Chinatown(s) Neighborhood

Atlanta Shooting

On March 16, 2021, a series of shootings happened in massage parlors in the Atlanta area, causing the deaths of 6 asians women. The 21 years old white killer told the police that he was trying to remove the “temptation”.The death of these women is a tragic manifestation of a general culture of degradation of Asian women, white sexual colonialism, and a musculine fantasy of possessions of asian females’ bodies. These radicalized forms of misogyny have their historical rooting dated back to the very first day when asain immigrants first appeared on this land.

In 1875, 22 Asian Americans appeared before the US supreme court, arguing against their denied entry into the United States due to the “lewd” way they looked at the immigration official. This event was later known as the Case of the 22 Lewd Chinese Women. Despite the fact that these women have proper travel documentation, the immigration inspector denied their entry because he thought they were prostitutes given the way they looked at him. The California state court upheld the decision of immigration officials, claiming that the state had the right to protect itself from “pestilential immorality.”The same year, Congress passed the Page Act, in an attempt to “end the danger of cheap Chinese labor and immoral Chinese women.” Clearly, the US officials treated Chinese women as prostitutes. Later on American politicians carry on this notorious tradition. During WWII, in Asia, the US military created figures of “comfort women” and “war brides”.

It is clear that what happened in Atlanta reflected the deep-rooted anti-asian hate in our society. As professor Anlin Cheng from Princeton university has put it : hatred does not preclude desire. hatred legitimizes the violent expression of desire. Misogyny and racisms are the bulletins that kill these women, wifes, and mothers.

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