still on our minds...

Here are a couple more articles related to the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech, and some of the implications for Asian Americans in its aftermath...

• On the edge of the Virginia Tech Drillfield stands a semicircle of stones—33 chunks of locally quarried rust-grey "Hokie" limestone. There is one for each of Seung-Hui Cho's victims. And one for Cho: Forgiveness Emerges in Va. Tech Memorial
  
• The reaction from Korean American churches in the local Virginia area where Cho and his family were from: Praying for a 'Troubled Soul' and Mourning for Victims
  
• Here's an interesting rumination on the implications of Asian stereotypes after the shooting, by Harry over at the Hyphen blog: Virginia Tech shootings bring out stereotypes
  
• The New York Times' A.O. Scott writes about the media's attempts to connect Cho's horrific actions with images from violent Asian films—particularly Stephen Hunter's contrived speculation that Cho was inspired by Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy and John Woo's films: Drawing a Line From Movie to Murder. The killer was Asian, so it must have been Asian films, right?
  
• People have been talking about the latest episode of The Sopranos, which happened to feature a young, violent psychopathic Asian male named Carter, played by Ken Leung: Junior Soprano's Link to the Virginia Tech Killings. An unfortunate coincidence, and terrible timing. If this character was played by an actor of any other race, no one would be saying anything...
  
• Regarding public perception of Asians these days, I guess this commentary pretty much sums it up: A Bad Week for Asian Americans Gets Worse

And dammit, stories like this one don't help: USC Student Charged In Alleged Assault With Firearm. Zao Xing Yang, 19, was arrested early Sunday when an argument broke out at an off-campus party and the host noticed he was carrying a gun. Yang was charged today with two counts each of making criminal threats and assault with a firearm. You've got to be kidding me!

UPDATE: Add two more to the pile of stories about violent Asian men... this one: Judge declares mistrial in former O.C. deputy case. And this one: Frisco teen indicted on attempted murder charges. Starting to see a very unfortunate trend...