Black admits to targeting Asians but says he's not racist

Recent attacks on Asian-Americans have stoked racial tensions in some Bay Area communities. One African-American ex-con admits to targeting Asians, but says he didn't do it out of hate.

Ananze Emenike talks about robbing Asians like it was no big deal - during his teen years, it wasn't.

"We got busted for a hate crime, due to the fact that when they linked us to the other robberies they were 75-85 per cent Asian," recalled Emenike.

Emenike's reign of terror ended with his arrest in 2007 at the age of 17. Ananze said he once targeted Asians, but not because he had any animosity toward his victims. He said he chose Asian victims due to a perception that they carried a lot of money, wouldn't fight back, and wouldn't go to police because of a language barrier.

"We would go places where we knew Asians would carry a lot of money. Like for a good example Stonestown. That was a place we knew lots of Asians came and spent a lot of money," he recalled.

Race played a part in Emenike's robberies. His victims were targeted because of race, but for specific reasons, they presented for him a crime of opportunity. We can't tell you about all such crimes, but it does offer a different perspective to the debate.

Emenike has cleaned up his act, after spending time in prison. He's now a video producer for the news agency Youth Outlook.

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