Unfortunately, the horrific shooting rampage at Virginia Tech (240 miles from D.C.), which is now being described as the deadliest in U.S. history may does have a brown angle, if only to further a reckless agenda. The death toll is up to 32 33; at least 22 28 people are injured. Tipster Hema emailed us about Debbie Schlussel, a blogger who didn’t waste any time before irresponsibly blaming “Pakis” for the tragedy (I have quoted most of it so you don’t have to go to the site– it doesn’t deserve the traffic):
Who is the “Asian” Mass Murderer at Virginia Tech?
Here’s what we know about the murderer of at least 32 students and maimer of at least 28 more at Virginia Tech, today:
* The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as “a young Asian male.”
* The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan (per terrorism investigator Bill Warner).
* Pakis are considered “Asian.”
snip
If I were Asian, I’d be legitimately upset with this broad generalization of the mass murderer’s identity.
Why am I speculating that the “Asian” gunman is a Pakistani Muslim? Because law enforcement and the media strangely won’t tell us more specifically who the gunman is. Why?
And the ass-covering finale:
Even if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students.
So far, there is no indication that she might be right. I pray no one decides to indulge their inner-vigilante after reading her hate-spew. Enough people have been hurt by this nightmare.
May the memory of those students whose lives were stolen be eternal. This is just heart-breaking. I’ll update this story as it develops…
::
UPDATE 8: Minal Panchal is confirmed among the lost (Thanks, brown_fob).
Information about Minal’s death came in late because no immediate family member was present on campus.I remember her life here.
UPDATE 7: Information about the gunman (Thanks, Desishiksa):
Cho Seung Hui was a South Korean native who immigrated to this country as a child, officials said. His lifeless body was found in Norris Hall, a classroom building, among those of several other slain students, Virginia state police superintendent Col. Steve Flaherty said. Cho, a senior, had apparently taken his own life. Cho graduated in 2003 from Westfield High School in Fairfax…
Cho, described by fellow students a loner, cleared a federal criminal background check at the time his green card was renewed in 2003, as did his family, a U.S. immigration official said. [WaPo]
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p>UPDATE 6: Regarding VoiceInTheHead’s comment:
It has also been reported that an Indian student, Minal Panchal, is missing after the shootout. [DNA]
UPDATE 5: A desi Professor is among the lost (Thanks, Murugan):
Reports have it that an Indian-origin professor is among those killed in the campus massacre.
Professor G V Loganathan of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was teaching in a class in the Norris Hall – one of the crime scenes – when the gunman went on rampage. [IBN]Abhi remembers him here.
UPDATE 4: In a move which shocks absolutely no one, the blogger who inspired our post uses the latest information in this case (Chinese, not “Paki”) to rail against furriners coming to America for college (Thanks again, Hema):
So, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre is a Chinese national here on a student visa. And today, this alien did “the job that Americans just won’t do.”
Remember that the next time you hear President Bush and Condi Clueless waxing lyrical about how we need more foreign students in America. We do not. Remember the Mana Saleh Almanajam and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, two Saudi students in Tampa, last year, who hijacked a school bus full of kids while wearing trench coats in 90-plus degree weather?
…And remember: Just because this attacker was not Muslim, doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of potential and hopeful ones among the thousands Muslim nations are sending here to “study” under Saudi King Abdullah’s scholarships.[pure crap]See? This is a teaching opportunity, to remind us of how evil Muslims are.
UPDATE 3: Campus police thought it was an “isolated incident”; the email warning they sent was probably too little, too late.
“You can second guess all day. We acted on the best information we had.”
At 9:29 a.m., the university sent an e-mail warning students that a gunman was on the loose and to stay indoors. At about that time, a shooter opened fire at the engineering school’s Norris Hall, killing 30 people. Several students leapt to safety from upper stories, and the gunman’s body was later found at the building, Flinchum said. [Bloomberg]
UPDATE 2: CircusInJungle points us to Wiki, which first said the shooter was “James Jay Kim”. The article has been updated, no longer reflects that.
