You're still considered 'the help.'"
Tweet archive: https://archive.ph/ptLX8
Alison is the driving force behind San Francisco's Lowell High School, ranked 68th among public schools in the US last year, dropping merit-based admission and moving instead to a lottery.
The demographics at Lowell High School are: 60% Asian, 18% white, and 1.8% black.
Larry Elder writes, "According to The Wall Street Journal, the problem is Asian American excellence: 'One school board commissioner, Alison Collins, has called merit-based admissions ‘racist.’ The real problem progressives have with Lowell is that too many Asian-Americans are passing the entrance exam.'"
Article: https://www.joplinglobe.com/opinion...cle_ef9e1a3a-8271-11eb-a39a-4b55ba4db381.html
This woman SHAPES the education system in San Francisco and hides behind the thin veil of being an ally to Asian students... when in reality she turns around and calls their success racist and that it makes them "house n*****s."
This is unfolding live, right now, today and yesterday. It will be fun to keep an eye on.
aaagh Fuck you, I'm going to the local Chinese Buffet for dinner today.. not planning an shooting anyone either.. just want some chicken fried rice, sweet and sour pork and chicken balls with they sweet sauce.. yummy
I like the Chinese buffet You don't have to get up To choose...... they bring the selection to your table!