Name: Peninsula teen's rally against anti-Asian American hate crimes draws hundreds
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Peninsula teen's rally against anti-Asian American hate crimes draws hundreds

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By | Bay Area News GroupChristina Leung was riding Muni near San Francisco’s Chinatown last year when she heard the bus driver talking loudly with a White passenger.A group of Asian American residents had just boarded, and the conductor was complaining about the behavior of “Chinese” customers, thinking they couldn’t understand her, said Leung, a self-described senior citizen who has lived in the Sunset district for more than 30 years after emigrating from Hong Kong.Leung plucked up her courage and told the driver her behavior was improper, she recalled. But over the past year, as former president Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” the constant media stereotyping and eroding sense of safety in her longtime city has felt “not so good,” she said.“They were not ashamed to speak aloud, in public,” Leung said. “It made me angry.”Leung was one of hundreds to pour into San Mateo’s Central Park on Saturday, rallying in response to racist and violent incidents against Asian American people in the Bay Area that have stirred both anguish and demands for change.In Oakland’s Chinatown last month, a viral video showed a frail 91-year-old man getting shoved to the ground while walking along Harrison Street. In another video, a young man ran toward an elderly person in San Francisco and slammed him into a driveway. The 84-year-old man later died.Nationwide, more than 2,800 incidents of anti-Asian hate have been reported since the start of the pandemic, according to the Stop AAPI Hate project at San Francisco State University — about half of which occurred in California.The images quickly made their way to Ashlyn So, a 13-year-old seventh grader at Burlingame Intermediate School.“I saw all these people getting hurt and I didn’t like that,” So said. “I was really petrified and shocked. This isn’t supposed to be happening in our community. We’re in the Bay Area.”After talking it over with her mom, So posted on Nextdoor on Feb. 19 about hosting the rally. Almost immediately, the Millbrae Anti-Racist Coalition reached out to help. Meanwhile, So’s family created an Eventbrite, emailed friends and classmates, and passed out flyers — efforts that quickly spread further than they anticipated.As the crowd swelled to the hundreds, people marched around the park carrying signs like “Love our food? Love our people” and “Stand For Asians” before listening to speakers, including local public officials and So.Eva Arceo, 13, arrived at the rally from San Bruno with her mom and a friend after they noticed other Bay Area students posting about it on TikTok. After joining anti-police brutality protests last summer on the Peninsula, the family said they were hoping for similar solidarity to grow around anti-Asian American incidents.“We’ve always grown up in a very Asian neighborhood, and we’re very protective of that — very protective,” said Eva’s mom Eileen Arceo, 47.&nbsp;“You can never just walk away from somebody.”Already, groups of volunteers have been organizing to help protect Bay Area elders day-to-day. Kevin Ng, 26, of San Jose, has banded together with friends loosely under the moniker “Asians With Attitudes” to accompany people through their neighborhoods.In Oakland, the city brought &nbsp;it had previously removed amid budget cuts. But merchants have set up a GoFundMe to pay for private security guards, fearful that it’s not enough.Almost nightly for the past few weeks, Ng has driven out to Oakland or San Francisco to walk with Asian residents, mostly older people, as they close up shops, go to the store or take walks. An Asian American friend in her 30s was assaulted this fall, he said, and he regularly hears stories from his friends’ parents of racist comments related to COVID-19.Peninsula teen's rally against anti-Asian American hate crimes draws hundreds, story by via— Anda Chu (@anda_chu)“Instead of saying, I’m here to help you’ — I’m going to show you that I’m here to help you,” Ng said of the volunteer ambassadors. “I just want to send a message to whoever’s doing this — whoever thinks it’s okay to do this — stop it. Stop it, man. It’s not the way.”Still, Saturday brought a moment of hope to Ng and others who marveled that a single 13-year-old had managed to pull together so many people. Leung, the Sunset senior, drove out to San Mateo by herself to “support the youngsters.”“I haven’t gotten my injection, probably most of them haven’t, but they dare to come here and show support,” Leung said, gesturing at the crowd from which she was keeping a safe distance. “They have the bravery to show up for justice.”Staff writer Annie Sciacca contributed to this report.&nbsp;We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | Bay Area News GroupChristina Leung was riding Muni near San Francisco’s Chinatown last year when she heard the bus driver talking loudly with a White passenger.A group of Asian American residents had just boarded, and the conductor was complaining about the behavior of “Chinese” customers, thinking they couldn’t understand her, said Leung, a self-described senior citizen who has lived in the Sunset district for more than 30 years after emigrating from Hong Kong.Leung plucked up her courage and told the driver her behavior was improper, she recalled. But over the past year, as former...

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Fiona Kelliher is a breaking news reporter at The Mercury News. She previously covered housing and real estate for the San Francisco Business Times. Originally from Minneapolis, she is a fan of almost any food that is fried and eaten on a stick.

https://www.mercurynews.com/author/fiona-kelliher/

Fiona Kelliher

Latest Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area news from reporters & columnists at The Mercury News.

Peninsula teen's rally against anti-Asian American hate crimes draws hundreds

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