Fruitvale Station is a film, influenced by a true story, about a young man who was shot and killed by police in Oakland, California. The movie is set in 2009 and tells the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22 year old man who was in a serious relationship with his girlfriend Sophia and even had a young daughter, Tatiana. Throughout the film we see Oscar struggle financially, he had recently gotten fired from his job and was going back in forth mentally trying to decide if her should go back to sell drugs. We see at one point that Oscar eventually gets caught up dealing and ends up in Jail. This is just one example of how African Americans get in trouble and put into the system all because they were trying to make a living for themselves and their families.
The movie plot is spread throughout 2 days including some flashbacks. It is set on New Years eve, Oscar and his girlfriend drop their daughter off at relatives and head out to go watch fireworks with a few friends. They decided to take the train but on the way back home they ran into some trouble. Oscar had gotten into a fight on the train and the police were called. As the police arrive we see them pick out some of Oscars friends as Oscar tries to hide, a cop hops on the train looking for another person and spots Oscar and instantly picks him out of everyone on the train because he “fit the description”. Right away the cops become overly aggressive with Oscar and his friends, the cop even kicked them even though they were just sitting on the ground. Eventually things got out of hand and one of the cops punched Oscar in the face, once again an example excessive force. Back up then showed up and the cops continued to be aggressive t=with Oscar and his friends cussing at them an aiming their tasers at them which made tension rise, Oscar tries to talk to the cops and begins to stand up but again the cops became aggressive. Things got very physical again and the cops try and put them in handcuffs. As the cop and Oscar go back and forth with words, the cop uses the N-word, more specifically the hard R. Fighting begins and Oscar is forced onto his stomach and held down, then all of the sudden a gun shot goes off and we see blood pouring out of Oscars mouth. Oscar ends up dying the next day at the hospital.
This movie was released around the same time the Black Lives Matter movement had picked up traction in the mainstream media. This movie gave good insight to the rest of the world on what police brutality is and what it looks like. It showed what an encounter with the police can look like for a black man or woman and why many African Americans are afraid of the police or do not trust them.
Keek, Jorge. “’Fruitvalle Station’: Educational Movies about Police Brutality.” Film Daily, 18 June 2020, filmdaily.co/news/fruitvale-station-police-brutality/.
Hi my names Gabby Hutcherson, I’m a freshman,and we will be discussing the current rise of Asian hate crimes in the US
Gabby Hutcherson
Alright, so the first point that I’d like to talk about obviously, is just that. Um, in the in the article that I sent out, It talks about how there’s this professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco University. He stated that the stereotypes of Asian woman are meek and subservient, which leads them to be an even bigger target. And kinda just wanted to, like, elaborate on that, like, why do we think this is? Do we think it’s because, like the intersectionality, between like racism and sexism, that Asian Asian like American woman have? And like, what that has to do with like them being like a bigger target?
Addie Shaffer
Yeah, so I guess I kind of agree that it is kind of the intersectionality.I mean, gender is a big topic right now also so I think that’s kind of something that maybe has shone more light to it.
John DeMarsh
And then if you look at it, all these upticks in crime, they’re against the elderly women, and not so much like younger women and so it’s like, when you add that factor into it, it kind of plays on the intersectionality of racism and gender in a sense of like, that’s honestly who those people look to, when they give answers and advice. So like, that hits harder when it’s like, oh, your mom was just assaulted, or your grandma, she was assaulted. So it’s like, it really does speak to intersectionality of racism when it hits home just like that.
Gabby Hutcherson
Yeah. Yeah. And a point that like Addie made is like, with, with, like, all the stuff that’s happened with the past year just about, like, equality and stuff like that, and like gender being one of it. And just like having gender equality, I feel like that’s another reason why all this is being brought to light because, like I mentioned that the end of the article that this is, this has been happening since like, forever now. And it’s just because these, they’re not being reported, like as hate crimes, so they’re not coming to light. And so like, because these things are being like put on the spotlight about like equality, and gender equality and all these things. It’s finally being like, brought to light and being reported more often. And so it’s becoming like a bigger issue that people are talking about, which that itself is an issue, that we’re not reporting these and talking about it more. But I think that it’s better that it’s, it’s coming to light and that we’re putting a stop to it. Now.
