A Racist Attack, a Town Plagued
October 15, 2000
By TIMOTHY EGAN
OCEAN SHORES, Wash., Oct. 12 On the Fourth of July weekend last
summer, Minh Duc Hong and his twin brother, Hung, drove to this
seaside resort town two hours southwest of Seattle, hoping to see
fireworks. They stopped for food at a gas station here, where they
were spotted by a group of white men waving a Confederate flag.
The men used an ethnic slur, and shouted "go home" and
"white
power" as they waved the flag and pounded on the gas station
windows, the police and prosecutors here say. The Hong brothers
fled to their parked car, where one of the white men, Christopher
Kinison, 20, punched Hung Hong in the face, the authorities said.
When the Hongs fought back, Minh Hong used a kitchen knife from
the gas station to stab Mr. Kinison, killing him, witnesses told
the police. When it was over, the police arrested the Hong brothers
and characterized the fight as an all-too-typical late- night
fracas that got out of hand. Minh Hong was charged with
manslaughter and is now free on bail.
But now a number of Asian-American civil rights groups have asked
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether the police
were lax in responding to a contagion of hate through this town for
one long weekend. They say the death occurred amid a spurt of
racial harassment by Mr. Kinison and his friends. Had the police
acted earlier, Mr. Kinison would not have been free to harass the
Hongs, the Asian-American groups say.
Just one day before the fight at the gas station, Mr. Kinison was
with a group of white men who confronted two Filipino families,
shouting at them and punching at the windows of their cars, the
Ocean Shores police said. The white men shouted, "What are you
doing in our town?" witnesses told the police.
The Filipinos were given a police escort out of town at
their
own request, prosecutors say but no arrests were made of the
whites. Three Asian-American civil rights groups say the whites
should have been arrested on racial harassment charges, this
state's equivalent of a hate crime statute.
"If handled differently by local law enforcement, bystanders and
other members of the community, perhaps the fatal altercation could
have been prevented," wrote leaders of the Japanese-American
Citizens League, one of three groups pressing the F.B.I. for an
inquiry.
In another case on the same weekend, a black man said Mr. Kinison
and several other white men chased him down the beach with a knife,
using racial insults.
"The police see these cases as just boys will be boys," said
Karen
Yoshitomi of the Japanese-American Citizens League. "That's just
hooey. This group of whites was clearly targeting people of color.
The police response was to do nothing. And that's why we have to go
to the F.B.I."
Officials of the bureau in Seattle have not said whether they plan
to open an investigation, although police officials here say they
have not been asked any questions by federal authorities.
Ms. Yoshitomi said that Asians should have reason to fear coming
to this town of 3,200 people, which is dependent on tourists and
convention gatherings for most of its income. "There's a feeling
that nothing has been done to recognize a hate crime when it
happens," Ms. Yoshitomi said.
In the letter to the bureau, the leaders of the three
Asian-American civil rights groups wrote, "Our community remains
frustrated over what is perceived as the failure of law enforcement
to pursue hate crimes against Asian-Americans and the ability of
law enforcement to protect us."
The Hong case has prompted much soul-searching and second-
guessing in this overwhelmingly white resort community. Racial
crimes are not much of a problem, people here say, but, as is the
case in many small towns, the police are criticized for failing to
detect patterns of racial hatred.
"If somebody is waving a Confederate flag in this town, the police
should be called," said Vini Samuels, a lawyer whose family is from
India. "I know I would call the police. But generally, minorities
should have no reason to fear coming here."
The police and prosecutors in Ocean Shores say they acted
properly, but were unable to make racial harassment arrests because
the victims did not wish to press charges.
"We are not the kind of community that has a lot of trouble with
racists," said Rich McEachin, the Ocean Shores police chief. "One
bad weekend over 20 years is a pretty good record."
Chief McEachin said the Filipinos who had been confronted by the
whites a day before their run-in with the Hong brothers simply
wanted to leave town and did not press for further police action.
"Without their cooperation, we don't have a case," he said.
And in the case of the black man who said he was chased, no police
action was taken because none of the suspected assailants were
identified until after their confrontation with the Hongs, Chief
McEachin said.
"We have zero tolerance on hate crimes," the chief said.
"But with
a small police department, you can't do much if people don't
cooperate."
A far-right group associated with David Duke, the former Ku Klux
Klan leader from Louisiana, has called on prosecutors here to press
murder charges against Minh Hong. No charges were ever brought
against his brother.
"This is an outrage," said David Jensen, a spokesman for the
group, the National Organization for European-American Rights.
"This man is walking the streets today and being treated like a
victim because he is Asian-American. Is it now acceptable for
minorities to kill European- Americans for calling them names?"
The man at the center of the case, Mr. Hong, 26, lives in Seattle
and has no criminal record. His family came to the United States
from Vietnam 20 years ago and started a restaurant, where Mr. Hong
worked. He is now studying computer science while working at an
Internet company.
The police say Mr. Hong, at 5 feet 6 inches, was much smaller than
Mr. Kinison, who was over 6 feet.
"This is a little meek person who thought he was going to die and
acted out of self-defense," said Brett Purtzer, a lawyer for Mr.
Hong.
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