UPDATE 1: Amardeep provides a link where an eye-witness IDs the suspect as “Asian”; the shooter may have been looking for his girlfriend.
*I have amended the title (was Tragedy at Virginia Tech; Quick, Blame Pakis) and original content of this post because it seemed like the appropriate thing to do; several of Schlussel’s quotes have been removed because they serve no further purpose here. Additionally, updates are now in reverse-chronological order, to facilitate information dissemination.
My son did. A second-grader brought gun to school because she wanted to be more popular. Oh, and her mother was a cop. Eight years ago, my coworker’s baby boy was shot dead by another kid at his baby-sitter’s house. I see one or two pro-gun comments here. I want to know their take on this and what solutions they have. Respectful dialogue appreciated. I have no intention of derailing this thread.
When I read about this yesterday I was just horrified. I can’t even begin to imagine what the VATech community is going through – heartfelt condolences to all. I couldn’t help but think over and over yesterday – what if they had just locked down the school after the first shootings? No one will know for sure, but I can’t help but think so many innocent lives would have been saved.
I’m not sure who brought it up (was it Neale?), but this is shows so many layers around mental health, violence, and conflict resolution in our country. I really don’t care about the gun control argument at this point. I wonder about why we live in a society where someone feels ok going to out to shoot his girlfriend for breaking up with him (wtf!?) and then proceeds to kill so many in the process. To completely understate, that is certainly no way to resolve conflict, and the shooter sounds like an extremely disturbed young man.
All that said, I’m with espressa and desishiksa on this one. I think Anna is completely entitled to post on this, and I think the topic is important, timely, and relevant (and that her post is well-written and sensitive, as always — thanks Anna). Indeed, wasn’t it invective radio that helped ignite the Rwandan genocide? Not saying this is on that level, just reiterating that media is important and important to monitor. That said, this Schlussel woman is a known hate-monger, and her blog is not worth giving the time of day. Perhaps I am too naive? I would have paid more attention had her rant been picked up by anyone considered at all “legitimate” as a news source, but on a private overtly racist and Islamophobic blog?
And lastly, kind of off topic, HMF I personally find the use of the term “cracker” to be offensive. I don’t really care how it “measures up” to the N-word or “Paki,” and I find this comparison unuseful. It’s an offensive, derogatory word rooted in racial hatred. Let’s not continue to propagate the hate, yeah?
Here is the face of Evil.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3048534
To continue on Shodans take on Gun control, Canada supposedly has more people with guns than the US, I do not know if it is under their amendment, but thats where the similarity ends. I am no pro gun advocate, If that is true, is not the culture more at fault?
Condolences to the families of the departed, Just hoping somthing good will sublime out of it all.
So do I, but the comparison question was asked. So I answered it, but I caught myself before proceeding further.
Have you seen Bowling for Columbine ? This question is dealt with, albeit in a shady, sensationalistic, but very entertaining manner.
But for the vast majority of the day, indeed until one or two in the morning the entire text of Schlusse’s post was quoted here so no one would have to give her blog the time of day. If one of us was bothered enough to send this in as a tip, that means that one of us was moved or worried about her hate speech. Using “Pakis” is a very serious transgression, in my book. Why aren’t more of you like Naina, in seeing the need to call her out? If she is as popular as Ann Coulter, her use of that word alone makes basing this post on her relevant.
Not everyone is as aware of who is a hatemonger as some of you apparently are. Many of us had never even heard of this woman. Some of you may look down on Schlussel and immediately write her off, but the wingnuts who would commit hate crimes think she’s a sane voice worth following. I would rather know what evil lurks out there than not. I also think continuing to complain about the source of this post gets us nowhere.
Desishiksa – yeah, I guess a foreign angle is irresistible. Ironically, many desis will in turn see this shooting as reaffirming some of their stereotypes about violent America – I remember hearing a story from a relative or acquaintance growing up about such-and-such person’s daughter who went off to America to study computer engineering or something and was raped and killed in the woods when she went for a jog, and that was passed around as a cautionary tale for Why You Shouldn’t Send Your Daughters to Study Abroad.
I wouldn’t call myself pro-gun but I can’t go as far as saying “ban guns”.
