Women of Color Call Out Officer for Saying Atlanta Mass Shooter Was Having a ‘Really Bad Day’
By Carl Samson
Women of color are calling out a law enforcement official who stated that the suspect of the
Robert Aaron Long, 21, is facing murder charges for killing eight people — including six Asian women — from three massage parlors in Georgia on Tuesday.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Capt. Jay Baker, a spokesperson for the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, claimed that Long understood the gravity of his crime. However, the 21-year-old reportedly denied that his rampage was racially motivated. Instead, he blamed an alleged “sex addiction.”
“[Long] was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope,” Baker declared. “Yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.”
Baker’s words, however, quickly sparked outrage on social media, with some Twitter users describing them as “strange,” “disgusting” and “rage-inducing.”
Many of Baker’s critics are women of color.
“I can’t get over how angry the ‘bad day’ comment has made me,” tweeted Fatima Farha, an editor at USA Today. “Does this mean we are all just another man’s bad day away from getting murdered? And will that always be a sympathy point for him? Please stop trying to create empathy for a killer. He killed people.”
“‘A really bad day for him’ has been boiling my blood since the moment I heard it,” writer and comedian Quinta Brunson wrote. “Every time I see it/hear it I shake my head.”
“‘Yesterday was a bad day for him.’ There is no end to the capacity of law enforcement to empathize with murderous white terrorists,” author and professor Brittney Cooper tweeted. “WTF!”
Other social media users shared similar thoughts:
Tuesday’s shooting spree is yet another incident in the United States that involves attacks on members of the Asian community. Whether or not Long’s actions will be prosecuted as hate crimes is yet to be seen.
Feature Images via Cherokee Sheriff’s Office (left) and 8 News NOW Las Vegas (right; screenshot)
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