PT-LawMom

I have blogged on the way the media seized on the VA Tech shooter’s immigration status, but I had no idea how far-reaching the “Blame the Immigrant Game” went. The blog Para Justicia y Libertad has a very detailed analysis of how the media rushed to judgment and pointed fingers at innocent immigrant students:

Even worse, one of the most unfortunate media debacles over the VA Tech shootings was the false accusations levied against Wayne Chiang, a Chinese-American who happens to collect guns and who also attends VT who also recently broke up with his girlfriend. Without waiting for the details from the local authority and going on a unfounded and stereotype-based “tip,” Fox News reporters Geraldo Rivera and Megyn Kelly (video) insisted that Wayne Chiang “might have been the perpetrator” as Fox News not only were searching for his residence but also kept broadcasting his pictures from his Facebook page all over the airwaves.

… on the Fox Network, Geraldo Rivera broadcast Chiang’s Facebook page - though not his name - stating, “people might suspect that this might have been the perpetrator.” Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly then explained how, upon discovery of Chiang’s profile, the channel searched for him.

Sadly, Chiang was not only a victim of profiling, but also a victim of the old stereotype that “all Asians look the same.” Or, as he put it, was “five for five.” According Chiang, he was forced to go public after an Internet lynch mob targeted Chaing throughout the day with “numerous death threats, slanderous accusations, and ….. [a] barrage of [phone] calls.” By the end, his site had over 166,000 page views and on Tuesday, he had over 333,000 people visit his site. On the day of the massacre, his site was quickly filled with hate-filled comments such as: “so u are the asisan that shot up the school. i hate u and your people.” (note: comments are closed now)

In an interview with ABC, Chiang said: “Right now pretty much the internet thinks it is me … I am just interested in trying to clear my name.” One would think that once the gunman was properly identified this was an open and shut case in the court of public opinion, no debate, time to move on, unfortunately, this is not the case for Chaing. According to Chiang’s latest entry, he is still being “misidentified” as the shooter.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 9:07 am and is filed under Immigration . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.