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1 J. Gender Race & Just. 309 (1997-1998)
Crime and Affirmative Action

handle is hein.journals/jgrj1 and id is 341 raw text is: Crime and Affirmative Action* Mari J. Matsuda** Let me begin, as critical race theorists often do, with a story. Earlier this year, in the city of Los Angeles, a three-generation Korean American family moved into a new home.' The grandfather from the family left to take his customary evening stroll. Don't go too far, and please come back soon, his daughter requested. As he returned from his walk, Tong-Sik Chong became disoriented and tried to enter the wrong house. Let me in, let me in! he cried out in Korean. The occupants of the house became alarmed and called the police. Police helicopters and squad cars rushed to the scene. Mr. Chong, an eighty-three-year-old grandfather, was spread-eagled, handcuffed, and hauled down to the police station. At the station, he could not understand the officers who confronted him and he could not explain his predicament. In the meantime, his family searched frantically for him and filed a missing person report with the police. At 3:00 a.m., the police, having made no charge against him, turned Mr. Chong out of the station. He was left on a strange street, in a dangerous neighborhood, in the middle of the night, with no way to get home. He was mugged and viciously beaten, and when he was found, he was rushed to an emergency room. There, at the hospital, he encountered for the first time someone who spoke Korean. A nurse, who had heard on Korean radio the story of the family frantically searching for their grandfather, called the station, and the family was finally reunited. Mr. Chong's injuries had a lasting effect. He became afraid to leave the house and no longer went for walks. Shortly after the incident he passed away, never having recovered his prior vigor and enjoyment of life. * Banquet address at The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice Symposium (Oct. 18, 1996). ** Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center. 0 Mari J. Matsuda, 1996, all rights reserved. With thanks for excellent research assistance, to law librarians Karen Summerhill and Susan Ryan, and research assistants Susan Epps, Bema Lee, and Liane Nomura. 1. For background on the Tong-Sik Chong incident, see Briefs: LAPD Practices Called into Question, ASIANWEEK, Feb. 9, 1996, at 9; Julie Ha, LAPD Admits Detention of Elderly Asian Man, RAFU SHIMPO, Feb. 1996; K. Connie Kang, Family Grieves for Man They Say Police Failed to Protect, L.A. TIMES, Apr. 24, 1996, at B3; K. Connie Kang, Ordeal Spurs Criticism of L.A. Police, L.A. TIMES, Feb. 7, 1996, at B1; Alethea Yip, Advocates Demand LAPD Investigation: Tragedy Results in Three Incidents of Alleged Misconduct, ASIANWEEK, July 4, 1996, at 8; Letter from Robin S. Toma, Chair, Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Council to the Los Angeles Police Commission, to Commissioner Deirder Hill and Chief Willie Williams (Jan. 17, 1996) (on file with author).

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