What you Said was Racist

So, I can now share an anecdote about my response to a racist comment that just blew up in my face last night.

I was on a lady's porch, who I had just met, talking to a fella who brought up the vicious murder that transpired this past week on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. The man, roughly shaven, appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties, blue-collar and generally chill in temperament. At first I had to caution him about describing the murder since someone was present that wasn't aware of the incident, nor did she want to know the details of the actual murder for sake of her sanity. So I then asked him about what he really wanted to discuss, which was, what he thought drove Vince Weiguang Li to kill Tim McLean?

I'd have to say that the following explanation was one of the most bizzarre I've heard pertaining to the intentions of (what appeared to me as) an unpremeditated murder.

The gentlemen first asked me in response what the last name of the murderer was. I said, "Li". He said,"exactly, an Asian." Immediately, I thought to myself, get ready, and then my auto-correction kicked in as I blurted, "East-Asian." As I would soon realize I would need much more than edification to deal with what he said next:

"You see Asians think that since they'll soon outnumber us, in Canada, that they can just start killing us off. ..." I had no response, and as I didn't want to interrupt him, I could only wait to see what he'd say next. "You might not think this now, but just wait until the next one happens."

The only plausible statement I could come up with next was, "how do you justify such a racial generalization based upon [what appears to be] an unpremeditated murder?" The next part I don't remember clearly because he began rambling about friends of his that that have been attacked by "Asians", to which I replied, 'physically or verbally?' He didn't quite respond to the question

I asked the guy all sorts of questions, such as "why is there such a low volume of east-Asains incarcerated in Canada", to which he had no response. I also couldn't get an answer to why he though East-Asains might have it out for Canadians, nor did I have time to question what or whom he thought a Canadian was by definition - a white male(?). I did actually manage to query him on whether or not he believed in UFOs, stating that 'I had as much difficulty believing in his racist comment as I did in UFOs.' Reinforcing this idea I said, "Sorry, but that all just came out of left-field." He then repeated himself, "Just wait until the next one happens." To which my friend replied, "That's racist", again referring to what the guy had said.

I'd have to say that even though the guy had just made a huge racial generalization, that in itself was emotionally hostile, that he remained physically non-threating despite our bafflement and disagreement with his explanation - and even after my friend (who owned the porch) had requested him to leave the premises. I'd like to think that this had something to do with the fact that we never resulted to calling him a racist but simply discussed his statements.