As I write this, it's hard to not feel conflicted. The Brooklyn rally for Peter Liang, the rookie NYPD cop who recklessly and fearfully fired a shot into a Pink Houses stairwell, fatally striking "total innocent" Akai Gurley, made me see a three-sided racism at play.
The Asian community's argument that the Chinese-American Liang's charges in killing Gurley-a black man-while plenty of white cops who've killed black people have gotten off are racist-holds water in my mind. If Liang were white, he'd probably be going free right now.
But on the other side, I saw another racism at the rally. That racism attacked me minutes after I came out the High Street Subway Station. As I yelled, "Peter Liang is a killer cop!," one woman going into the station looked at me and yelled, "You're a killer!"
Minutes later, standing in Cadman Plaza's median strip with counter protestors I took in the hundreds of angry, mostly Chinese workers. Some held up signs with the code racist, "All Lives Matter" slogan. Others misappropriated Dr. Martin Luther King's image and his "Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere." A few even threw racist taunts at the counter-protestors-who included Gurley's aunt.
The third racism at play wasn't not immediately apparent to Liang's supporters-it wasn't even at the demonstration.
You can strip away the questions as to whether Liang and his partner contacted 911 after finding Gurley. Take away that his bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck Gurley by freak chance. Ignore that he was a rookie cop on a serious assignment.
All those variables don't include a key part. Liang had his gun unholstered because he acted on a racist misconception that projects are nothing but criminal cesspools. As I asked others at the rally-and I'll post it here-had Liang been patrolling a mostly white, wealthier building somewhere on the Upper West Side with a darkened stairwell, would he have had his weapon out?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't officers only supposed to draw their weapons when danger is imminent? If so, and if you disagree with the last paragraph's sentiment, what about the projects made Liang that fearful his life was endangered?
Was it the same fear that caused that lady to lash out at me earlier? Does Liang even understand that not every black and Hispanic individual is a walking thug?
For those angry at a minority cop being charged for killing another minority, which white cops have too often walked away from, get involved!
Join the movement against ALL police and the Capitalist system that props them up as its protectors. Be enraged at the structural injustices that literally and figuratiely imprison millions of Black individuals in America daily. They're the same traps designed to ensnare Asian and Latin workers as well, and white workers to a lesser extent in the long run.
Just because white cops have walked for racist murder doesn't mean non-white cops should as well. Rather, let's fight to stop that preferential treatment and hold all pigs accountable.
When the narrative becomes Black Workers Vs Asian Workers, all workers lose. But when black, Latin, White and Asian workers join forces against worldwide bosses, well then, the fight to dismantle them can gain traction. But not a moment sooner.
Just because
In the meantime, pardon me if I have a hard time shedding tears for Mr. Liang. He can go home to his family for now. And even if he gets the maximum 15 years behind bars, he'll still be young enough to do something with his life when he gets out.
Mr. Gurley will never get the same opportunity.