By Becky Chan
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
What should’ve been a night of celebration in a dance hall in Monterey Park, California turned into a night of mourning on the eve of the Lunar New Year. A 72-year-old man had killed 11 people with whom he possibly held and danced. Two days later, another shooting at Half Moon Bay, California claimed seven lives at two mushroom farms. The shooter, a 66-year-old Asian male, had worked with his victims.
Not the way to start the Year of the Rabbit. Considering the big Lunar New Year celebration this weekend in the Chinatown-International District (CID), Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said he and the entire Seattle Police Department (SPD) “are doing everything we can to combat and prevent gun-related violence – at celebrations and everywhere throughout our city, every day.”
Diaz added, “The SPD has also been working with our community partners within the CID to address the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. We’ve increased our visible presence within the CID to better respond to crime and show our support. As we welcome the Lunar New Year, I and other SPD officers look forward to attending many events to celebrate Seattle’s vibrant and valued CID community.”
The California shooters defied the age and race of a stereotypical mass shooter, which according to a nonpartisan nonprofit, The Violence Project, tends to be much younger and white. We may never know the motive of Huu Can Tran, the deceased Monterey shooter. The other, Zhao Chunli, in an interview with TV reporter Janelle Wang, expressed regret and believed he has a mental illness. Mental illness is color blind. It matters not your age.
Joyce P. Chu and Stanley Sue, of Palo Alto University, California, stated in their article, titled Asian American Mental Health: What We Know and What We Don’t Know, published in June 2011, that Asian Americans are less likely to seek professional help for mental health problems than other racial groups. Instead, they…
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