I’m uncomfortable with laws that make it easy to obtain guns, getting them at the local superstore, Kmart Walmart etc is what makes me uncomfortable. I’d prefer to see stricter laws and federal laws to govern the right to bear arms and a person who wants to take up arms and it could be in a lot of different capacities, not always law enforcement, would have to go thru stringent regulations and requirements and training in order to qualify for it.
It’s the “gun enthusiastic” culture that freaks me, it’s the ability of people to hoard guns in their homes just because they have the ‘right to bear arms’ culture that freaks me. Completely banning them. I disagree. We live in a different world today.
Can we please avoid using loaded terms like this – especially since they’re usually used against ‘us’?
BTW, Schlussel may be ranting lunatic on her blog without inspiring more than a handful of morons, but she’s also a regular contributor to Fox News (as are Malkin the internist and Coulter the clown).
Well we now know that he is Korean(south) it is a damn shame they went to his parents house and showed every potential revenge driven person their house.
I’m uncomfortable with laws that make it easy to obtain guns, getting them at the local superstore, Kmart Walmart etc is what makes me uncomfortable
I’m not as well-informed as I should be on this issue, but my understanding is that retailers like Wal-Mart are at least required to take certain precautions when selling guns. It’s much easier to buy a gun from another gun owner at a gun show, where the transactions are typically “no questions asked.”
It is very difficult for the federal government to promulgate and regulate gun laws (because such regulation isn’t in the enumerated powers of the federal government in the Constitution. See, e.g., United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995)).
It is up to the individual states to place meaningful restrictions on gun sales. For example, some states have a requirement that you must pass a mental health screening in order to get a conceal-carry permit. That seems like a reasonable restriction on a constitutional right to me, but many gun owners disagree, and feel that any restriction on the right to bear arms is a step in the direction of a total ban.
Um, if this is totally OT, please feel free to delete, etc.
Virginia has a concealed carry law, with very few restrictions. Virginia Tech, like most colleges and universities, banned firearms from campus. If the shooter had wandered into off-campus housing, it’s a pretty safe bet that someone would have returned fire. This scenario happened at Miami last summer (link):
The big question, though, is do we really want college students armed on campus?
Can we please avoid using loaded terms like this – especially since they’re usually used against ‘us’?
Point well taken, but there was no racial connotation behind it, just the violence.
You are all so sensitive and thoughtful with your concern about going off-topic. We appreciate you. If you’d like you may move your discussion here— there is an entire post inspired by Shodan’s comment on guns, dealing solely with guns.
My initial response was triggered by a couple of things: seeing the 24/7 news cycle start it’s incessant, manic coverage of this horror, blogs of all types chiming in, ready to shove a tragedy into ready made ideological boxes (and no, I don’t mean this one, necessarily, it’s good to talk and talking is important and ANNA did want to make sure students of Asian heritage were safe from violence in the heated aftermath after this), but so soon, so soon, so soon. Before we pause, before take notice, before we even start to grieve. I suppose this is the way of things these days, with people looking for word of loved ones on facebook, and taking cell phone images of the unimaginable.
In 1991, I was at the University of Iowa, in medical school, when a gunmen shot and killed and injured several people. One of the injured, shot in the mouth as she started a new job, was a childhood friend and aquaintance. I remember frantically calling my brother, a student, that day, trying to make sure he was safe. I wrote about it here, under the title, Haunted. I’m not linking to show my writing, or anything like that. Just to show what I felt and how it felt. I am so, so, so sorry for the family members of those that died and were injured.
From CNN: The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/vtech.shooting/index.html
“She said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. Rude refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.”
Score 1 for Due Process.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Virginia-Tech-Shooting.html
The story of that terrible tragedy is (the fictionalized subject) of a recently made indie movie Dark Matter starring Meryl Streep. The NYT reviewed it on 3/27/2007 in Science Times. The gunman in that case was also ‘Asian’ (Chinese), but some details are different, although both were clearly alienated individuals, whose ethnicity may not have been entirely incidental to their situations. I am not linking the NYT link because it may require subscriptions etc, also – the story carries a picture of the just-injured Miya, that may be difficult to look at. Several professors were murdered in that tragedy too, and now we mourn another event rather like it.
