Actor Daniel Dae Kim appeared in Cuomo Prime Time Wednesday, where he talked about the shooting in Georgia the day before. On Tuesday, a man opened fire at three spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, six of them Asian women. Although officials have yet to determine whether race played a role in the deaths, many Asian Americans are frightened, as crimes against the community soared last year. Kim claimed that his sister was a victim of a hate crime long before the increase in hate crimes in 2015.
“She was running in her own neighborhood when a man driving a car approached and shouted for her to stay on the sidewalk when he was running on the shoulder,” said Kim. “She said she would do that, and the man backed up and hit her with the car. My sister turned and was shocked, and told him that ‘You just hit me’, he backed up in the car and, when my sister was walking away, hit her again, knocking her down. “
Although investigators for the Atlanta area murders have yet to say whether or not it was a hate crime, Kim said the prosecutor in his sister’s case did not even consider it.
“This man had a history of violence against other Asian women, but when it came time to prosecute him, the prosecutor was telling my sister that ‘we are never going to have a hate crime. You just have to wait for everything you can get, ‘”said Kim. “He ended up being convicted of reckless driving when he used his car as a weapon to kill my sister, and there was no one in the system who was willing to help her bring this case to proper justice.”
During a press conference on Wednesday, Captain Jay Baker, from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, said of the alleged killer: “He was quite fed up and was at the end of his line, and yesterday was a very bad day for him, and this is what he did. Baker, who allegedly tried to sell anti-China t-shirts on Facebook last year, was criticized for the comment, but the petulant attitude reminded Kim of the judge in his sister’s case.
“Just as the sheriff’s spokesman said today that this man was having a bad day,” said Kim, “the judge in the case with my sister said, ‘I can understand why this guy was frustrated, so am I frustrated.’ And that is what he said, and it was then that the verdict was given that it would be a reckless direction. “
While the Atlanta sniper, who confessed to the murders, claims that it was sex addiction, not race, as the motivating factor behind the murders, Kim doesn’t believe it.
“This is part of our story, Chris,” said Kim, “so I’m a little skeptical when I hear that there is absolutely no connection between race and these murders.”
Cuomo Prime Time airs during the week at 9 pm CNN.
Watch Donald Trump urge his supporters to get the COVID vaccine, saying it ‘works incredibly well’:
Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:
Tell us what you think! Contact us Twitter, the Facebook or Instagram. And check out our hostess, Kylie Mar, at Twitter, the Facebook or Instagram.