The Assault on Hai Vo

According to West Michigan ABC Affiliate WZZM 13, a 34-year-old Asian American man named Hai Vo is in a coma after being beaten outside of a bar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, almost 2 weeks ago. The details are fuzzy, but the Michigan Department of Civil Rights is treating the incident as a racist hate crime.

Apparently the conflict began inside the bar, with a group of white men taunting a group of Asian women — including Hai Vo's sister — with dollar bills and suggestions that "Asian women cost five dollars". We don't know the extent to which Hai Vo attempted to defend his sister. All we know is that he is now in a coma. Unfortunately it appears that the police haven't yet found the perpetrators of this assault. Let's hope that the white wall of silence has a few progressive cracks in it. Let's hope that these racist sexist cowards get what's coming to them.

People who think that white supremacist violence is a thing of the past obviously need to learn how to read, think, and observe the world around them. People who defend America's Michael Richards types, and who order communities of color to "get over it", are actually defending the First Amendment right to commit acts of sociopathic violence.

Personally, I've never bought into the logic that "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me". I mean, what if the words are "Let's get some sticks and stones and break that person's bones"? The words themselves may not cause physical injury, but their meaning can certainly lead to it. As I see it, human language is inseparable from human action, because actions spring from thoughts and attitudes which are shaped by words. Dehumanizing language leads inexorably to dehumanizing acts. One minute, white folks are having a laugh over "politically incorrect" racist words; a minute later, a man is in a coma after a brutal beating. Edgy "political incorrectness" sure is fun.

Comments

[Y. Carrington]

Jesus. I don't even know where to begin. The man tries to stop his sister from being sexually harassed, and he's almost beaten to death. "Just words" my ass. Tell that to Hai Vo's family.

The authorities are talking about "racist" hate crime, but what about the women who were threatened by these guys? Why is sexual violence not seen as a hate crime? What do the authorities have to say about white men publicly harassing Asian women?

I hope they find the assholes that did this.

[Kim]

Wow.

Sticks and stones. I have never endorsed that simplistic, self-serving, let's justify the juvenile, hurtful behavior we say must exist in childhood. After being fostered in recess playgrounds, and junior high school cafeterias; in high school hallways and HR post-interview group sessions, how could one who grows to adulthood in this country see past the lie of this mantra?

It is up to us. My children are not inculcated to believe such unreasoned dribble as this, for the very reasons you state, "...because actions springs from thoughts and attitudes which are shaped by words. Dehumanizing language leads inexorably to dehumanizing acts."

Hey, Kai.

[skepticalbrotha]

I find it more than ironic that this month the people of Michigan voted to protect themselves from people of color by banning Affirmative Action. This is what that mindset engenders, an increased climate of hate. This racist incident is what happens when people refuse to look in the mirror and reflect on the prejudice they see everyday. Denial is not just a river in Eqypt. Denial is a tributary that flows into prejudice which, in turn, creates a body of water large enough to drown us all.

[Kai]

Yeah, the electoral defeat of affirmative action in Michigan is one of the more depressing things to have happened in domestic politics recently. As some have noted elsewhere, this last election was a devastating loss for gay potheads of color (okay, that's a silly oversimplification).

I agree that the ban on affirmative action opens the door to an increased climate of hate. It's a signal that social progress has gone too far and it's time to rollback equality. Of course, affirmative action for white men remains as firmly entrenched as ever, in educational opportunities, housing, loans and mortgages, jobs, salaries, venture capital, judicial leniency, and a million other aspects of daily life. But any attempt to even minimally equalize the playing field is seen as a terrible burden on those whites who have been given handouts at every stage of life. Yes, denial is an amazing thing; it continues to amaze me on an almost daily basis how utterly invisible white privilege is to white folks. I can't tell you how many times I've heard white folks in the past few days alone say "Yes there are racists out there but don't blame me, I never owned slaves or lynched anyone", as though white supremacy is manifest principally in those two most extreme examples, not in the societal institutions that rule our daily cultural and economic lives and which "non-racist" white folks happily partake of and perpetuate. Then again, I suppose that's part of the appeal of shows like "Seinfeld" and "Friends": white privilege is invisible because people of color are invisible.

