The Chicago Teen Beating And Cycles Of Violence [UPDATE]
By now, many of you have already seen the shocking video of a 17 year-old Asian American teen from the south side of Chicago getting the shit beaten out of him by 6 other teens, most of whose identities are obscured by hoodies and ski masks, while one other person films the attack.
The victim was robbed and treated for a laceration to his lip, bruising, and abrasions, according to WaPo.
The Chicago police have ruled out that the assault was racially motivated–you can hear the perpetrators calling the victim the N-word throughout–while the Internet police on various forums have corroborated that notion by publishing the perpetrators’ names, addresses, phone numbers, Facebook pages–even their parents’ names–since the video surfaced. At least 4 of the 6 assailants are also Asian American (Chinese, to be specific, judging by their names).
Now comes these two videos, uploaded by a female friend [commenters on various sites have claimed she's the one who filmed the attack but that can't be verified--Ed.] of the assailants, who contends that the 6 on 1 attack was “payback” for another attack in which either the victim or the victim’s friends took part as perpetrator(s). Apparently all of these kids know one another and belong to different Asian cliques in the same community (the Fobs–Fresh of the Boats–are one group and the other doesn’t appear to have a name), in what seems like a plot lifted from an S.E. Hinton novel. The girl who made the following two videos contends that there’s been a back-and-forth of violence between these two groups and the 6 assailants were “attacked first.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has confirmed what this girl is saying, that the 6 (or 7) on 1 was in retaliation for a 20 on 2 attack. Which doesn’t lessen the horror of what we’ve witnessed in the video but should serve as a reminder of how violence begets violence and quickly spins out of control.
Though you wouldn’t know that judging by the reaction to the video online, where the addresses of the attackers have been published, where one commenter on YouTube has listed the numbers of the assailants and written, “BEAT THE FUCK OUT OF THEM ALL,” while on a Facebook page originally created to support the victim, another commenter’s called on the perpetrators to be “killed” and to die a “painfull (sic) death.”
Bravo, humanity.
[WaPo: Chicago police question 6 teens in beating of teenager that was filmed, posted online]
[UPDATE: The 7 teens involved in the beating have been arrested. Two 16 year-old boys, three fifteen year-old boys, and one 15 year-old girl, who filmed the attack, were charged with robbery and aggravated battery. One 17 year-old, Raymond Palomino, whose face is uncovered in the video, is being charged as an adult.]
Thanks, Nick and @mikeycho
Filed under: Asian on Asian Violence, Chicago Teen Beaten in Gang-Up, Chicago Teen Beating, FOBs, Helpless Asian Man Beating, Teen Violence, Violence, Violence Multiplies Violence, Viral Videos
The original video is disturbing… and while the girl herself seems to try the rationalize the attack, somehow, part of me wouldn’t be surprised if there has been some sort of ongoing feud between the group of assailants, the victim, and another group.
Watching the video of the attack was difficult, not only because of the violence, but the atmosphere of rage and hatred. Even with the masks, you can see it in the eyes of the boys who were attacking this guy. Disturbing.
But as I told my friend… Asian-on-Asian violence = dumbass-ery.
So glad I’m not a teenager today. I would’ve never made it out of high school alive.
Jesus, I just tried watching one of those “explanation” videos. Never mind getting my ass beaten, if I was in high school today, I’d probably kill myself. Are all teens today so inarticulate? Get to the point, girl!
@FeO Werd, brotha.
Cut out “umm” and “like” and that video is 10 seconds long.
I couldn’t even watch the whole video of that boy being attacked. The viciousness of it made me cry. I am so glad that I am not in high school right now. Today’s youth are going to the crapper. And it doesn’t matter if the attack was in retaliation to another attack. Reacting to violence with more violence solves nothing. Now all these kids are in jail now.
They’ve been listening to too much gangsta rap. Kids these days.
[...] *UPDATE* Wanpimao informed me that some of the attackers were also Asian. Also, please check out this link for more details: http://disgrasian.com/2012/01/the-chicago-teen-beating-and-cycles-of-violence/ [...]