Slightly off-topic, but look at this week in history:
April 18, 1983: Suicide bomber destroys Lebanon embassy. 63 deaths April 19, 1989: Turret explosed on USS Iowa. Kills 47. April 19, 1993: The Branch Davidian Siege ends in the deaths of 81 people April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168 April 20, 1999: Columbine Massacre. 15 were killed (including shooters) April 16, 2007: VT Shooting Spree. 33 were killed (including shooter)
And that is just the last 25 years. Elian Gonzales happened this week in 2000… but doesn’t compare.
Tiananmen Square Rallies were started this week in 1989
Any theories? Seasonal affectation disorder?
ANNA, first off, no apologies. You’ve got nothing to apologise for. Thank you for bringing this to a place where someone like me, with little-to-no-time (or, frankly, any overwhelming levels of interest in) for catching up on US-related news-items, can figure out why he’s been receiving hundreds of invitations and messages regarding V Tech on Facebook, Orkut and the like.
The problem with Schlusser (other than the obvious dementia and the tragic haircut) is that while her words inevitably trigger an urge to respond (because letting her just bullshit her way through life is just anathema in so VERY many ways), actually responding to her doesn’t accomplish anything. I undermine myself by continuing to even mention her, but what’s truly tragic about this event is the fact that people died for no reason whatsoever (not even that lovely oyster of “good reason”, mind you), really. And that other people will twist things to their own ends, no matter how great the disconnect between those ends and reality.
The Chicago Tribune has the following quote in a story:
“BLACKSBURG, Va. — The suspected gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Cho Seung-Hui, was a troubled 23-year-old senior from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room, sources say.
The note included a rambling list of grievances, according to sources. They said Cho also died with the words “Ismail Ax” in red ink on one of his arms.”
Don’t know what to make of it, but I shudder to think how this could be spun…
Media Matters has picked up on the Schlussel comments.
apparently he had some ‘trouble’ in his writing and was sent for counseling… i shudder to think what he could have written about to alert his profs…
Tricky, Hitler’s birthday is April 20. It’s a date heavy with historical portent.
MD huggs. I feel for you. We all feel pain for these poor unsuspecting victims. I saw a father holding his freshman daughter both of them just crying yesterday and it was just so disheartening.
apparently he had some ‘trouble’ in his writing and was sent for counseling… i shudder to think what he could have written about to alert his profs…
This is a very disturbing paper that is put out by the smoking gun…
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html
Man, reading it I would definitely have alerted security or something..
Finally, the ISLAM angle……………Right Wing Rejoices
The Chicago Tribune reports that Virginia Tech University massacre perpetrator, Cho Seung-Hui,
died with the words “Ismail Ax” in red ink on one of his arms. Hmmm . . . Ismail–the Arabic name for Ishmael–considered the father of all Arabs and a very important figure in Islam.
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, right? Doesn’t mean anything. Right.
Maybe “Ismail Ax” is the name of a friend of his. Or maybe he wanted to remind himself to buy an Ax for his friend Ismail for next Ramadan. Or I’m sure we’ll hear some other similarly absurd “explanation.” We’ll see.
Yeah, slightly undercooked, but no cause for alarm (except in retrospect, now that he’s killed several dozen).
The paper’s most serious flaws are literary; the subject matter is really nothing compared to Samuel Beckett in his grimmer moments, or Martin McDonagh most of the time. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if I were a prof and an undergraduate showed me this.
What do the words “Ismail Ax” written on the killer arms signify?
From Hot Air:
You probably already know this, but in James Fennimore Cooper’s story “The Prairie,†the settler Ishmael Bush, who is attempting to escape from civilization, sets out across the prairie with two key tools, a gun and an axe. Each has a symbolic meaning. The axe — which can either kill or provide shelter — stands for both creation and destruction. Given that the VT killer was an English major, might this be the likely meaning of the words on his arm? Just my two cents.