And then something like this happens: a person of color gets beaten into a coma for defending his sister from racist sexist cowards who actually struck Hai Vo from behind as he was standing on the curb waiting to be picked up. And people wonder, where did they learn this hatred? As I said above, actions spring from thoughts and attitudes which are shaped by language. The deceptively fork-tongued racist sexist language that prevails in much of America's mainstream discourse inexorably leads to incidents like this.

Peace.

[nezua limon xolagrafik-jonez]

really good stuff, lately, kai. you are one of the damn blogs that i had not added to my (new) RSS reader on this linux maching. i know i'm missing some good ones, still. i don't know what the whole list is (i have 100+ on my NetNewsWire on tha Mac), so one by one i remember...your comment reminded me yours was one. thanks for leaving that comment!

amazing, too, when i stop by in the midst of writing part 3 of The Skin of my Soul, and realize how much of your stuff ties into what i am now laying down (identity, power of words, domination, race, etc). but then again, maybe not. because it seems a lot of stuff out there and "in here" is lately coming together in this same way. you know? auspicious, one might mumble to themselves...

[nezua limon xolagrafik-jonez]

OH and this post makes me think to myself "in the absence of real education about a People, too much Full Metal Jacket can do a young mind harm."

i hope the men who did that to Hai Vo and are now on the run fall into a large unattended hole. and i hope Hai Vo wakes up soon.

[Kai]

Thanks, Nezua. Auspicious synchronicity indeed.

[Nanette]

I've never bought into the 'sticks and stones' thing either. Of course words matter.

Entire industries are built on the fact that words have power, that they can inspire, heal, bring one to some sort of spiritual place in any of the religions, encourage you to spend money, do this, do that.

Why, all of a sudden, when the words are used to harm, engender hate or ridicule, to incite or inflame would they then be considered less powerful? I don't think anyone actually believes that, it's just a convenient fiction that people tell themselves in order to avoid both the responsibility for their own words (and any actions taken as a result of them), and also to avoid the responsibility of speaking up in opposition to them.

This is a sad story, this young man here... so senseless. I hope he recovers completely.

[Nanette]

because it seems a lot of stuff out there and "in here" is lately coming together in this same way. you know? auspicious, one might mumble to themselves...

Well, I don't want to get all "woo woo" on ya, Nezua... but that has been my feeling too, for a while.

[Jeff]

Yes, this is all very horrible, shouldn't happen blah blah. Yet it does. Despite the slow slow pace of changing attitudes in tolerance, there is a sizeable few who will always voice (and show) their discontent. And being in a minority race doesn't put you in a great position from the start, as we've seen here - 3 white blokes, 1 asian man - off for a quiet drink with her sister - not beaten within an inch of his life.

To be honest, I can't see any real change happening from this unless more asians flooded the country - make up their presence in numbers. But even then it's more prone to race wars.

[Yolanda Carrington]

Jeff..."flooded the country?" What the hell? Your descriptions illustrate the very problem we're talking about.

And sixty percent of humanity does not a "minority race" make.

[Christina Fong]

This just in... June 13 Grand Rapids Press online
Police will not bring charges in fight near The B.O.B.
The Grand Rapids Police Department will not bring charges against anyone following the November assault of a Vietnamese man, which sparked concerns about a hate crime, outside a downtown bar.

Police said they based their decision on witness statements indicating Hai Vo, 34, was "more of an aggressor than he now recollects," Grand Rapids Police Detective Paul Warwick said.

Vo suffered serious injuries that left him in a coma and led the Michigan Department of Civil Rights to call the incident an apparent hate crime. Police believe Vo fell and hit his head on the sidewalk following a brawl at the downtown entertainment complex The B.O.B.

"The police department met with Hai Vo after he regained consciousness and discussed their findings. He was not just standing on the road and someone assaulted him," Warwick said.

Police said they talked with the other man involved.

Warwick noted charges have been brought in previous instances where two subjects were fighting leading to the death or injury of one. But charges are only brought "when you can clearly show someone was the aggressor," he said.

For more on this story, return to MLive on Thursday or pick up a copy of Thursday's Grand Rapids Press.