A quaint Chinese ‘comfort food’ restaurant in L.A’.s historic Filipinotown is doing its part to push back against anti-Asian hate.
Speaking up and doing something is a responsibility that Woon co-owner Keegan Fong feels like they bear.
Fong’s mother Julie, known as “Mama Fong,” was born in China and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. She says she herself experiences verbal and racist abuse in the past being an Asian woman, and what has been happening in L.A. and across the nation recently brings all those painful memories flooding back.
According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino examined police data from 16 jurisdictions across the country, finding a 164% increase in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period last year.
“There’s a national story, and there’s also local and regional stories, but it’s fairly consistent,” study’s author, Brian Levin, the center’s director and a professor of criminal justice tells the Times. “The nature of these crimes are violent.”
Mama Fong says she’s all for doing what they can to help. She’s also very happy to be back in Woon’s kitchen now that’s she’s vaccinated. She’s not done creating.