San Francisco [US], August 19: Officials and Asian communities in San Francisco, in the western U.S. state of California, addressed the surging hate crimes against the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) in the city during a town hall meeting earlier this week, NBC Bay Area News reported.
At the meeting held at the Chinatown Community Center on Tuesday, many women told their stories of being attacked on the streets. Amy Li said she was recently attacked on the bus. "I have reported this case to the police, but so far there have been no updates and no follow-up every single day. My son and I live in fear."
Joyce Nakamura, another San Francisco resident, echoed Li, saying that she was pushed into the street. "I'm an easy target. I'm an Asian woman, and I think there are stereotypes involved with that. But I stood up against them and challenge them."
The city's police chief Bill Scott and district attorney Brooke Jenkins tried to placate the Asian community, introducing new measures to "bring safety back to the streets."
"We can do it, set a new tone that we're not gonna tolerate these types of acts of violence. And we're gonna back that up with our actions in the courtroom," said Jenkins.
Scott disclosed that on Monday an 18-year-old and three juveniles were arrested on suspicion of assaulting and robbing an older Asian woman last month. Another man was arrested and charged in the brutal assault of former San Francisco commissioner Greg Chu.
"Still, attacks keep happening," the NBC report said, exposing a "difficult to watch" surveillance video of an unprovoked attack on Asian women in the city.
Community leader Hudson Liao was not satisfied with the move taken by the city to stop the surging AAPI hate violence. The residents "don't understand half the things they (city officials) are saying, or all the rhetoric, all the theories behind police and in crime. They just care if they're safe."
For two years between March 19, 2020, and March 31, 2022, about 11,500 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported across the country to Stop AAPI Hate, a website that aims to fight hate against Asian, American, Pacific and Islander communities by collecting racist hate cases.
Hate happens everywhere, in both large cities and small towns, in AAPI enclaves and in places where AAPI communities are few and far between, according to its report entitled "Two Years and Thousands of Voices: What Community-Generated Data Tells Us About Anti-AAPI Hate."
"These cases are really traumatizing. I'm arguing this is a period of collective racial trauma," said Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, at a webinar last month.
Source: Xinhua