Hundreds rally against anti-Asian American violence

Spurred to action by recent violent attacks in Atlanta and the Bay Area, hundreds of protesters gathered in San Francisco on Friday to rally against anti-Asian American hate.

Anna Verzosa, one of the organizers, said the youthled rally is an opportunity to show that young people have a voice while raising awareness and solidarity for Asian Americans.

Verzosa, the community and political affairs chair of San Jose State’s Akbayan Pilipinx-American Organization, said it’s important to educate people about the history of racism and discrimination in the US.

“It can’t just be a trend, it has to be a long-lasting story of, how did we get to this place,” she said. “It’s disappointing it had to get to mass shootings and violence to get attention.”

The march is part of a growing cry to stamp out violence against Asian Americans, following a shooting last week that left eight people — six of them Asian-American women — dead at spas in and around Atlanta. Violence victimizing Asian Americans appears to have increased during the pandemic, including in the Bay Area. COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, and many say racist messaging from former President Donald Trump about the pandemic contributed to the surge in violence.

Recent violence has shaken the Bay Area’s Chinatowns. Last month, a man was charged on suspicion of shoving three people to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown without provocation — including a 91-year-old man who hit his head when he fell. Those attacks and a robbery spree — which have been decried by local officials — prompted some Oakland Chinatown merchants to hire armed security guards, while volunteers have stepped up to escort elderly residents around the neighborhood, and the city brought back a community police officer that had been removed from Chinatown during budget cuts.

The attacks sparked protests up and down the Bay Area. Several hundred people gathered in San Mateo’s Central Park last month. People rallied in front of San Jose City Hall in midMarch, and again last Sunday — when more than 1,000 people converged to draw attention to the cause.

At about 12:30 p.m. Friday, several hundred San Francisco protesters holding signs that said “Stop Asian Hate” and “Justice for Angelo Quinto” — who died after an altercation with Antioch police in December — started marching from Union Square toward the Embarcadero. They chanted “the people united will never be defeated” and “rise up people, rise up,” while someone played a drum.