Asian American Women: High Suicide Rates
May 18, 2007
University studies in Texas and California reveal sobering statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services on suicide and depression among U.S. Asian women.
CNN reports that American women of Asian ancestry aged 15-24 have the highest suicide rate in the nation.
California State University Fullerton researcher Eliza Noh says suicide is the second leading cause of death among young Asian American women.
Baylor University psychologist Dr. Dung Ngo says cultural and familial pressures are key factors.
Before Blacksburg
May 18, 2007
Before Seung Hui Cho’s rampage at Virginia Tech that left 33 dead last month, before Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold shocked the nation in 1999 by killing 12 at Columbine High in Colorado, there was violin protégé Wayne Lo’s 1992 murder spree at Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and before that in 1991 there was what has become known as the Gang Lu Massacre at the University of Iowa.
Lu (above left), a 28-year-old UI PhD candidate in physics, used two handguns to shoot five to death on Nov. 1, 1991 and then committed suicide. His victims included his graduate adviser Christoph K. Goertz and fellow PhD candidate Linhua Shan.
According to the university, Lu left behind five letters explaining he was angry that his doctoral dissertation had not received an award. Victim Shan’s dissertation had been singled out for academic honors.
Lo (above center), a virtuoso violinist from Billings, Montana, received a W.E.B. DuBois minority scholarship to Simon Rock College of Bard in Massachusetts.
The 18-year-old, who would later claim he had been hearing voices, used a Soviet-era SKS assault rifle to kill two and wound four on Dec. 14, 1992. After his weapon jammed, Lo called 911 and was taken into custody.
Lo, now 32, is serving a life term. Newsweek correspondent Samantha Henig interviewed Lo in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy at MCI-Norfolk, a medium-security prison.