Addie Shaffer
I think another reason it could be that, that it is towards older women instead of younger woman is probably like sexualization. Like they’re not going to be they’re more willing to attack somebody that they’re not they don’t potentially see as attractive
Gabby Hutcherson
I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That’s another that’s a good point. That’s another point where, like, intersectionality, where comes in because they are Asian, and they are woman. And so that’s why they think they’re meek and subservient. So that’s why they see him as an even bigger target. And that’s, that’s another point of like, intersectionality is between their age, their race and their gender, all coming together and making them an even bigger target. Yeah. And so another point that I wanted to make that it says, NBC states that there were roughly 503 incidents alone in 2021. Why do we think this is like, why do you think it’s, like it’s happening even more and more and more now? And 2021, maybe more than so than it was in 2020. Like when COVID first started, and COVID first hit?
Addie Shaffer
I think people are just really tired of dealing with COVID at this point, and they’re becoming frustrated and don’t know what else to do.
Gabby Hutcherson
Yeah, I think we’re people were like, hitting this wall. And it’s it’s zero excuse whatsoever. For hitting this wall. They feel like they have to, they have to take this anger out on on somebody. And and, like their first thought is, oh, it came from China. Okay, we’re going to just start to harass all Asians, which it’s disgusting. It really,
John DeMarsh
I think like a lot of it has to do with, like you said before, all these weren’t reported as hate crimes back then. I feel like a lot of this is a good majority, at least is redoing the reports and haven’t actually really wasn’t. I won’t say it’s hard to believe that 568 hate crimes could have happened over a year, but don’t seem like it
Gabby Hutcherson
I think it’s I think it’s a hate crimes exactly. I think it was an incident in 2014. So this is it said verbal harassment, and shutting were the most common types of discrimination, making up 68.1% and 20.5% of the reports, respectively. The third most common category was physical assault, which made up 11.1% of the total incidents. So not all of them were like physical assaults, or some type of discrimination or harassment in some type of way. So the ones but I think the ones that we’re mainly seeing on like mainstream media and stuff like that, are obviously going to be like the bigger stories, which I think which i think it’s it’s sad to see and I know it’s hard to see which certain people like don’t enjoy that like seeing these type of things may close it, but I feel like it’s better because we’re spreading the word like I know Addie at first you said that you hadn’t you hadn’t heard about anything that I was getting going. I think that that like this is a part of it like being like, people posting these things and putting them out there and becoming uncomfortable with the conversation of like racism and sexism and stuff like that is like putting boundaries on on the actual issue and people trying to like, advocate I feel like that’s like a big part of is people just being uncomfortable with the conversation.
Addie Shaffer
I guess that question that goes with that. So I mean, like I said, I haven’t heard much about this, but every day I do watch news and I hear stuff about the border security with Mexico and Coronavirus. So I guess like I’m wondering why we’re not hearing more about this when there’s more of an overlap between the Asians and the Coronavirus than there would be with the Mexican immigrants in the Coronavirus,
Gabby Hutcherson
right. I guess it would probably probably mostly depend on like, What news networks you what you follow, and then probably also like, just the type of like, the people that you follow, and like who like what they’re posting and stuff like that. So I feel like that that also has to do with it or might have to do with I don’t know, people the same thing. People like being able to be comfortable talking about the situation. And some people aren’t. That’s just not they’re not they don’t, they’re not able they’ve never had that conversation before. So they’re not ready to post things about it, and start that conversation and like, defend themselves and stuff like that. So I feel like that’s that’s another part of it. I hadn’t I had no idea that this was going on. Like I had seen maybe things like maybe last year, like one or two. But I didn’t know that the numbers have gotten like so high. I don’t know about like, John how have you like this past year, like have you heard anything about this until recently?
