Woman pleads guilty to hate crime for stabbing Chinese student in the head on Indiana bus

Billie Davis, a 58-year-old woman, has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for repeatedly stabbing an 18-year-old Chinese American student on a Bloomington Transit bus in Indiana in 2023. On Jan. 11, 2023, Davis attacked the student, stabbing her in the head seven to 10 times with a pocketknife, motivated by the victim’s ethnicity. The victim survived but suffered severe wounds that required sutures and staples.

Driving the news: Davis admitted that she attacked the student because she was Chinese, stating that “it would be one less person to blow up our country.” Davis’ lawyers argued she was mentally unfit for trial, but after receiving proper medication, her condition improved. In January, the judge ruled her competent, allowing the trial to proceed. Davis is expected to be sentenced to no more than six years in prison in December.
Spike in hate crimes: This case is part of a broader trend, with reports showing a 17% rise in hate crimes across 25 U.S. cities in 2023. The incident heightened fear within Indiana’s Asian American community, with local groups condemning the attack as a product of anti-Asian racism, fueled by xenophobic rhetoric spread by Republican leaders like Donald Trump. A study by the Leadership Conference Education Fund shows that hate crimes tend to spike during election cycles, and with the 2024 election approaching, the civil rights group is warning of potential increases in hate incidents.

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