Let me just preface this entire thing by being upfront about how I feel about this ongoing Cornell scandal: There are no heroes in this tragic story.
Everyone, from everything I’ve gathered, was a morally reprehensible actor in this scandal — male or female.
I, however, also recognize that the reason there’s a justice system in place is so reactionaries like me can’t convict based on feelings and vibes.
But I’m just a monkey with a typewriter. I’d sure hope that the men and women who are vying to lead this great country as elected officials are a little more deferential to the criminal justice system.
And, of course, placing this sort of hope in my fellow Korean-American has been a catastrophic decision.
Seriously, I can’t even begin to discuss how frustrating and disappointing New York Democratic congressional candidate Chuck Park’s viral Instagram post is.
In the video, Park proffers an absolutely unhinged take about the entire Cornell scandal that almost has to be seen to be believed.
This is the caption: “If you can’t feel anger and empathy for the Cornell survivor without imagining her as your daughter, wife, or mom, then you’re part of the problem.”
During a lunch, Park’s wife was apparently “raging about the Cornell 7” (the seven men at the heart of this sexual scandal).
“She wants bodies dragged through the streets. She wants severed heads on pikes. She wants to expose them and every single one of those dudes in that group chat for what they did to that woman,” Park explained.
“Hell yeah,” he said in agreement with his wife’s violent and not-at-all misandrist fantasies.
And no, it’s not lost on me that 34 years after we had Rooftop Koreans in the racially charged Los Angeles riots, we now have a Korean political hopeful openly fantasizing about lynching people.
A screenwriter couldn’t have done a better job with that one.
Extrajudicial killings are, quite literally, the definition of a lynching. You would expect this sort of inflammatory rhetoric from an online hack. You would pray that this sort of rhetoric never leaves the lips of a congressional candidate.
And let’s be abundantly clear about something: I’m not defending a single member of the “Cornell 7,” nor am I defending Jane Doe. That’s what their respective legal teams are for.
I have neither the evidence nor the authority to determine who deserves punishment in this sordid affair, and unlike Park, I’m perfectly comfortable leaving those determinations to the people actually tasked with making them.
What I am defending, however, is the fundamental idea that Americans deserve due process, even when they’re accused of something particularly heinous. That principle isn’t supposed to evaporate the moment an accusation makes your blood boil.
If anything, that’s precisely when it matters most. The justice system isn’t designed to protect only the people we like, or even the people we believe are — or want to be — innocent.
And here’s what makes Park’s remarks especially galling: He’s not some anonymous internet troll firing off an emotional screed between rounds of Call of Duty. He’s actively campaigning for a seat in Congress, an institution whose members swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
If his first instinct when confronted with an ugly allegation is to enthusiastically endorse fantasies of severed heads and bodies dragged through the streets, what confidence should voters have in his commitment to the constitutional protections afforded to every American?
Do you think Chuck Park’s comments threaten due process for the accused?
Yes, they undermine due process
0% (0 votes)
No, they’re just emotional reactions
0% (0 votes)
Now, to be completely fair, there’s an obvious distinction between expressing an ugly fantasy and actually advocating that someone carry it out.
But that’s hardly a ringing defense of Park’s reprehensible rhetoric, especially in this violent political climate.
Even if his remarks were nothing more than grotesque hyperbole, a congressional candidate should understand that public officials have a responsibility to lower the temperature when emotions threaten to overwhelm reason — not gleefully throw gasoline onto the fire.
Nobody is asking Park to suppress his outrage or abandon his sympathy for an alleged victim. But empathy for one person does not require abandoning the rights of another, and anger is not a substitute for evidence.
And something for New York voters to chew on ahead of the November midterms: If Park cannot distinguish between demanding justice and cheering on fantasies of mob violence, perhaps the last place he belongs is in a legislative body entrusted with protecting the rule of law.
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