This is unspeakable (CBS):
A homeless man on lifetime parole after serving time for killing his mother has been arrested in the brutal attack Monday on a 65-year-old Asian woman in midtown Manhattan. Police say Brandon Elliot, 38, was apprehended in a hotel where he was staying that’s being used as a homeless shelter. It’s near the site of the attack.
He was charged early Wednesday with two counts of felony assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault.
The Asian American woman was walking to church Monday about noon when she was the victim of the assault outside an apartment building. The attacker made anti-Asian statements and told her “You don’t belong here” before running off. The woman was transported to the hospital with serious injuries where she was reported in stable condition.
It was the second such attack in New York City against members of the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community in a week. The first victim on Saturday was an Asian man in a Manhattan-bound subway train in Brooklyn. Bystanders did nothing to stop either attack (except record the first incident for TikTok). Surveillance video from inside an apartment building showed three men inside who took no action:
The Brodsky Organization, which manages the apartment building, released a statement saying a staff member who witnessed the attack has been suspended while the incident is under investigation.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit is still searching for the perpetrator of the Brooklyn attack.
Granted, two people died and another was seriously wounded after trying to intervene during a racist knife attack on a Portland light rail train in 2017. It might give anyone pause. Still we hope we would do better (Washington Post):
“This is absolutely vile. These attacks against Asian-American New Yorkers must end,” New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D) said on Twitter, linking to a video of the attack on the woman. “Hate has no place here and we must always call it out when we see it.”
In recent weeks, Asian Americans in New York have reported being punched in subway cars, spit on and pummeled with metal pipes — an ugly echo of a national trend that activists say gained traction as former president Donald Trump has used racist terms to tie the coronavirus pandemic to China.
The Biden administration announced new actions Tuesday to try to combat the rise in violence against the AAPI community. They include reinstating the White House initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, establishing a COVID-19 equity task force, and a Justice Department initiative to respond to anti-Asian violence.
According to the organization Stop AAPI Hate, roughly 3,800 hate crimes against Asian Americans have been reported in the U.S. from March 2020 to April 2021. A recent study showed that former President Trump’s use of the phrase “Chinese virus” to refer to COVID-19 increased the use of anti-Asian hashtags on Twitter.
Locked out of social media sites for such hate-mongering, El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago just set up a website “committed to preserving the magnificent legacy of the Trump Administration.” And to lavishing undeserved praise upon Himself.
Jamie Ross’s take at Daily Beast is headlined: ‘Magnificent Legacy’: Trump Blows Smoke Up His Own Ass on New Website.