Dear Editor,
I would like to know your reasoning behind perpetuating the lie that the deadly mass shooting in Atlanta was motivated by anti-Asian racism.
In your Thursday, March 25 edition, there are four articles written by Nono Shen and/or Maria Rantanen, which use the tragedy in Atlanta as a means to discuss anti-Asian racism right here in Richmond.
Both of these authors point out that the gunman was White while six of the eight victims were of Asian descent, but conveniently leave out the race of the other two victims.
Why is that?
It seems clear that this was intentional, as to draw focus solely on the Asian victims and the fact that the gunman was White, so that it would fit the mainstream narrative that has been repeated across Canada and the United States.
These two authors do, in fact, point out in their last article about local massage parlours that the gunman was not motivated by race but rather by his sex addiction.
However, they again turn it into an anti-Asian issue by claiming that this is “just another day on the job” for migrant sex workers.
Richmond has the largest proportion of Asians in all of North America, and the Lower Mainland is the most diverse place in Canada.
We are more than welcoming to Asians and all races.
Obviously racism still exists.
I have experienced my fair share of racism throughout my life.
But it is disingenuous to turn this tragedy into one about race when that is simply not the case.
But I guess it is your job to copy whatever the mainstream media says, regardless of whether or not it is based on facts.
Alexander Vaz
RICHMOND
