You’ve probably seen the videos already. Yesterday there were two violent attacks on Asian Americans in New York City. The first happened on the sidewalk in broad daylight. The victim was a 65-year-old woman and the attacker outweighed her by 100 pounds. There’s no audio with this clip but police say the attacker made anti-Asian statements during the assault:

The NY Times reports the victim was hospitalized in serious condition. The video above got a lot of attention not just for what happened to the victim but for the reaction of building security who walked over to close the door instead of going out to help the woman who just got pounded into the street. He has now been suspended pending and investigation. Police have clear images of the person they are looking for. Hopefully we’ll have an arrest soon.

Help identify the below individual wanted in connection to an assault. On Monday, March 29th at 11:40 AM, at 360 West 43rd St, a female, 65, was approached by an unidentified male who punched and kicked her about the body and made anti-Asian statements. Info?☎️1-800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/LkwfYhMCLr

— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) March 29, 2021

One shocking attack in a day should be enough but there was a second attack on a subway train in Brooklyn involving an Asian man. This one appears to have started as a fight between the two but after the first couple seconds it’s entirely one sided. I lost track of the number of times the Asian man gets punched in the head before the other man grabs him and chokes him unconscious. Once again, lots of people watching but no one wants to intervene. And really, can you blame them? You’d be taking your life in your hands getting between this guy and his victim.

🚨 WARNING: VIOLENCE/BLOOD 🚨
A person violently beats up and punches an Asian male in the head repeatedly in a Manhattan Bound (J) train at Kosciuszko Street Station, chokes him afterwards until he is unconscious. Be on the lookout for this person! pic.twitter.com/FCrqiPcxFc

— Asian Dawn (@AsianDawn4) March 29, 2021

At the end of this clip the camera turns around and we see an Asian man who is apparently the one filming. He says by way of explanation “He called him a n****r. He did.” But we don’t see that and we don’t see what preceded it. Was the victim being harassed or did he just start throwing slurs around in a subway car full of black men? Once again, the images are clear enough that I think police will get this guy eventually and maybe we’ll get a fuller story on what happened.

It seems to me the national media was pretty eager to turn the Atlanta shootings into a national conversation about white men targeting Asians and thereby wrap up the whole story of anti-Asian attacks over the past year into a neat critical race theory narrative about the dangers of whiteness. But right away there was a problem. There was no evidence to support the claim the victims were targeted for their race. Instead it appeared the attacker had a problem with sex addiction.

After the Boulder shooting lots of people on the left were eager to fit that crime into the pre-established narrative, but their efforts backfired when the shooter turned out to be Syrian. Now we have these two attacks yesterday in New York and it seems reality just won’t cooperate with the narrative.

The media was on fire last week with talk about the connection between anti-Asian violence and white supremacy. I read at least two pieces making that case and many more that referenced it in passing. I’m sure there are people on the left eager to square this circle but obviously reality is a bit more complicated than Critical Race Theory would lead you to believe.

The real lesson here is that if we start looking at the race of attackers and victims to draw broad conclusions, then we have to be willing to do that all the time, not just when the race fits a preferred narrative. I don’t think anyone should be doing that frankly, but I think we’re seeing the impact of many years of BLM agitating on the media. Certain crimes help make a larger point and others are quickly forgotten or treated as local news stories.

Update: There was a third incident in NYC yesterday. This one stopped at violent threats and harassment but didn’t result in a beating:

The 28-year-old victim in Brooklyn was with his girlfriend at the store in East New York around 2:30 p.m. Monday when a stranger approached the couple, menacing them with a 2×4 piece of lumber, police sources said.

“Why you with that little d- -k Asian n—-r?’’ the suspect asked the woman, according to sources.

He then snarled at her boyfriend, “I’ll cut you, you f–king Asian,’’ sources said. “Don’t call anyone. I’m a Blood, I’ll shoot you.”