Do Not Attribute the Sins of Individuals to the Group

The 32 killed by Seung-Hui Cho in 2007; at least 27 (84%) were non-Asian. Was he racist?

Seung-Hui Cho will never be forgotten by the families of his victims, yet few in the general public remember his name 14 years after he killed 32 people, then himself, on the Virginia Tech campus.

Asian-Americans universally deplored the massacre, and some feared that they would suffer reprisals from other Americans. The story of Seung-Hui Cho was swept up in the anti-gun-violence crusade of the period, and no sweeping generalizations were made about Asian hatred and violence toward non-Asians.

Asian activists, however, do not hesitate to call the white gunman who killed eight people, six of them Asian-American women, in Atlanta on March 16th an exemplar of white culture. [bold added]

“This mass shooter was targeting Asian women and their businesses. This isn’t an isolated incident. There have been 500+ hate crimes targeted at Asian people this year alone,” social media specialist Mark Kim wrote on Twitter. “This Atlanta tragedy lies at an intersection of race, gender, class and the legacy of America’s history of colonization and violence in Asia,” journalist Elise Hu said on the site. “I don’t have the words. I’m just despondent. Protect Asian women, solidarity with sex workers, #StopAsianHate.”

So far the killer has claimed that his motivations stemmed only from hatred of sex workers. It's still possible that race was a factor, though even if it were, to assume that millions of white Americans hold the same beliefs is a gross generalization not supported by concrete evidence. Besides, if the society were so biased, how could Asian-Americans have succeeded in great numbers in the culture that activists decry?

America aspires to judge people by their individual words and deeds (obviously not always successfully), and not judge members of groups that wayward individuals share some characteristics with.

Asian-Americans should be grateful that the sins of Seung-Hui Cho were not attributed to them, and they should grant the same consideration to others who have nothing in common with the Atlanta gunman but their race.

Henry Aaron

Through the mid-1960's I followed baseball as closely as I could with my Sony transistor radio and by poring over the sports sections of the two local papers. (The remote Hawaiian Islands did not have "live" TV with the Mainland until 1966, and, of course there was no ESPN.)

Beginning with Roger Maris' chase for Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record in 1961, I went through a five-year period of reading everything I could about the Giants, Dodgers, and Yankees and studied the bios of Maury Wills, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Willie McCovey, Yogi Berra, and Juan Marichal.

1974: Commissioner Bowie Kuhn presents trophy
to Hank Aaron for the home-run record (Chron)

I knew less about great players on other teams, men like future Hall-of-Famers Roberto Clemente, Ernie Banks, and Henry Aaron, who died earlier today.

Hank Aaron was one of those rare athletes whose accomplishments have grown more impressive with the passage of time. In his play or public persona he wasn't flashy but put up steady All-Star numbers--he was on 21 All-Star teams in his 23-year Major League career. He never hit more than 50 home runs in a season yet became the all-time leader with 755 lifetime home runs, 760 if one counts the 5 he struck in the Negro Leagues.

Today there are heated debates about systematic and institutional racism, but for baseball players half a century ago, like Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson, the racism was intensely personal. During his chase for Babe Ruth's record, Hank Aaron received 3,000 hate-mail letters a day. Today players are figuratively knocked off stride by negative tweets, back then they received hundreds of death threats from areas of the country where police protection couldn't be counted on.

It's often said that there are no heroes any more because the Internet reveals everything about everyone, warts and all. The life of Hank Aaron puts paid to that claim. R.I.P.

Holding Their Nose and Voting Republican

The Wall Street Journal highlights another consequence of the extended coronavirus lockdown: uncollected garbage. [bold added]

NYC sidewalk, Jan., 2020   (WNYC)

Philadelphia and Baltimore are among the hardest hit cities, though others, such as Atlanta and Nashville, also are having trouble. In Virginia Beach, Va., sanitation workers demanding hazard pay held a one-day work stoppage Aug. 19, putting trash collection behind for days. In New York City, garbage has piled up on some commercial corridors and residential streets after budget cuts reduced trash pickup.

Some residents are taking matters into their own hands. On two occasions the West Passyunk Neighborhood Association in South Philadelphia has trucked trash and recyclables in rented pickups to a city facility, after waiting in vain for municipal crews.

“Our streets looked like the city was abandoned,” said James Gitto, the association’s 29-year-old president. “It’s a daunting task when you look out and there is trash everywhere.”

At its worst, he said, the smell of rotten meat seeped into his home from trash bags piled by the street, and at night he could hear cats fighting over the spoils. He added that some garbage sat so long it stained the sidewalk.

Without knowing the answer in advance (except for New York), your humble blogger looked up the political affiliation of the mayors of the above-mentioned cities. They were overwhelmingly Democrats.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), Atlanta
Bernard "Jack" Young (D), Baltimore
John Cooper (D), Nashville
Bill de Blasio (D), New York
Jim Kenney (D), Philadelphia
Bobby Dyer (R), Virginia Beach

According to recent polls the Democrats have a good chance of winning the Presidency and sweeping Congress this year. Well, they might have done so despite the rioting and looting in cities they govern, but garbage in the streets? That may be enough for their constituencies to hold their nose and vote Republican.

Bottoms Up

Last week Friday, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta spoke (YouTube video above) about the death of George Floyd. This was before the political battle lines were drawn, talking points were crafted by the various sides, and the essays on America's history of racism and police brutality were updated.

Though unscripted, it struck a thoughtful balance between sorrow and anger both at the murder of an innocent man and the riots that were destroying parts of Atlanta.

Leadership expert Sam Walker breaks down the components of her effective presentation. Excerpts:

1. Ditch the Notes: She never broke eye contact.

2. Lose the Badge: “I am a mother to four black children in America, one of whom is 18 years old. And when I saw the murder of George Floyd, I hurt like a mother would hurt.” This brought her down to eye level with everyone.

3. Show Vulnerability: “I called my son and I said, ‘Where are you?’ ” The fear showed on her face. Her voice quavered as if she might cry. “I said, ‘I cannot protect you. A black boy shouldn’t be out today.’ ”

4. Focus on Behavior: Telling them, “you are disgracing our city,” was quite different from saying “You are a disgrace to our city.”

5. Be Fierce, But Offer Solutions: “You’re not protesting anything, running out with brown liquor in your hands, breaking windows in this city,” she shouted....Here, at the peak of volume, the mayor offered a better solution. “If you want change in America, go and register to vote,” she said. “Show up at the polls on June 9. Do it in November. That is the change we need in this country.”

6. Show Control: Ms. Bottoms made it clear, right away, that she hadn’t shown up in a lather. “Let me just speak to what’s happening here, today,” she calmly began. In the first minute, her pace was slow, controlled and deliberate. Later, after fully unleashing her “red” emotion, the mayor quickly went “blue” again. She fell silent for three full seconds.

7. Reel It Back: Early on, Ms. Bottoms had leaned on two pronouns, “I” and then “you.” As her speech wound down, she added a third. “We are better than this,” she said. “We’re better than this as a city, we are better than this as a country.”...Start with “I,” pivot to “you” and finish with “we.”

Mayor Bottoms is rumored to be on the list of Joe Biden's potential running mates. Can one speech catapult a non-Governor state official to national prominence and, eventually, national office? Why not?