Media Coverage on Virginia Tech Massacre effects on Asian population in Santa Cruz.

After the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. on April 16, 2007, a large majority of basic cable’s news and media coverage were fixed on two questions, the identity of the shooter and his motive(s). While flipping through the news in an attempt to find the latest updates on the “Virginia Tech. Massacre,” as the shooting is now dubbed, I heard various announcers use the word “evil” in description of the motive as well as the shooter only to discover the following day that the gunman, Cho Seung- Hui, did indeed show various signs mental instability; instability many experts and classmates predict derived from a childhood of being mistreatment by his peers. I would like to take this time to state that I do not in any way agree with what Cho did, however I believe that by using words such as “evil,” to describe a person without yet knowing the details that led up this massacre may have contributed to some of the racist comments some of my Asian American friends in the Santa Cruz area experienced over the past few days. I believe it would be very interesting to see how Santa Cruz residents view this massacre and if their views on Asian Americans have changed.