An Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime after she repeatedly stabbed a Chinese American teenager on a city bus while yelling slurs, court records show.
Billie Davis, 58, admitted to stabbing an 18-year-old Indiana University student in her head seven to ten times last year. The teen survived the pocketknife assault but suffered several wounds.
Davis told police she “snapped” when she saw the woman and attacked her because she was Chinese. She added that she wanted to make “one less enemy,” according to the plea agreement.
Trinh Le, community care director at civil rights nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate, told USA TODAY the guilty plea hasn’t erased the grief of Indiana’s Asian American community that they have grappled with since the assault.
“Students we supported at (Indiana University) after the attack shared that they’ve been living in fear ever since,” Le said. “We know that racism against Asian American communities continues to be a pervasive issue, and it’s being dangerously fueled by xenophobic, anti-immigrant comments from politicians and leaders. It’s time to hold our leaders who embolden racist attackers accountable as well.”