Rally denounces growing wave of anti-asian hate crimes in area

Elected officials ask for ‘visibility’ on issue; Sharks, 49ers each donate $10K

SAN JOSE >> Recounting the harassment, discrimination and racism Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have endured for decades in the Bay Area, elected officials, community leaders and residents rallied in front of San Jose City Hall on March 13 to decry a wave of hate crimes that have rocked the region in recent months.

“It’s about making sure there’s visibility on this issue,” said Assembly member Evan Low, D-campbell, who said many hate incidents against Asian and Pacific Islander residents are never reported to the police.

“Now is the time for nonAsian allies to stand up in solidarity with our Asian and Pacific Islander neighbors,” San Jose Council member Pam Foley, who organized the rally along with Low, told the crowd of about 200 people. “It is our responsibility to make it absolutely clear that hate has no place in our community, that racism and bigotry will not be tolerated in San Jose.”

The rally was in response to a nationwide wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including several tragic and high-profile incidents in the Bay Area.

In San Francisco, 84-year-old Vichar Ratanapakdee was shoved to the ground and killed while walking in his neighborhood in January.

In Mountain View, a 36-year-old Asian American man was dining near Castro and Villa streets on Feb. 13 when a woman walked up to him, spat on him and yelled racial slurs, according to police. The woman, identified as Marin County resident Karen Marie Inman, 39, has been arrested and formally charged with a misdemeanor hate crime.

“It broke my heart beyond measure,” said Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei, who knew the owner of the business where the incident took place and went to speak with him after the crime about the harassment he’s suffered during the pandemic.

Kamei said her father recently got vaccinated but the wave of attacks has made her fearful about his wellbeing.

“I’m really excited, but I don’t want you to go outside,” she recalled telling him, “because I don’t know what will happen to you.”

Since last March, the Stop AAPI Hate project at San Francisco State University has recorded more than 2,800 incidents of self-reported anti-asian hate incidents nationwide. Nearly half of those incidents occurred in California — where Asian Americans make up about 15% of the population — but experts believe the total number of racist incidents is much higher.

Speakers at the rally included the mayors of San Jose, Saratoga and Sunnyvale, as well as several Santa Clara County supervisors, an assembly member, a state senator, several San Jose councilmembers and the police chiefs from San Jose, Mountain View, Monte Sereno and Sunnyvale. Representatives from the Sharks and 49ers announced each team would donate $10,000 to Stop AAPI Hate.

Among the attendees were Fremont residents Naing Lin and Htet Linn, who said they were there to send the message that the attacks against Asian Americans are not OK.

“It’s cool to see so many people coming out to show support for the community,” Lin said.

Also in the crowd was former Congressman Mike Honda, who said it’s important to take this antihate message and education about racism and bias to students from kindergarten through college.

“We’ve got to put this into public policy for our youngsters,” Honda said.

Supervisor Otto Lee, whose district includes parts of San Jose, Sunnyvale and Milpitas, in his speech praised the presence of Latino, Black and Jewish attendees in condemning incidents of hate and racism against Asian Americans.

“Hate against one is hate against all,” Lee said. “Hate and violence is not tolerated in Santa Clara County, not in California, not in America and not ever.”

March 10, a 26-yearold Filipina nurse on her way to work was attacked in a pedestrian tunnel at the San Jose Diridon Caltrain station by a man who threw her on the ground while yelling racial slurs. The assailant was charged with sexual assault and hate crimes, authorities said on March 12.

Recounting the incident, Los Gatos Mayor Marico Sayoc said she has experienced hate incidents that she did not report “because I was supposed to smile, I was supposed to keep quiet and I didn’t want to cause shame to my family.”