KNOW THEM, KNOW THEIR NAMES: 1982-2002

KNOW THEM, KNOW THEIR NAMES

1982-2022

This article contains disturbing details about numerous fatal attacks against Asian Americans from the 1980s to the present. Based on anecdotal reports, it is not exhaustive. In most of these, racism was not considered by officials and media. If you plan to discuss the story of Vincent Chin with students and young people, we recommend that you review the contents of this article first. We encourage you to prioritize wellbeing before continuing with this article, and take as many breaks as needed to process the information.

June 23, 1982, Detroit MI—Vincent Chin, a 27 year old Chinese American died after being beaten with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers who blamed Japan for the collapse of the auto industry. The two killers were sentenced to probation and fines, leading to protests and a national Asian American civil rights movement. May 4, 1983, Davis, CA—17-year-old Vietnamese student Thong Hy Huynh was stabbed to death in the hallway of his high school in a racially motivated attack by another student. On the day of his funeral, a student organization by the name “White Student Union” issued racist leaflets blaming immigrants for taking jobs. Feb 29, 1984, New York, NY—Ly Yung Cheung, age 19, a pregnant garment worker who immigrated from Hong Kong, was pushed in front of a subway train and decapitated by a white man who claimed to have a “fear” of Asians. Police said the killing was not racially motivated. Jan 30 1985, Raleigh, NC—Jean Kar-Har Fewel, an 8-year-old from Hong Kong was adopted by a white American couple. On her way to school, the second-grader was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and hanged from a tree—not long after a men’s magazine ran a “feature” depicting Asian women in death-like poses, including hanging from a tree. September 27, 1987, Hoboken, NJ—Navroze Mody, 30, an Indian American was killed by a group of 11 Latinx youths in a group called “Dotbusters” with the avowed purpose to rid the area of “Hindus.” Mody was of the Zoroastrian faith. Prosecutors said repeatedly this was not racial incident because no slurs were used. January 17, 1989, Stockton, CA—Five Asian children—Raphanar Or, 8, Ram Chun, 8, Thuy Tran, 6, Sokhim An, 6, and Oeun Lim, 8—were killed and 30 others wounded at a school with 80% Southeast Asian students. A white gunman fired a semiautomatic weapon into the schoolyard. Law enforcement and the media quickly dismissed a racial motive despite reports of racial tensions. California AAPIs demanded an investigation by the state Attorney General, who found that the killer had white supremacist ties. July 29, 1989, Raleigh, NC—Jim Ming Hai Loo, a 24-year-old Chinese American student, was confronted by two white men at local pool hall who claimed that their “brothers didn’t come back from Vietnam because of you,” though they had no such brother. They assaulted Loo, who died two days later. Prosecutors did not consider the killing to be racially motivated because no racial slurs were identified.

December 26, 1989, Queens, NY—Five Asian Americans were beaten by a group of forty white youths who belonged to a gang named “The Master Race.” One of the victims was hospitalized for two days. The police claimed it was not bias-related attack because they argued that “Bruce Lee” was not a racial slur. October 17, 1992, Baton Rouge, LA—Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16 year old Japanese exchange student, went to a Halloween party with a friend but the wrong house. Though the teenager was maskless and wearing a white tuxedo, the homeowner claimed to feel “threatened” and said he shot Hattori to death in self-defense; he was acquitted of any wrongdoing. April 29, 1997, Rohnert Park, CA—Taiwan-born microbiologist Kuanchung Kao, was waving a wooden stick in front his own home late at night, upset over a racist incident earlier that evening. Police called to the neighborhood shot him to death shortly after arriving, saying he waved the stick “martial arts” style. Despite community protests, no police were charged. August 10, 1999, Chatsworth, CA—Joseph Ileto, a 39-year-old Filipino American USPS postal worker was shot and killed by a white supremacist. The neo-Nazi had just fired into a Jewish community center when he saw Ileto delivering mail and shot the postal worker nine times, because he saw Ileto as Latino or Asian and a federal employee. September 15, 2001, Mesa, AZ—Four days after 9/11, Sikh American Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered at his gas station by a man who said he wanted to “kill a Muslim.” Sodhi was targeted because of his turban and beard worn as part of his Sikh faith. Japanese Americans and other AAPI community and civil rights groups condemned the pervasive Islamophobia. July 13, 2003, San Jose California—Police shot and killed Cau Bich Tran, a 4'9" Vietnamese woman, within seconds of arriving at her apartment; she was shouting and waving a vegetable peeler. Police said they felt threatened. Mass protests followed but no police were charged. July 22, 2006 Minneapolis, Minnesota—Fong Lee, 19-year-old Hmong American, was shot eight times and killed by Minneapolis police. The family disputed the claim that Lee was armed, but the police officer was exonerated. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, Lee’s mother Youa Vang spoke out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. August 5, 2012, Oak Creek, WI—Six Sikh Americans—Paramjit Kaur, 41; Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, the founder of the gurdwara; Prakash Singh, 39; Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; and Suveg Singh, 84—were killed by a white supremacist who opened fire in a Sikh temple while people were praying. In addition to the fatalities, many others were wounded. The attack sent shockwaves through South Asian

