Murder not a hate crime? Well, it's still murder

Murder not a hate crime? Well, it's still murder
BY LAURA WASHINGTON
Copyright by The chicago Sun-Times
September 10, 2007

Was it a hate crime? The truth behind the murder of an Asian-American fisherman who plunged to his death in Lake Michigan last week is as murky as the lake's swirling, chilly waters.

Yet one thing is searingly clear: Asians in America are worried.

Initially the Chicago Police Department suggested the attack on Vietnamese immigrant Du Doan on Sept. 1 was a hate crime. On July 31, another man who "appeared to be Asian" was also pushed into the water, but swam to safety, police said.

Then police made a mid-week shift and decided the attack was not a hate crime, but instead a heinous, random killing. On Wednesday John Haley, 31, was charged with first-degree murder of Doan and aggravated battery in the July 31 attack.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

Doan, 62, was a family man. Neighbors say the Northwest Sider lived quietly, tending a beloved vegetable garden and enjoying the fruits of his fishing expeditions.

Then on a Saturday at the edge of dawn, a bunch of hooligans on an all-night drinking binge invaded a popular fishing haunt at Montrose Harbor. One of them was Haley. He allegedly announced that "some of the fishermen look hot, and they need to go for a swim," police say.

Then he gave Doan a vicious shove into the lake. Witnesses could not save him and he drowned almost immediately. Haley has said he was "bumping into people" --that it was an accident.

Police say they can't peg it as a hate crime because Haley used no epithets during the event.

Tuyet Le, executive director of the Asian American Institute, an advocacy and research group, is gratified that the Cook County state's attorney moved swiftly to charge Haley.

Yet Asians are stymied, she says, by "a big perception problem." The initial media reports that Haley was targeting Asians "are what made everybody, well, freaked out."

The community feels vulnerable. On Saturday the institute held a vigil at Montrose Harbor to respond to the Doan tragedy.

I learned of the crime on Labor Day, when a white friend asked me, "Did you hear about the Chinese man who was drowned at Montrose Harbor?"

Then a reporter at a local TV station used the term "Oriental," a word that makes Asians cringe. It's a slur that keeps company with the likes of "chink" and "jap" -- and resurrects a bigotry that harkens back to the days when Asians in America were interned in camps and forced into hard labor.

Police and prosecutors now say the lakefront attacks were "senseless" and "out-of-control" -- not hateful.

Yet, Asian Americans know that political and economic upheaval can breed resentment.

After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there was a steady uptick in attacks of Muslims, Pakistanis and other Asians throughout the nation.

Today, Asian Americans are looking over their shoulders at headlines that warn of the hazards of defective toys and toxic food imported from China.

Last week Bloomberg.com reported that China's economy is enjoying its biggest expansion in 12 years: "The nation will overtake the U.S. this year as the largest contributor to global growth," Bloomberg said.

According to CNBC, the market capitalization of China's stock markets just surpassed the market in Japan.

Look out for the Chinese fortune cookie that says: "Beware: Big success can cause jealous reaction."