Too Much Hate and No One to Help

The security video was nauseating. A man walks up to a woman and brutally attacks her. Kicks her. Stomps her. Yells at her, “You don’t belong here.”

As horrible as that is, no one did anything to try and stop it.

By now, you have probably heard about the Monday incident in New York City. The latest in a series of attacks on people of Asian descent in this country. It seems a lot of people want to blame Asian Americans for the Covid pandemic.

It makes no sense.

This horrible attack in New York City is even more upsetting because it happened in broad daylight with people watching and doing nothing to stop it.

This 65 year old Filipino woman is walking near Times Square. A man walks up and beats her mercilessly. He yells. He leaves her there in agony.

There is security camera video of all of this from a nearby apartment building. You can see the attack and the people inside the building watching and doing nothing. Nothing! Two of them are said to be security guards. After the attack, one actually closes the door to the building and leaves the woman outside to suffer. The building employees have been suspended.

Mon Yuck Yu is a health advocate for immigrants. He tells the New York Times, “When I look at the video, the inaction is what’s heartbreaking. If you are being attacked, the community will not be standing for you.”

This entire thing is so upsetting. Why would someone attack a person for no good reason? Why would people just stand by and watch it happen?

As for the attacker, an arrest has been made. 38 year old Brandon Elliott is charged with felony assault as a hate crime. New York City police say he was released from prison in 2019 for stabbing his mother to death in 2002. He was on lifetime parole.

The victim, Vilma Kari, is still in the hospital. She has a broken pelvis.

Now what? Reuters is reporting that the White House has announced new measures to counter anti-Asian violence. President Biden tweeted, “We can’t be silent in the face of rising violence against Asian Americans. These attacks are wrong, un-American, and must stop.”

It really does have to stop. We are better than this. The president said it best. It’s un-American.