A San Francisco grandmother who made global headlines after she fought back against an attacker last week is not comfortable with the flood of media attention she has received.
A video of Xie fighting off her attacker went viral online with many praising the grandmother for standing up for herself. It was cathartic for many as attacks on Asian Americans have surged over the last year.
But Xie, a longtime San Francisco resident, is still traumatized.
"She has been here for so many years and she has always enjoyed the freedom to go out. But after this incident she’s really scared," explained Sarah Wan, Executive Director of the Community Youth Center and a community leader who has been helping Xie and her family.
Xie still has trouble seeing out of her swollen eyes, which tear up as she describes the attack. She has had many restless nights since wondering what she did wrong.
Her grandson set up a GoFundMe page to help her recover, which has raised over $880,000, far exceeding the $50,000 goal.
"She keeps saying that she doesn’t need all that money, she’s just worried about her safety," said Wan. "The family also says that they never really expected the outpouring of support, so after the medical expenses that they might need for recovery, they probably will actually use the rest of the money to donate to support charities."
A fundraiser for Ngoc Pham, the second victim in the attack, has raised over $270,000.
While Xie’s family has been overwhelmed by the attention, local leaders say it is important for victims and their supporters to come forward.
Leaders gathered in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square Monday to urge a community that usually does not speak out to report hate crimes, no matter how small.
"Most of the times we’re told to keep to ourselves, keep within the family, don’t mention it to anybody," said San Francisco Assembly member Phil Ting.
"We have to do a better job of really advocating for ourselves. But so much of hate are random acts of violence, and so what we have to do as communities is come together, doing what we did today. Come together and say this is not okay."
The website StopAAPIHate.org, which has been tracking hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, has documented more than 3,800 hate incidents in the last year.
The website crashed over the weekend after the Georgia shootings brought greater attention to the issue and overwhelmed the site with traffic.
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