Hundreds of people rallied Friday at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland to stop hate crimes against Asian Americans.
The rally was organized by young people with the group Bay Area AAPI. Abby Lamoreaux is an organizer with the group, and told KCBS Radio that they’ve had enough of the recent attacks.
"It’s been heartbreaking to watch," she said. "You see these video footages of our elders being slapped to the ground and beaten. You think, what if that was my grandparents? What if that was my neighbor, my shopkeeper?"
The group was marching to the Lake Merritt amphitheater.
Tanya Kapner was among them. She said the Asian community is being used as a scapegoat for the economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"We can’t have beating people just because they’re born from another side of a mountain or river or ocean," she said. "We have to stand up for this country to be what it’s supposed to be."
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