Hundreds gathered in San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood on Saturday to support victims of ongoing attacks against Asian Americans, including the recent mass shooting of spa workers in Atlanta.
Among those gathered in Portsmouth Square at the heart of Chinatown was Will Lee, who said he is angry about the brutal attacks on two elderly Asian Americans this past week. The beating of a man and a woman were just the latest in a series of Bay Area attacks on Asian community.
“She didn’t go around attacking white people,” Lee told KCBS Radio. “He saw two Asians, an Asian man and an Asian woman, and he attacked them. That is a hate crime.”
Sarah Winn is with the Coalition on Community Safety and Justice. She said that the targeting of Asians began with former President Donald Trump.
“To be honest, it’s hard to really face it, but obviously Asian communities have been seen as foreigners, have been seen as a target where people put their frustrations with the [coronavirus],” Winn said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she plans to announce next week a series of measures targeting the violence.
“These attacks are devastating,” she added. “They’re devastating because this community has already suffered enough, and the worst part about it is they are elderly people.”
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