American communities, especially those of the Sikh faith. It continues to be one of the worst mass shootings in a house of worship. June 9, 2017, Urbana, IL—Yingying Zhang, a Chinese visiting scholar, was kidnapped, raped, beaten, and dismembered. The killer disposed of her body in multiple garbage bags that were never recovered. Yingying’s parents continue to search for their daughter’s remains. January 6, 2020, San Francisco, CA—Yik Oi Huang, an 89-year-old Chinese American, died from injuries after being severely beaten when she went for her morning walk near her home. The beloved grandmother never recovered from the multiple fractures. Her granddaughter Sasanna Yee made a public appeal asking that the attack not be used to inflame tensions between Asian and Black communities. March 2, 2020, San Francisco, CA—Jaxon Sales, age 20, was adopted from South Korea as a child and found dead in the apartment of an acquaintance. The police labeled his death accidental but his family believes that this case wasn’t fully investigated because Jason was LGBTQ+, saying Jaxon’s case “exemplifies the intersectional exclusion of AAPI and the LGBTQ communities.” September 19, 2020, Milwaukee, WI—Ee Lee, a 36-year-old Hmong American woman was raped and killed in an allegedly racially-motivated daylight attack by two teenagers while nine others watched. She was left for dead, but the perpetrators recorded and shared the rape on cell phones. The Hmong American Women’s Association organized vigils to support the family and condemn the violence. January 28, 2021, San Francisco—Vicha Ratanpakdee, an 84-year-old Thai American, was killed by being forcefully pushed to the ground in a daylight attack while taking his daily walk. His daughter and son-in-law have organized protests to have the attack charged as hate motivated, while the district attorney and some Asian American communities emphasize alternatives to prison. March 16, 2021, Atlanta, GA—Six Asian women and two other people were killed by a mass shooter. The six Asian women were Xiaojie Emily Tran (49), Yong Ae Yue (63), Sun Cha Kim (69), Hyun Jung

Grant (51), Soon Chung Park (74), and Daoyou Feng (44). The shooter hunted for Asian-owned spa businesses to attack. The next day, the police spokesman told media that the killer was having a “bad day;” and dismissed the possibility of racial motivation, instead saying it was “sex addiction.” The comments were widely criticized for their bias, which excused the killer, diminished the lives of the Asian American women killed and dismissed the racialized sexualization of Asian women. April 15, 2021, Indianapolis, IN—A mass shooting took place at a FedEx Ground facility where the majority of workers were Sikh Americans. The gunman killed eight people, then committed suicide. Four of the dead were Sikh: Amarjeet Kaur Johal, 66, was a mother and grandmother; Jasvinder Kaur, 50, was a mother of two; Amarjit Sekhon, 48, was the sole provider for two sons and a disabled husband; Jaswinder Singh, 68, was a husband, grandfather, and father of three who had worked at the Fedex facility for less than a week.

Apr 23, 2021, New York, NY—Yao Pan Ma, 61, was knocked down from behind and kicked multiple times in his head in Harlem. He fell into a coma until the last day of 2021, when he died of his injuries in his hospital bed. A recent immigrant, Yao had lost his dishwashing job and was collecting cans to support his family when he was attacked. Jun 28, 2021, Yucca Valley Desert, CA—Lauren Cho, a 30-year-old Korean American, went missing in the Yucca Valley Desert. Her remains were identified months later and her disappearance sparked a social media discussion of “missing white woman syndrome,” or the tendency of the media to pay significantly less attention to the disappearance of women of color. July 2, 2021, Sandy, UT—Masako Kenley was 53 years old and a mother of four when she was reported missing. A postal worker for twenty years, her coworkers described her as kind, loving, and always willing to help others. Her body was found; she was last seen on her way to have dinner with friends. November 18, 2021, Stamford, CT—Shin Maeno, 28, was leaving a friend’s apartment around noon. Six days later his body was found after a five-day search for his whereabouts. Jan 15, 2022, New York, NY—Michelle Go, 40, was pushed onto the tracks of the Times Square subway station. She was a 10-year volunteer for the New York Junior League, working on projects to address homelessness. Media focused on the mental status of the killer and dismissed any racial motivation. Jan 24, 2022, Albuquerque, NM—Sihui Fang, age 45 and an immigrant from China’s Hubei province, was robbed and shot to death in her massage spa. Three weeks later, on Feb 15, 2022, an unnamed massage spa owner was also killed. Reports indicated that more than 20 robberies targeted massage spas around the same timeframe. Feb 13, 2022, New York, NY—Christina Yuna Lee, 35, worked on an online music platform as an artist. She was followed into her apartment building and stabbed over 40 times. An art exhibit at the studio where she once worked highlights the challenges facing American women in US society. February 22, 2022, Queens, NY—Guiying Ma, 62, a wife and grandmother, was attacked in November when she was sweeping the sidewalk outside her home. Her death, after a 10-week coma is counted as NYC’s fourth anti-Asian hate-motivated killing in the first two months of 2022. April 15, 2022, Honolulu, HI—Unknown, a 79-year-old Asian man was walking in Honolulu’s Chinatown when he was set on fire by a man behind him. The suspect was apprehended but the elder suffered severe burns and his health outcome is uncertain. May 12, 2022, Dallas, TX—A shooter opened fire into an Asian American hair salon business, injuring three Korean American women. The police chief initially said that hate was not involved, only to reverse after links to other shootings targeting Asian businesses were found.