San Francisco rally: Elected officials and community leaders decry violence against Asian Americans.
On the heels of several attacks against Asian American people in the Bay Area and across the country, a group of local elected officials and Asian community leaders gathered in Portsmouth Square Monday morning to demand an end to the violence.
The group assembled on hundreds of messages of love and unity written in chalk during rallies at the square over the weekend, with messages including, “Asian elders, we love you,” and “Stop Asian hate.”
“Right at our feet are the words we have to pick up right now and run with,” San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said, pointing toward the chalked messages.
“The people targeted right now aren’t just Asian — they’re elderly, they’re vulnerable, they’re people that we should be protecting as a whole.”
Miyamoto also implored the groups of volunteers being set up to patrol in San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood to behave responsibly.
While the recent spate of attacks has been particularly violent — including one that resulted in the death of Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84yearold Thai man — racist rhetoric against Asian Americans is nothing new, particularly in San Francisco, speakers noted.
“There are many people in this community who remember the days when Chinese people could not cross Broadway into North Beach without fears of violence,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents the San Francisco district that includes Chinatown.
Assembly Member David Chiu said members of the Legislature are working on a wide variety of responses, but added there is no “silver bullet” that can end the hate.
He took aim against the organizers of the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, some of whom have repeatedly called the coronavirus a “Chinese” virus since the pandemic began, echoing the rhetoric that Asian Americans say has contributed to the uptick of attacks.
“This is behavior, this is activity that is rooted deep into our community,” he said. “We have to connect the dots. We have to rise up.”