转帖：PeterLiang:Social,Political and Cultural Implications

Monday, February 22,2016

PeterLiang:Social,Political and Cultural Implications

Given the sensitivity of the Peter Liang conviction, I would like to write a post about this how the Chinese community views this. 

First of all, a general view was that Liang should not receive a pass. He should be responsible for his action, but his punishment has to fit his crime and it is too severe and too harsh given that it is a pure accident. 

I think this conviction is a combination of the following factors. 

1. Failure in legal sense. Liang has received inadequate legal services. There were discussions about how Liang did not even have any rehearsal before going to court and his lawyers simply asked him to provide truthful answers. Some even called his lawyers the "laziest in town."

2. Liang's unfamiliarity with the American judicial system and his lack of knowledge about American society. For example, the Chinese community wanted to have a family photo, but the protesters have never got it. To a large extent, their family is very isolated. By the way, Liang's father is a restaurant worker and his mother is a garment worker who have lived in Chinatown for their entire life. 

 

3. The highly politicized environment and intensifying relations between the police and the community. Liang may have been made a convent example that satisfies the desire. For example, on Feb. 13 after Liang's conviction of second-degree manslaughter, New York Times published an essay titled "Legacy of Officer Peter Liang Conviction is Hard to Define." In this essay, Ty Alston, a resident living in the Pink House where the accidental shooting occurred, stated, "They needed to make an example out of at least one of them...And he was the one they chose.” Alston obviously points out the possibility that Liang may be a scapegoat.  Distinguished Law professor Frank Wu wrote an essay published on Huffington Post titled "Peter Liang, An Asian American Scapegoat" by specifically stating that "Peter Liang has been made a scapegoat." Asia Times also claimed that "Peter Liang is unlucky to be an Asian New York cop."  They obviously point out to the fact that larger political environment has a powerful impact on Liang's conviction. In this sense, both Akai Gurley and Peter Liang are victims of the unjust system (judicial, legal, policing and so on) that is often characterized by systemic discriminations against all minorities.  Liang received almost no support from NYPD or the police union. He was basically dealing with the legal case with little support. 

4. His Chinese cultural background. He seemed to be very reserved, which may be misunderstood as not showing remorse. But his mother stated that "he banged his head on the wall and wished that it was him who was struck by the bullet." 

All the Chinese Community has deep sympathy and empathy for Mr. Akai Gurley, his family and supporters. He should have been alive today. His mother lost a son. His daughter Akaila lost her dear father. This is totally wrong. Peter Liang probably should not be there in the first place.

Accordingly, the community is also demanding that "NYPD should be responsible for the poor training and lack of support for officers." According to testimonies, every officer had only two minutes to practice CPR on a mannequin but they all passed the exam. The housing authorities shoudl be responsible because they had not maintained the lighting for three years. The light was on the first time after three years after Liang was convicted. 

Now, let's look at the large picture. Is it wrong for the Chinese community to rally around a flawed and fallen person? Does sentence Liang for up to 15 years in prison correct all the wrongs in the past by NYPD and the police community a large? Will the world become safer after Liang as many activists claimed? Will it be easier to make future officers be more accountable after Liang? I am not quite sure about the answers to all these questions. The very fact that the Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson refused to acknowledge that there is a large implication for this case undermines the activist's claim that this conviction will bring more accountability to the policing practices. 

To me, there may be even some unintended consequences. This conviction may send a signal to the Asian American community that parents should never encourage their kids to be police officers in the future. Asian American police officers in specific and minority officers in general may be singled out things go wrong. 

Professor Hongmei Li