by: Philippe Djegal Posted: Mar 20, 2021 / 12:49 PM
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – San Francisco’s Chinatown hosted the latest rally against hate crimes targeting the Asian Community.
City and state leaders joined hundreds of others demanding an end to the deadly violence.
“We are hurt.”
The crowds are getting bigger.
“How many more women need to die before it’s the murderers and not the victims’ fault,” youth activist Ashlyn So said.
The anger intensifying.
“Too many people have been beat, have been killed and we’re just tired of it. Enough is enough,” co-founder Leanna Louie said.
A cross-section of people and cultures converging now on a weekly basis, condemning the escalated violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
“The elderly who were attacked on Market Street just a couple of days ago, where a grandma had to defend herself with a stick, and we’re here to say Grandma should not have to be defending herself with a stick. You know, Grandpa should be able to go on his morning walk and be greeted with respect and not violence,” executive director Shaw San Liu said.
At Portsmouth Square, in San Francisco’s Chinatown Saturday, mourners remember the Asian lives lost to hate throughout the Bay Area and across the nation, including Atlanta, Georgia where eight people at three different spas were killed this week — Six of them Asian women.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Gavin Newsom denouncing the attacks.
“We are in the darkest moment in Asian-American history in my lifetime,” assemblymember David Chiu said.
San Francisco Assemblymember David Chiu says that lawmakers can make a difference here, adding that he is actively working to address hate through the state legislature.
“I’m authoring a bill that would require, for the first time, a hotline for Californians to call the California Department of Justice to ensure that we are tracking incidents of hate, that we are investigating incidents of hate, and that we are following up to ensure accountability and also to make sure that victims are being taken care of,” Chiu said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed took a moment during Saturday’s rally to walk around the corner and visit her friend Kevin Chan.
“You know my grandmother raised me, and to see these attacks has been heartbreaking,” Breed said.
Chan owns Golden Gate Fortune Cookies Company and was recently the victim of a hate-filled voice message left at his shop.
“I know what kind of person he is and he didn’t deserve that, and I want him to know that I stand behind him and this city supports him wholeheartedly,” Breed said.
A movement picking-up steam with a demand for action and an end to the violent hate.