John DeMarsh
More so now than ever? I think it just is because news networks wanna cover the big stuff first. And then. So I feel like it’s coming up. Right now. Coronavirus stuff, although it is related to it is everyone like seeing the number or hate seeing that I’m seeing the infection. So like, when you’re a news network and you want to get as many people watching your show as possible. You throw the big papers out. There’s boarder crisis, Coronavirus stats, and then I feel like towards the middle of their cast. We’ll get to the crime, but then you’ve already lost everyone is just looking for those two big hitters.
Gabby Hutcherson
Exactly. Yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good
John DeMarsh
and it sucks, because when you see changes in that Coronavirus number. I feel like a lot of people are still blaming it on Asians. Still blame it on this, still blame it on that. So it’s like having a negative effect on something that should be more positive.
Gabby Hutcherson
Exactly. It seems like it’s like never enough. Like it’s almost like, as numbers go down as we continue to like, have new discoveries and stuff like that. It’s like, Oh, well, we’re still here in this position. Because of it like which a year later and we’re still really excited. Yeah, exactly. So it’s like more of a glass, like half empty type of mindset. I feel like it’s like, project tiling all this negativity and like, this tension in America that we don’t need, like, especially right now. And then at the end of the article, it talks about how President Joe Biden has addressed the issue of anti Asian attacks. In addition to the referencing the violence in his first national primetime address Thursday night, he also signed them memo random earlier this year, that part issued guidance on how justice smart men should respond to heighten number of anti Asian bias intense.
Addie Shaffer
Um, I think it will help with that. But I also think there are going to be a backlash on that. With, I mean, everyone just thinking they’re innocent to begin with. So I think they can kind of it can kind of go both ways on that.
Gabby Hutcherson
Right. It says, This explains it to me like it allows for a more holistic approach to combating racism against anti Asians, Asian Americans in public streets, transit, private businesses, and other settings. So it allows people to be called out and all in all said, it’s more so just hold everybody accountable, and not not allow anything to slip or slip away. But I agree with what you’re saying that people are gonna think they’re innocent. But once it’s up to the law, it’s up to the law. You know, what I mean?
John DeMarsh
That specific with actually against a group of people actually brings along with it, more laws that people have committed and broken. And I think it honestly helps in the sense of, it kind of brings a laser focus to it. And so having a broad case of assault or a broad case of discrimination, , you’re not focusing just on that one thing, And when you focus on that one thing in court, it goes a lot faster in conclusion so much faster than just the basic discrimination case.
Gabby Hutcherson
Yeah. And I think another thing that that this is going to be like, having somebody in a position of power state that like, This is unacceptable. And that like, this isn’t going to be allowed anymore is also another another thing that like, contributes like helping stop this, because now we see that like, it’s okay. Like, the President of the United States is saying something about this, like, he’s, he’s putting like, he’s the one saying, alright, this is like enough is enough, people are gonna start being held accountable. It kind of like, scares some of these people who are like, doing these things and harassing these people. They’re like, okay, they’re taking this way more serious now than they were last year, every years prior to this. That’s not gonna stop everybody, not everybody, everybody gonna not believe anything that these people are saying, which is, I mean, understandable. Like,not everybody’s going to be stopped. So but I think that it is better for us to have that. Have that presence of like power being like, Alright, this is the end of it like this. It’s, it’s got to be stopped.
Addie Shaffer
Okay, I guess I have one more question here, Because of the increase in these hate crimes, do you think we’ll see a decrease in Asian immigrants in the next maybe, like, five years?