From Wikipedia:
“Ismail,” which can also be written as “Ishmael,” is the main character in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. Ishmael, in the novel, says that he is going out to sea because he is an outcast. Cho has also been called a “loner” (see above), and perhaps uses the name to relate to Ishmael’s situation and feelings of being an outcast. Cho was studying to become an English Major before this event.
AMFD, What about the ax(sic)? Does Moby Dick explain the ax(sic)?
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
The Korean guy named is the most likely perpetrator at this point. Koreans are the most hot-headed and macho of east asians. They are also sick and tired of losing their korean girlfriends to white men with an asian fetish.
I have heard several people say this, including Asians of different backgrounds re: Korean men here in NYC- subway and on the streets. But that should NOT be the main issue here (as I’m sure people can say about any group). What was his motivation? Were there warning signs?
A lot of people are dead, including a desi prof, Muslim-named student, and an African-American RA. NONE of us is protected from random gun violence, it seems! Guns are a HUGE prob in this nation!!!
Now that’s a switch… usually the ACLU types here would howl about profiling/violation of 1st Amendment Rights etc if that was done for a Brown writer “expressing their creative vision”.
Here’s a blog post from an ex-classmate of Cho’s, incl. his plays.
Cho’s plays
ACLU types here would howl about profiling/violation of 1st Amendment Rights etc
I might have said that after the fact, but I wonder how many columbines and Vtech will have to go on for ACLU can get a grip on the fact that Chow was no Samuel Beckett.
The nonsense has begun, from the washington post:
I didn’t believe he would get this treatment.
Missing Indian student Minal Panchal who had not been contactable since the Virginia Tech University massacre on Monday was confirmed dead late on Tuesday night.
is it just me or are the news outlets consistently focusing on the fact that he’s “NOT AMERICAN”?
i mean he came here when he was like 7 or 8 yrs old from S.Korea … or is it the status quo to refer to all resident aliens as from their country of origin and am i reading too much into this?
Thanks Anna for the updates. Reading the comments here, it is heartening to see that there are many others, not just Muslims, who see Debbie for what she is. It is also heartening to see that it is primarily Indian non-Muslims, who are taking up an educated and enlightened stand.
One Muslim student, Waleed, was also killed. Our blog, MuslimMatters.org, has been following this as well. Virginia Tech Tragedy, One Muslim Brother Dead.
Thank you again to all of you for your objectivity. Common-sense and universal human ethics and morals can come together in a variety of people from different backgrounds, religions and races to defeat bigotry, prejudice, xenophobia, and all other forms of racism.
-Amad
Cho’s roomie/suitee Karan Grewal, is obviously desi.
anna,
because the updates is good source of news of desis involved in the incident, i suggest you post an update with the news regarding Reema Samaha’s death, too.
not that this should limit what news should be posted on this blog, but i think in the interests of accuracy, reema samaha was lebanese-american. her father was interviewed by wolf blitzer (i am forced to watch cnn due to a paucity of other tv outlets) and it seemed like they are lebanese-american.
We were holding back on posting about her until we knew more about her. If one of you finds a reference to her being desi, please, let us know so we can update this post accordingly.
sorry, i should also have been more accurate. i got the impression from her father that they are lebanese-american, because of his comments on her dance etc., so that is still to be confirmed/or not.
also troubling that someone has circulated a rumor that the gunman’s parents have committed suicide, which a spokesperson denied at the news conference. spare a thought for his family too – what must they be going through.
my mistake.
Whose God, the NY Times has this:
and this (disturbing):
filmiholic, thanks for that info. that does sound disturbing and ominous. i hope the rumour is unfounded.
reema is lebanese, not of indian descent.
Let me get this right- the shooter came to America in 1992, he was twenty-two. So he came here when he was seven. Probably started here in third grade, went to high scool and most of college in this country. His formative years were spent here.
But the media says he is a Korean National.
What a bunch of BS. We are not responsible he is not one of us.
Very sad, thats all I can say and Im really disappointed seeing and reading such comments on this site. From Sydney to Virginia as a Muslim Australian I send out my condolences.
Peace be with you