Current Events > Japanese musician violently attacked by 8 people in NY subway for being Chinese

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https://japantoday.com/category/crime/japanese-musician-violently-attacked-in-new-york-for-being-chinese

Tadataka Unno, a New York-based Japanese jazz pianist, was assaulted by eight youths at a subway station on Sept 27. Its now unclear whether the 40-year-old, who suffered serious injuries, including a broken collarbone, will be able to return to performing again. According to the New York Police Department, the incident occurred at around 7:30 p.m. at a subway station near the victims house. When Unno disembarked at the station after work, he was suddenly set upon and hit by a boy, who appeared to be a teenager, at the ticket gate. Unno managed to escape outside the station but was chased and beaten by a group of about eight boys and girls. During the attack, he heard them saying the word Chinese. The suspects have not been arrested. Following the incident, Unno was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance, which had been called to the scene by an eyewitness. He was found to have a broken right collarbone and bruises over his entire body. Though his injuries arent life-threatening, its not known when hell fully recover and he remains unable to perform and in pain over a week after the incident.

Unno recently became a first-time father in June, and he hasnt been able to hold his son since the attack due to the pain from his injuries. The stress of the unprovoked attack also puts a question mark over whether hell be able to return to performing again, which is how he earns money to provide for his family. While Unno became the unfortunate victim of a racist attack, people around the world responded with an outpouring of love and support. A GoFundMe campaign was set up by Unnos friend and colleague, drummer Jerome Jennings, who describes Unno as one of the kindest and gentlest souls. The campaign, which has now ended, raised $89,611 in funds to help pay for Unnos emergency medical bills, physical and mental therapy, and moving expenses to allow him and his family to move to a safer neighborhood.

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What the fuck is going on in New York?

I will never get why these people just attack people out of nowhere even Rick Moranis got punched in the face in a random attack in NY. Where are the cops to scare off people from doing this to others.

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Are those assholes going to be charged with a hate crime?

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What could have possibly caused some impressionable youths to commit acts of racist violence against an Asian person? What kind of hateful rhetoric did they hear that encouraged them to do such a thing? Who in our modern society is responsible for for these outbreaks of racial violence?!? If only we knew!

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So racismus. Do people in NYC carry guns or is that illegal now?

They havent caught the people who did this, what is their descriptions we need to know to keep an eye out for them before they attack again & potentially kill someone next time.

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shockthemonkey posted...

Cant imagine his life will get better once he gets those hospital bills

He created a gofundme and received 89k to help pay for medical bills and to move to a safer neighborhood.

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Politicians need to stop using "so and so supports china because ____ " as an attack against their opponents. It implies there's something bad about doing business with and making deals with China. And both sides do it an equal amount.

I doubt that's the cause of why these youngsters want to be violent, but it could be a factor in whom they directed it toward.

Man, googled this for more information and no local media sites are even covering this. Just Japanese ones. America really doesnt care about Asians huh.

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YellowMustard69 posted...

Politicians need to stop using "so and so supports china because ____ " as an attack against their opponents. It implies there's something bad about doing business with and making deals with China. And both sides do it an equal amount.

I doubt that's the cause of why these youngsters want to be violent, but it could be a factor in whom they directed it toward.

Why not address the bigger factor of Trump outright criticizing/slandering the Chinese?

Ruvan22 posted...

Why not address the bigger factor of Trump outright criticizing/slandering the Chinese?

It's all part of the equation. He needs to be more tactful with his words or just not saying anything.

Right now though there are nothing but political ads in everyone's face, way more than Trump. Youtube, TV, etc. And so many of them talk about China as if the Chinese are the most evil people in the world.

LightHawKnight posted...

Man, googled this for more information and no local media sites are even covering this. Just Japanese ones. America really doesnt care about Asians huh.

I think it's because the demographics make for a bad story. A lot of American media are trying to push agendas. Not the same ones, but this causes them to want to cover or not cover certain stories. Japanese media is the same though, don't want to suggest our media isn't divided into clear agendas as well.

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ssjevot posted...

I think it's because the demographics make for a bad story. A lot of American media are trying to push agendas. Not the same ones, but this causes them to want to cover or not cover certain stories. Japanese media is the same though, don't want to suggest our media isn't divided into clear agendas as well.

And yet Media keeps trashing Youtube news reports for bias and bad reporting.

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LightHawKnight posted...

And yet Media keeps trashing Youtube news reports for bias and bad reporting.

I mean that's definitely true of a lot of it and also it would make sense to trash your competition.

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YellowMustard69 posted...

It's all part of the equation. He needs to be more tactful with his words or just not saying anything.

