The shooting in Atlanta on March 16, 2021 reminded east Asian Americans how the criminal justice system fail at providing racial justice and gender justice even when multiple people died. People were also traumatized about when and where the gun violence happened. People who recognized that the criminal justice system can’t provide racial justice asked for budgetary investment into the Asian community, without budgetary investment into the police.
I didn’t know how else to address the tragedy back in 2021 other than create some healing space and therapy — I completely avoided all legal systems and have only pointed out where I don’t want funding.
I felt that this approach was lacking. Where is the focus on what we want and prove we can improve things?
Earlier this year, I learned about how Stop AAPI Hate came to the conclusion that investing into the civil justice system could be an alternative to the criminal justice system to deal with racial violence and discrimination. (I’m not going to be able to write about that well at this time, but you can read a bit more about it here.)
But it was when I went to the BlackStar Film Festival 2024 and watched the short documentary How to Sue the Klan, that I understood just how much the civil courts could bring about racial justice in gun violence. The case was also what set the precedence in the civil justice system in being able to bring about racial justice.
While this feels way more powerful than preventing accidents from overly hot coffee at McDonald’s, I can’t help but truly believe that in a capitalist society, the only form of communication that can be heard, regardless of the subject matter and context, is money.
Even if the next president of the United States could jeopardize the civil court as CCR attorney Randolph McLaughlin voiced as a concern during the Q and A after the film, let’s keep up all the similar strategies in solidarity (aka BDS) because it’ll work.
