Asian-american attacks generate fear and discord
SAN FRANCISCO» Two grandmothers stabbed and a third punched in the face in broad daylight. An 84year-old man fatally shoved to the ground while on his morning walk. In the past seven months, at least seven older Asian residents have been attacked brutally in San Francisco, a city with one of the largest Asianamerican populations and the oldest Chinatown in the country.
“It’s a horrible feeling to be afraid in your own community,” said John Hamasaki, who is a member of San Francisco’s Police Commission and who is ethnically Japanese. “People are genuinely afraid to go outside, to walk down the street alone.”
The attacks first shocked and angered Asian-american residents in the city. But the question of what to do about the violence has now become a source of division.
Many residents of Chinese descent are calling for a significant increase in police patrols. The city’s Asian-american leaders, however, said they would rather explore solutions that do not involve law enforcement. One of the most proudly liberal cities in the country is torn between its commitment to criminal justice reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the brutal reality of the city’s most vulnerable residents being stabbed in the middle of the day on busy city streets.
Connie Chan and Gordon
Mar, the two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who are of Chinese descent, have been under pressure from Chinese activists to increase police staffing, a move the elected officials largely have resisted. Chinese activists — many of whom also denounce Chesa Boudin, the city’s district attorney, for not being tough enough on crime and back a recall effort against him — have shown up at meetings to challenge officials.
“I haven’t heard of anyone in the Chinese community who doesn’t want more police,” said Leanna Louie, a former Army intelligence officer who is Chinese American and who last year founded a neighborhood watch group called the United Peace Collaborative.
How city leaders, police officials and prosecutors should respond to the violence has been part of a bitter and emotional debate at a time when Asian-americans in California and across the country have been the victims of verbal and physical attacks during the pandemic.
In San Francisco, a city where 34% of the population is of Asian descent, the attacks have shaken up the Chinese electorate, which has voted in increasing numbers in recent decades but still below their share of the population.
The assaults themselves have become a point of dispute. Asian-american leaders and residents disagree over whether the attacks were random or were motivated by racial animus.
None of those arrested in the seven most high-profile attacks since January have been charged with a hate crime. The attacks occurred while San Francisco has been confronting what many residents perceive to be a crime problem worsened by the pandemic.
A response to the attacks was to redeploy 20 officers onto foot patrols. A multilingual hotline to report hate crimes was established. But city and community leaders have acknowledged that those measures have not been enough.
“I take personal offense to what we see happening on the streets because I’m very sensitive about the need for us to take care of our elderly population,” Mayor London Breed said.
The mayor’s spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, said she had requested the hiring of 200 officers over the next two years, approximately enough to replace officers who are retiring. The city’s Board of Supervisors scaled back the request to 135 officers.
Mar rejects the idea that San Francisco needs more police officers. He agrees with the need for more foot patrols and believes that the police force can provide them by redeploying officers, not by adding them.
Those arrested in the most high-profile attacks defy easy characterization. They have been white, Black and Latino. Nothing was stolen from the victims. The common thread among the suspects is that most, but not all, have a history of homelessness or mental illness, often both.