Right now though there are nothing but political ads in everyone's face, way more than Trump. Youtube, TV, etc. And so many of them talk about China as if the Chinese are the most evil people in the world.

While everything is indeed part of the equation, why focus on the the smaller variables? Or at least not address the larger ones? Trump has been calling it the China virus and said they intentionally released it for eight months now.

These attacks against Asians are absolutely disgusting. The media needs to bring them up more and call them out and people like Trump need to stop demonizing the Chinese people.

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i'm simultaneously infuriated by (1) the fact that this attack even happened, (2) not a single american news outlet has seemingly reported this, and (3) that the musical career of such a talented pianist has been compromised by such ignorance and racism.


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TheMikh posted...

i'm simultaneously infuriated by (2) not a single american news outlet has seemingly reported this

Read the article very closely and you'll understand why news outlets are hesitant to report this.


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Ruvan22 posted...

While everything is indeed part of the equation, why focus on the the smaller variables? Or at least not address the larger ones? Trump has been calling it the China virus and said they intentionally released it for eight months now.

Because there's already millions of people calling out Trump. I'm here to pick up the slack a bit.

Shame he wasn't armed.

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ScazarMeltex posted...

Shame he wasn't armed.

why do the saddest people have these weird murder revenge fantasies?

YellowMustard69 posted...

It implies there's something bad about doing business with and making deals with China. And both sides do it an equal amount.

Uhhh you don't think China's doing anything wrong?

There's definitely fault to find with the Chinese government and stuff that should be happening with that.

TheMikh posted...

i'm simultaneously infuriated by (1) the fact that this attack even happened, (2) not a single american news outlet has seemingly reported this, and (3) that the musical career of such a talented pianist has been compromised by such ignorance and racism.

This stuff is just messed up and the media really irritates me on this.

For whatever reason racism against asian people is pretty tolerated in the US and it shouldn't be this way at all. It really is pathetic that it just gets ignored.

That's just it. The Chinese government has done some stuff, but the way politicians talk about it they just vaguely say China or Chinese when it should be specified who specifically did what or why it's bad.

Poop2 posted...

why do the saddest people have these weird murder revenge fantasies?

Look dude, I'm tired of watching minorities in this country get brutalized. The sooner they realize that cops aren't going to protect them, are in fact half the time the people brutalizing them, and start being prepared to defend themselves the safer they will be. It's that simple. I'm not advocating that the guy go get strapped and go hunt these guys down and kill them, so there is no murder revenge fantasy going on here.

Most of these racist pricks aren't brave, their racism and hatred doesn't outweigh their own sense of self preservation. If they knew or suspected the guy had the capability and willingness to end them, they likely would have left him alone. I would love to live in a world where that wasn't the case, where people could just not be douchebags. But we have to live in the one we've got while we work to make it better.

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Poop2 posted...

why do the saddest people have these weird murder revenge fantasies?

Its not a revenge fantasy. Maybe a self-defense fantasy.

Also, are people seriously trying to put this on trumps rhetoric? I highly doubt this roving gang of violent youths is particularly well informed and up on current events. Maybe half of them are vaguely aware that someone said to them one time that the virus was from China. Theyre just pieces of shit.

NeoShadowhen posted...

Its not a revenge fantasy. Maybe a self-defense fantasy.

Also, are people seriously trying to put this on trumps rhetoric? I highly doubt this roving gang of violent youths is particularly well informed and up on current events. Maybe half of them are vaguely aware that someone said to them one time that the virus was from China. Theyre just pieces of shit.

Guess who that random someone heard it from?

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LightHawKnight posted...

Guess who that random someone heard it from?

This argument might hold water if you were someone who genuinely didnt believe that the virus likely originated in China.

Do you not believe that the virus likely originated in China?

These attacks keep happening. There was one in San Francisco just this week too.

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NeoShadowhen posted...

This argument might hold water if you were someone who genuinely didnt believe that the virus likely originated in China.

Do you not believe that the virus likely originated in China?

You do realize the point of origin of a virus usually doesnt matter after it spreads right? Most if not all diseases/viruses stop being called from their point of origin pretty quickly in their lifespan. Only racist assholes would keep calling it the Wuhan Virus, or China Virus at this point.

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LightHawKnight posted...

You do realize the point of origin of a virus usually doesnt matter after it spreads right? Most if not all diseases/viruses stop being called from their point of origin pretty quickly in their lifespan. Only racist assholes would keep calling it the Wuhan Virus, or China Virus at this point.

Okay. So you do believe it likely originated in China.

Now, I agree with you that calling it certain things is racist. Do you believe that these youths were inspired to violence by Trump, even indirectly? If that was the case wouldnt we see a great deal more of these attacks carried out by obvious mouth breathing trump supporters?

