‘How Many People Have to Die?’ CNN’s Lisa Ling Decries Anti-Asian Violence, Rips Claim Atlanta Murders Weren’t Racist

CNN’s Lisa Ling asked “How many people have to die” before violence against people of Asian descent is taken seriously, and rejected the notion that the Atlanta “terrorist” who killed six Asian women Tuesday should be taken at his word that racism was not his motive.

On Thursday morning’s edition of New Day, the This is Life host spoke extensively about the mass shootings that left 8 people dead, allegedly carried out by a suspect who claimed the crimes were not motivated by race — a claim that police and the media have repeated.

Ms. Ling began by talking about several recent attacks, including one in which an elderly woman fought back against her alleged attacker and hospitalized him.

“It was great to see her stand up for herself and fight back, John, you should have heard her cry out with her bloodied face. You hear the pain and the anger in her voice, she’s crying out in the language that my ancestors spoke speak, Cantonese,” Ling said.

“And to say that this attack in Atlanta not a hate crime because the terrorist said it wasn’t racially motivated, and we’re going to take him for his word? He specifically targeted three Asian massage parlors, they weren’t even close together,” she continued, and went on to add that “Atlanta is a hotbed for sex work and sex trafficking, but yet he chose to attack massage parlors that he knew were run by Asian people.”

Ling went on to say that “After this attack on the massage parlor, I saw people posting messages about solidarity and about standing up for Asian people,” but asked “How many people have to die for this to really be taken seriously, for there to be more than lip service?”

She said that “Asian people are being scapegoated like they have for a century in this country,” and that “This has to stop.”

Ling also spoke about the harmful depictions and stereotypes about Asian people in America, noting that “Asian women have been fetishized and exoticized for generations,” and added “just think about the perception of Asian people even in our media. Asian men are emasculated, Asians are constantly the butt of jokes and teasing.

“It’s time that we start changing the narrative about Asians,” Ling said.

Watch the segment above via CNN.