Gabby Hutcherson
Um, I could definitely see that happening only. I think that as time goes on in like with social media, and everything just being put on like blast and everybody being more aware of what’s going on, like in America, and like our justice system, and everything like that goes on. I think that, that people are looking at America and seeing less of like the American dream. And like, because they’re seeing that people who come here to immigrate here, like aren’t being treated the same as everybody else. It’s not what we like, as Americans give off like, like the same energy. It’s not the Oh, everybody comes here to raise love, in love and accepted like, is this being accepted. Whereas like, this last year, is really going to show that like, that’s not the truth for everybody. And so I feel like that’s going to put a slowdown on people who are looking to like, leave their country and like, I don’t know, be more successful and like, try and find a safe home, they’re not going to look here, they might look somewhere else instead, before it might this might not be their first choice or
John DeMarsh
I think it’s going to make them think twice on exactly where they immigrate to, you can kind of tell because they’ll show a huge map of like, those three crimes and they will have hotspots. So if I’m an Asian American, and I know, hey, this might be the best place to live. I want to move away from those places and then put more time and thought into Okay, this is safe, like I’ve been around this area like this is this is where I’m gonna go instead of just getting to Ellis Island or just coming through California and then just staying, right.
For this week’s Diary of systemic injustices, I will be talking about the rise of hate crimes against Asians in America since the start of the Coivd-19 Pandemic. Many of these hate crimes that have happened within the last 2 months have ended with people dying, for example “a 36-year-old Asian man in New York’s Chinatown neighborhood was stabbed and taken to the hospital in critical condition” (Abdollah and Hughes). The suspects that were involved in this awful hate crime have been charged with “attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime, among other charges” (Abdollah and Hughes).The reasoning for these hate crimes have been pointed to the former president of the United States Donald J. Trump, when the virus first reached the U.S., he labeled the Coronavirus as the “China virus” and “Kung flu”. This showed people, specifically his supporters, that it was okay to be Xenophobic and Racist, because our own President was doing the same. Seeing the man who is running our country openly say these racist things would motivate others to go out and do the same, which causes lots of tension in hates in the streets of the U.S. I believe we as a nation, especially the people in power who run this country, need to put our foot down and make sure that every person who has committed a hate crime is held accountable so it is known that it will not be tolerated anymore. And it doesn’t end there with just the hate crimes connected to Asian Americans and Coronavirus, hate crimes are committed everyday against people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities. Although Asian Americans are already minorities in the U.S., because f the Coronavirus pandemic it has made them even more of an “other” as described by Simone de Beauvoir in her book The Second Sex. American natives treat Asian Americans as if the Covid-19 is their fault when it is common sense and basic knowledge that it’s not, and that having this type of mindset is offensive. We call ourselves one of the safest and most accepting countries in the world, but behavior like this shows otherwise.
Abdollah, Tami, and Trevor Hughes. “Hate Crimes against Asian Americans Are on the Rise. Here’s What Activists, Lawmakers and Police Are Doing to Stop the Violence.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 27 Feb. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/27/asian-hate-crimes-attacks-fueled-covid-19-racism-threaten-asians/4566376001/.
The Interpreter of Maladies is a book made up of nine short stories of different people who have no connection at all except that most of the characters are Indiana American or were currently living in India. The Author Jhumpa Lahiri is a daughter to two Indian Immigrants who were born in Bengali, and lived in London and eventually moved to Rhode Island in the United States. Lahiri is able to bring a lot of knowledge and personal experience to these short stories because she has connections to India and knows what it’s like for Indian immigrants because of her parents. Most of these stories talk about life in India before moving away, relationships between couples, and talks about the Indian Partition.
In 1947 the British colonizers left India, after being there for 300 years. After this happened it split up into two separate countries, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. This caused Muslims who were living in what was then India to Pakistan and Hindus who were living in Pakistan to move to India. Later down the road violence grew between the two groups, “massacres, arson, forced conversions, mass abductions, and savage sexual violence” (Dalrymple). According The New Yorker British soldiers and Journalist who had also seen Nazi death camps said it was worse than that. It ended with between one and two million deaths. In the Interpreter of Maladies, in the story “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, we often hear about him struggling and worried about his family who was still back in India while the Partition was stilling going on, while he was safe in the United States. The Partition is seen by as one of the biggest events in Asian history to many. By the middle of the 20thcentury things were still heated between the Hindus and Muslims, and they felt as if they could never live together again peacefully.
Dalrymple, William, et al. “The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition.” The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple.
