Attacks On Asian Americans On The Rise In The Bay Area
Graphic videos of elderly Asians being attacked in the Bay Area have not let up. A new video out of Daly City shows a 69-year-old woman getting assaulted and robbed this past Thursday.
From Oakland to San Francisco, elderly Asians minding their own business have been beat up, knocked down and robbed – much of the violence has been caught on video.
Vicha Ratanapaknee, 84, died from his injuries in January. He was shoved to the ground from behind.
Pak Ho, 75, was pushed to the pavement and robbed in Oakland. He died from his injuries earlier this month.
This past week alone, there were three separate attacks on elderly Asian people on or near busy Market Street in San Francisco in broad daylight.
Police say 39-year-old Steven Jenkins punched two people. He sent 83-year-old Ngoc Pham to the hospital. Pham was getting groceries at the farmers’ market.
Witnesses saw 76-year-old Xiao Xhen Xie fight back.
“The right eye still cannot see anything, still bleeding,” said Xie’s daughter Dong Mei Li of her mother’s injuries the night of the attack.
The fear and frustration in the Asian American community has been simmering since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“The fact that we have so many members of our community feel unsafe being in public spaces, that should be of a concern, not just for the Asian Americans, but everyone,” said Cynthia Choi, Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.
Chinese for Affirmative Action is a founding partner of the Stop AAPI Hate coalition. It has collected nearly 3,800 self-reported hate incidents since March, representing only a fraction of the discrimination and attacks that actually occur.
Data shows that verbal harassment is the most common form of violence targeting Asian Americans, followed by shunning or avoidance. Physical assaults and online harassment have also been reported.
“I grew up in the city, so many of my friends – happened to be of Asian descent – and we saw firsthand the bigotry,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday.
The San Francisco native said perpetrators of all kinds of hate and violence must be held accountable.
“But (we must) also hold those accountable, the quiet perpetrators of hate but may not necessarily associate it with crimes but with the kind of bigotry that’s often whispered and unspoken,” he added.
Meanwhile, support is growing for several victims recently assaulted in San Francisco.
The gofundme for Xie raised more than $750,000 in less than 48 hours with donations from 42 countries, making it the website’s most viewed at the time.
“My grandma feels very overwhelmed and she’s extremely grateful to everybody that donated,” said her grandson John Chen.
Her daughter said her mother wants the family to donate some of the money back to the community to help others.
“Because our community needs help, we will do our best to contribute back,” said Li.
Betty Yu
KPIX 5