, and troubled by his sexual urges. But none of that negates the fact that six of the eight people gunned down at Asian-run businesses in and outside Atlanta Tuesday were women of Asian descent. On the contrary, it only underscores howmisogyny and objectification are with the hate and violence that has been directed at Asian women in this country.
Whatever Long says his motive was, however “bad” his day had been, there is justified anger and fear in an Asian American community that has been increasingly targeted by racist incidents—and demands that the case be handled as a hate crime. Whether it does or not, however, will depend on new, untested hate crime laws in the state of Georgia that were ushered in after Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, was shot and killed by three white men who pursued him while he was jogging.
It is also my understanding that Targeting Women also qualifies as a Hate Crime.