Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 09:18:17 -0500
From:         Joyce Brabner <ah881@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU>
Subject:      US: Anti-SE Asian Violence

This is Part 1 of 2 related articles.  I recently attended a
conference on anti-Asian violence, in Philadelphia.  This case was
brought to my attention:


   In August of 1991, a white youth, David Reilly, was killed during
   a playground fight between whites and Asians in the McCreesh
   Playground in Southwest Philadelphia.  The fight began after a
   group of white youths threatened the Asians and told them to get
   out of the playground.  The racist aggression of the white youth
   who attacked the Asians was ignored as the police, the media, the
   district attorney, and the white community members moved swiftly
   to portray the Asians involved as vicious criminals.


   Asians are Second-Class Citizens in the Eyes of the Justice System
   ------------------------------------------------------------------

   by Lawrence Lee

   Last Monday, I was sitting in Courtroom 653 and along with the
   rest of the packed courtroom, I was listening to the foreman of
   the jury read off the verdicts against each of the six defendants
   in the McCreesh Playground case.  When the long process was over,
   my initial feelings were of sadness all the way around--for the
   young men and their families, for the Reilly family, for the four
   or five jury members who had shed tears over their decision's
   announcement.

   But that night, my feelings turned to outrage when I saw the
   prosecutor, Joseph Casey, on the news saying that all the
   defendants should have gotten convictions of first-degree murder
   (instead of third degree).  He still wanted the death penalty for
   these young men, even though he had little direct evidence for
   murder and conspiracy.  From this extremist statements, it was
   obvious that Casey, just like the entire justice system in
   Philadelphia, treats Asians as second-class citizens.

   The District Attorney's office and the police are supposed to
   treat everyone the same under the law, but there are so many
   times when Asian suspects are abused.  Let's compare two cases:

   In 1990, Heng Lim, a Cambodian American man, was brutally
   attacked in front of his family by a man who called him "a
   f-cking Chinese" and then smashed his skull from behind with a
   piece of lumber.  When the police arrived, they refused to chase
   after the man, Timothy Meitzler, and instead forced Lim's family
   to go with them to the police station.   They were kept there for
   long hours, while Lim lay dying in the hospital alone.

   Even though it was clear who the killer was, the DA's office
   didn't issue a warrant for Meitzler's arrest because they said
   that Lim's family were biased witnesses.  Only after public
   protests by the Asian American community did the police finally
   arrest Meitzler, "five weeks" after the murder.  He was found
   guilty of third degree murder among other charges and sentenced
   to 10-20 years.

   In the McCreesh case, after the wild fight in early morning
   darkness, the police found eager witnesses among white men who
   were involved in the fight.  Almost immediately, they arrested an
   innocent Asian bystander, Ty Truong, based only on the finger
   pointing of one of these men.  However, the DA didn't question
   the bias of this witness, and later, even the police and DA soon
   had solid evidence that Truong wasn't anywhere near the fight,
   they still held him for 55 days while they conducted their
   investigations into six other men.

   The law says in this country that all accused persons are
   innocent until proven guilty, but let's look at the reality.
   Meitzler was given plenty benefit of doubt -- from police who let
   him run away from the scene and from the DA's office who refused
   to issue a warrant for his arrest.  Even worse, the police tried
   to scare Lim's family members, "the victims", into accepting
   blame for the attack.  But in Ty Truong's case, the police and DA
   grabbed him immediately and used him as a pawn and a scapegoat
   without any regard for his legal rights.

   And in this recent trial, the prosecutor exploited the
   defendants' race by portraying the young men as vicious Asian
   killers who conspired to kill David Reilly in cold blood.  From
   the beginning, it was this racial stereotyping which served as
   the basis for Casey's quest for first-degree murder and the death
   penalty.

   Although the justice system is supposed to be equal for all
   people regardless of race, in the real world of Philadelphia,
   there's a double standard of treatment between the majority and
   minority populations.  This hurts all of us, especially now that
   racial violence and hate crimes are on the rise again.  We in the
   Asian/Asian American community need to join together and make it
   clear to this city that we want the equal treatment that we are
   entitled under the law.

   The address for AAU is:

   Asian Americans United
   801 Arch Street
   Philadelphia, PA 19107

*****************************************************************

More about anti-SE Asian police in Philadelphia to follow, in a
second article.  SE Asians living in the US-- please let us know
what it's like in YOUR community.

***j***

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