Personally, I believe all of that is immaterial, because if they didnt single out that guy for something they would have singled out someone else for something else. Or just attacked someone at random. The supposed motive behind the attack isnt the problem. They would have found some reason to attack someone regardless. Because they are pieces of shit, and that is what pieces of shit do.

Questionmarktarius posted...

What the fuck is going on in New York?

Seriously, it feels like this bullshit is happening on the daily there. Wtf?

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NeoShadowhen posted...

Okay. So you do believe it likely originated in China.

Now, I agree with you that calling it certain things is racist. Do you believe that these youths were inspired to violence by Trump, even indirectly? If that was the case wouldnt we see a great deal more of these attacks carried out by obvious mouth breathing trump supporters?

Personally, I believe all of that is immaterial, because if they didnt single out that guy for something they would have singled out someone else for something else. Or just attacked someone at random. The supposed motive behind the attack isnt the problem. They would have found some reason to attack someone regardless. Because they are pieces of shit, and that is what pieces of shit do.

They are happening. You literally are not hearing about it cause the media doesn't give a rats ass about Asians getting attacked.

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LightHawKnight posted...

They are happening. You literally are not hearing about it cause the media doesn't give a rats ass about Asians getting attacked.

I dont know, if someone wearing a maga hat did this it would be front page everywhere. You dont think there are media outlets that would jump at the opportunity to make trump supporters look racist?

NeoShadowhen posted...

Okay. Watch me ignore what's right in my face.

Not a good look trying to handwave obvious racial violence.

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https://kvoa.com/news/top-stories/2020/10/09/san-francisco-sees-two-horrific-attacks-on-elderly-asian-woman/

This is the one from San Francisco. Its honestly awful what has been happening, particularly during the start of the pandemic :(

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Would they have stacked him if they knew he was Japanese?

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Unknown5uspect posted...

Not a good look trying to handwave obvious racial violence.

When you alter someones quote like that it makes it very difficult to determine what you are confused about.

I wholeheartedly agree that the perpetrators of this crime are racist pieces of shit, and I hope they get whats coming to them. Were you referring to me saying that they would have just found singled out someone else if they werent racist against Asians? Id hazard to guess that their backup victim would also be racial violence. Go far enough down the list and it probably wouldnt be anymore, and just opportunity based. But they would still commit violence against someone.

shockthemonkey posted...

There has been an uptick in violence and harassment towards Asian and Asian Americans since Trump started calling it the China Virus.

And what the fuck could possibly be self defense about this?

If eight people attack you and the fact that you are in possession of a firearm thwarts the attack, you dont see that as self defense?

I would like to see the numbers regarding when the uptick occurred and a date when trump started calling it the China virus, because it seemed like these attacks started happening a while ago. Maybe as far back as March.

shockthemonkey posted...

It started happening in March, right when Trump was blaming China for covid. I dont see the connection.

Speak more carefully if you want to prevent smacking yourself in the face in the future. I responded to what you said, not what you meant. Do you understand?

YellowMustard69 posted...

Because there's already millions of people calling out Trump. I'm here to pick up the slack a bit.

A) I haven't seen these "millions" in this topic, actually a couple like Neo trying to draw attention to smaller variables
B) Taking your first statement as true - you've seen as many negative China statements from the left as the right? So far his campaign manager, chief of staff, press secretary, director of health services, etc have all been attacking China. Who on the left has?
C) You say picking up the slack... do you ever do so in a way that doesn't favor Trump?

I dont see it as a particularly small variable that the people committing these crimes are likely not trump supporters, and people who are likely trump supporters are not committing these crimes.

There might be an argument that the rhetoric trickled down into the population and changed the collective somehow, but it doesnt seem like that is particularly likely if we arent seeing rabid trump supporters committing these crimes also.

Literally October and people still denying that racist attacks and Asians are being treated like shit due to COVID and racist rhetoric by the president

Ruvan22 posted...

A) I haven't seen these "millions" in this topic, actually a couple like Neo trying to draw attention to smaller variables
B) Taking your first statement as true - you've seen as many negative China statements from the left as the right? So far his campaign manager, chief of staff, press secretary, director of health services, etc have all been attacking China. Who on the left has?
C) You say picking up the slack... do you ever do so in a way that doesn't favor Trump?

I look favorably upon politicians from both sides. So yes, I do. I have made quite a few comments defending Biden in the past couple months, and even stated that I will be voting for Biden, for whatever that is worth.

It sounds like you want to try and point out that one side is worse than the other. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't get into things that specifically.