From: kawakami@ocf.berkeley.edu (John Kawakami)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american,soc.culture.african.american,ca.politics
Subject: Re: Asian Cop Murders White Woman in Asian Chancellor's Home
Date: 4 Sep 92 14:05:45 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility

In article <1812btINNqq9@agate.berkeley.edu> wltsai@ocf.berkeley.edu (Wei-Lun Tsai) writes:
>>I got kind of lost here too. I assume when the woman died she
>>became a martyr and presumably there was a riot of some kind.
>>Well since there are protestors, and they're not protesting racism,
>>or sexism, then what are they protesting?  
>>
>>Can you tell us a little more about the events that occurred?
>>
>>Jason Leigh
>>
>
>As far as I can tell, there are no sexist or racist connotations involved in
>this so-called murder.  Let's face it.  An obviously crazy and dangerous
>woman broke into a chancellor's residence with intention to hurt or kill
>somebody.  A police officer tried to stop her but she swung at the officer.
>What was the officer supposed to do?  It just happened that the police was
>Asian-American and the woman killed was white.

I suspect that Rosebud either did not expect to be shot, or she had a death-
wish.  After all, who would go and try to kill or injure someone in their
home and not take a gun along?  It's not hard to get a gun real cheap in the
Bay Area.  Generally, you take a train to San Francisco and hang around
certain parks which shall remain nameless, and look for people selling stolen
weapons.  It's not that different from scoring drugs or stolen goods.

She may not have expected to be shot, because the UC police probably knew
her and the UCPD as a whole should have known about her since she was
arrested last september for posession of illegal explosives.  The UCPD are
not known for being especially violent.


>A bit of background here.  Recently U.C. Berkeley tried to reclaim People's
>Park and built a volleyball and a basketball court in the "park."  (I say
>"park" because it's hardly a place where I would feel comfortable hanging
>around.)  In response to that, "People's Park activists", most of whom are
>just bums and thugs who get excited at the chance to do something
>destructive, held violent protests, looted stores en route of their protest,
>and smashed campus windows.  Rosebud obviously thought she could solve the
>problem by harming or killing Chancellor Tien and make herself known as a
>hero among her fellow "activists."  The fact is, People's Park in Berkeley
>is the center of crime (drugs, etc.) and filth.  Those "activists" are just
>bums who are bored and try to find every single excuse to disrupt peace in
>the Berkeley community.

Waylon is absolutely wrong here. People's Park is something which is very
"Berkeley" and is kind of hard to explain to people not familiar with the
peace movement and Berkeley.  To the casual observer or tourist, the Park
is a disgusting, smelly locus of causal drug dealing, homelessness, and
random punks and hippies.  You would think that the Park was taken over
by these people, and the UC should just get rid of them.

The residents and frequenters of the Park see things completely differently.
First of all, they distinguish between the drug dealers, the homeless, and
the activists.  The resident homeless, and nonresident activists would be
happy to see the drug dealers disappear or move elsewhere.  The homeless
would, for the most part, like to see the government do something about the
problem of homelessness and get themselves a home.  The activists, like
Rosebud, are the ones with a stake in the Park.

The activists generally see the Park as their domain, and to a degree as
their property.  This is because the Park was founded by activists.  In
1968, I believe, the University had razed a block of houses to build dorms,
but the construction just was not happening and the block was just a muddy
vacant lot.  Berkeleyites were pissed off at the UC for many reasons ever
since the Free Speech Movement of 1965, and decided to get pissed off about
the ugly vacant lot.  They tore up the asphalt, put in grass and plants, and
declared it a park created by the people for the people.

Before you settle on the image of mentally unstable weirdos wielding pickaxes
and tearing into hard dirt, let me remind you that this was 1968, and in 
Berkeley, the Anti-War movement was underway.  Most of the people involved in
People's Park were "normal."  One of the more active activists went on to
become mayor of Berkeley.  I imagine that many of the activists are now
yuppies; somebody in Berkeley must be keeping the Volvo market booming.

Activism in the Park made it a focal point for other activism, and attracted
people from all over the country to come to the Park to realize their Revo-
lutionary dreams.  Rosebud was one of these people.

The strength of the activists is hard to fathom unless you've lived in a city
like Berkeley.  As individuals and in groups, they have been instrumental in
establishing many programs in the city, including a free clinic, a police
review organization, soup kitchens and other meal programs for the homeless,
and other things that people expect the government to take care of.  The
successful, stable organizations encourage activists to keep on plugging
away at revolution.  Simply knowing that you and a few others can come to-
gether, work hard, and change the lives of many people gives one a good,
empowering feeling. (As any entrepreneur about this)  This good feeling
energizes these activists. (Nothing succeedes like success!)

>BTW, 200 protesters did protest in response to the "murder" of Rosebud
>Denovo and guess what they did?  Smashed campus windows!  Threw rocks at the
>police who tried to stop them from entering UC campus!

This sounds pretty stupid, but it's typical.  The activists as a lot are
not notably stupid.  In fact, even some people I know who think they should
all be hauled off to jail acknowledge that there are many very intelligent
activists, and as a whole they are smarter than the general population.  The
fact is, they are smart but incredibly out of touch on some issues.
Their style is entirely bizzare to many outsiders, but makes a lot of
sense to fellow revolutionaries or anarchists.

>Hope this clears up things a little.  The main point I am making is that
>this incidence has nothing to do with sexism or racism as far as I can tell.
>
>Wei-Lun Warren Tsai
>========================================================================
>Wei-Lun ("Waylon" Jennings) Tsai  |
>-The Chinese Cowboy               | Go Golden Bears of California !!!
>-But I don't smoke Marlboro!      |
>                                  | Go bears!  Go beers!!
>E-mail: wltsai@ocf.berkeley.edu   |
>Phone:  (510) 528-7162            |
>========================================================================

Please call this person and hang up.
-- 
John Kawakami                  kawakami@ocf.berkeley.edu
                               ucbvax!ocf.berkeley.edu!kawakami
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american