Press Release
Honoring Victims of Anti-Asian Violence, Koreatown, Feb 16
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Honoring Victims of Anti-Asian Violence”
What: A multicultural street tribute and rally to honor the victims of the rash of attacks against Asians.
When: Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 6pm to 8pm
Where: Southwest corner of: Kenmore Ave. and 6th St. Koreatown, LA
Visual opportunities: Candlelight ceremony where photos of recent victims are held by people across the sidewalk. – Performers and signing of giant letter to ask for more assistance for victims and long term solutions.
Who: Sponsors, Neighborhood Safety Companions, Progressive Asian Network for Action, Korean Youth & Community Center, Ktown for all, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, API-RISE.
Contact: (626) 999-7528 -24/7
email: justpeaceprosper@gmail.com
email: info@progressiveasians.org
Message:
Asian Americans are reeling from the horrific slayings of Christina Yuna Lee, and the killing of Seanna Widjaja, stabbed at a 7-11 50 feet from the location of this vigil. These tragedies occurred around the 1 year anniversaries of the fatal attack of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, and the racist beating of Denny Kim in Koreatown.
In this past year, hate incidents have increased 339% nationally, and 173% in Los Angeles County.
Horrific footage of assailants, often African American men suffering from mental illnesses, are frequently shown on the news. However, these videos leave out the bigger picture: the majority of attacks against Asians are by white people, (per Dr. Janelle Wong). We are sending a message that we need all races to unite to fight “racism and white supremacy” not blame all white people, or unhoused folks who happen to be Black.
On Black History month, we send a message of solidarity among Asians and African Americans to stand together against racist stereotypes, poverty, destitution, lack of mental health services, anti-China bashing, and COVID scapegoating that fuels these attacks.
Featuring performers:
Mel Taevin, Indie Rock artist and Korean adoptee activist
Andre Henry, award winning songwriter and singer.
Photos
Here: https://safetywalks.org/jan-16-2022-1-year-anniversary-event/ (this will be updated as we get photos)
Speech by Neighborhood Safety Companions Organizer Reggie Wong
Thank you everyone for coming out here tonight. Listening to the names of people who lost their lives because of their ethnicity reminds us why we’re out on these streets.
We’re the Neighborhood Safety Companions. We patrol K town to deter crime and connect with the community.
You’ll see us in our yellow vests looking out for the lone walker. We hand out necessities to the unhoused and pepper spray to the vulnerable. But we’re not here to be another Neighborhood Watch.
During the time we’ve walked K-town we’re seeing problems with no easy answers. An elderly woman told us the city kept relocating homeless encampments near her senior apartment and she didn’t feel safe. An unhoused woman spoke about being harassed by partiers. We saw people with obvious mental issues living out on the street begging for food. We’ve met people who couldn’t get help at hospitals and were dumped in Ktown. Restaurant workers tell us how they have to walk home late at night and have been mugged.
Periodically we’ll speak to seniors at the Wilshire Towers apartments. Several of them have told us they were victims of hate crimes but didn’t tell police. A recent survey shows a 339 percent increase in hate crimes nationally and 173 percent in Los Angeles, but we suspect it’s much higher due to incidents not being reported.
Every day we see more news reports of Asians getting injured or killed but rarely hear about why attacks happen. We rarely hear solutions to the violence except maybe throw money at law enforcement to report hate crimes.
We’re sick of seeing body counts. We want to get into why this is happening and how can we end this.
Police won’t fix these social ills, so what we’re trying to do is create a community-based safety model that gets to the root of the problems. These political and economic systems serve the status quo and pits us against each other.
Police have narrow definitions of what is a hate crime, which keeps victims from getting justice. Non-English speaking victims need more culturally-sensitive and multilingual advocates. All too often, police have brutalized the Black, Brown and unhoused communities.
Knowing this, we seek community alternatives to policing. For example, that means getting everyone’s basic needs met through economic justice. If everyone had shelter, the streets would have less desperate people. If everyone had healthcare, we could all seek help for mental illness. We must focus on rehabilitating certain offenders so they don’t resort to their old ways.
Ever notice the media tends to hype an attack if the suspect is a person of color even tho most of the perpetrators in hate crimes are white supramcists? That sensationalism drives a narrative that Black people hate Asians which is a lie that serves our common enemy. Solidarity with the Black, Brown and unhoused communities is essential to our survival.
We’re fortunate to have a diverse set of volunteers and we’ve shown support at Black Lives Matter events. We also call for community control over police because we want oversight and accountability for our public servants. Their job is to serve ALL of us not just the wealthy! Solidarity work includes teaching our people that our struggles are linked with the histories of Black and Brown people. Resistance isn’t new to us – we’ve been fighting white supremacy since our people came here and even before in our home countries. Our people have got to stop believing the model minority lie that it’s not in our nature to fight back. We have fought alongside other people of color.
Other groups need to stop buying into the lie that we’re model minorities spreading the coronavirus. Trump’s scapegoating of the Chinese dehumanized us and made it ok to harass and hurt all Asians. The current administration isn’t helping by beating the war drums with China either. We’re just the enemy again but under a different president.
There are those who advocate for more funds being directed to hate crimes reporting and data collection or more resources for policing, but what about the people suffering from the violence?
Hate crime victims shouldn’t have to use a Gofundme to pay their medical bills. That’s why we’re trying to meet with Rep. Judy Chu to talk about giving funds allocated in the COVID-19 Hates Crimes Act to victims and their families for medical expenses and psychological trauma support. We ask all of you to sign a letter in support of our effort.
These are big challenges but the people we met during our walk make our fight worthwhile. One of those people is Mr. Gilbert Lee. We met Mr. Lee while he kicked it in front of his home and started talking to him. He invited us to his apartment to talk to the seniors and we’ve been coming ever since. If it wasn’t for Mr. Lee, we wouldn’t have made the connections we have. Now let’s hear from Mr. Lee.
Letter to Rep. Judy Chu
February 16, 2022
U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu
27th District of California
527 S. Lake Ave., Suite 250
Pasadena, CA 91101
Dear Congresswoman Chu,
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism just released a report revealing that hate crimes against Asian Americans increased 339% last year, compared to 2020. Sadly, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and other cities set new records for race-motivated attacks in 2021.
We, the undersigned, feel it was positive that Federal funds have been allocated to address the issue of rising violence towards Asian Americans, in the form of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, including the $30 million grant program to support efforts to address hate crimes.
We are members of Southern CA communities who have been on the front lines engaging in work as safety ambassadors on the streets, distributing personal safety equipment, partnering with various senior homes to discuss basics of self-defense, disseminating multilingual information regarding how to report hate crimes and building bridges across racial lines. In short, we have been doing much of what is addressed in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, but have been relying solely on meager donations. Capacities have been strained in the face of the ongoing frequency of hate-crimes incidents.
Many of the victims of hate crimes are working-class elderly, lacking adequate, if any, healthcare insurance. Following violent attacks, many families have had to resort to GoFundMe fundraising to pay for medical expenses, which of course, can be exorbitant enough to bring financial ruin to these already-financially vulnerable households.
A major concern we have is regarding how funds are to be directed towards victims and their families including not only to compensate for direct medical care but also trauma counseling and other mental health services. We would like to partner with your office to support efforts to have funds allocated for this purpose and also to expand current ongoing community safety work already underway.
Please contact us via email at safetywalks.org@gmail.com to arrange a meeting with our representatives.