Understanding the History of Anti-Asian Violence

The Atlanta shootings that killed six Asian American women in 2021 put a spotlight on the disturbing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide. The group Stop AAPI Hate has documented thousands of incidents and the FBI reported a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic.

Yet Atlanta 2021 connects to Detroit 1982 when Vincent Chin was murdered with a baseball bat. The industrial rust belt was reeling from recession and two unemployed auto workers blamed Japanese car makers. They targeted a Chinese-American man who was in a bar celebrating his bachelor party.

San Francisco is a city that is one-third Asian but with a long history of anti-Asian sentiment. Atlanta 2021 and Detroit 1982 connect to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the detention of Chinese immigrants on Angel Island, not allowing Asian residents to buy homes on San Francisco’s westside, and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The discrimination of the past century is a direct line to modern San Francisco, where violence against Asian residents was a problem long before the politics of a pandemic scapegoated Asian Americans.

It was difficult for Stop Crime SF to keep up with all the cases — like 89-year-old Yik Oi Huang, a grandmother who was robbed and beaten into a coma while walking in a Visitacion Valley park in 2019. She eventually died from her injuries.

A father on the westside recently told Stop Crime SF about his garage being broken into while his family slept above it. Now his kids are terrified the bad guys are going to come and get them, too. As an Asian American family, they are extra stressed seeing all the hate crimes in the news.

Crimes against Asian Americans soared 107% in California last year. These crimes were often ignored. Not anymore. We must give victims a voice. Stop Crime SF stands with the Asian American community as we ask public officials to keep everyone safe.

Asian American Victims
of Violent Crime in San Francisco

Gregory Chew
Age: 70s
Date: August 2022
Location: SOMA
Crime: assaulted and punched on sidewalk, suffered broken shoulder
Suspect: Derrick Yearby
News article
News article

Mrs. Ren
Age: 70
Date: August 2022
Location: Anza Vista neighborhood
Crime: Beaten, kicked in head, and robbed
Suspect: Four juveniles
News article and video

Unidentified Asian Woman
Age: 88
Date: April 2022
Location: Ingleside
Crime: Held at gunpoint during a home invasion robbery
Suspect: Unknown
News article and video

Marc
Age: 84
Date: November 2021
Location: Laurel Village
Crime: Assaulted (hit in head with glass bottle)
Suspect: Unknown
News article and video

Unidentified Asian Woman
Age: Senior
Date: October 2021
Location: Downtown
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Javon Knighten
News article and video

Unidentified Asian Woman
Age: 30s
Date: August 2021
Location: Pacific Heights
Crime: Assaulted and robbed, dragged by car
Suspect: Four men
News article and video

Unidentified Asian Woman
Age: 87
Date: August 2021
Location: Outer Sunset
Crime: Stabbed
Suspect: Unknown
News article
Chinese language news article

Ahn Peng Taylor
Age: 94
Date: June 2021
Location: Lower Nob Hill
Crime: Multiple stab wounds
Suspect: Daniel Cauich
Video of attack
News article
News article

Mantakarn Seenin
Age: 34
Date: May 2021
Location: BART train enroute Civic Center station
Crime: Punched in face and robbed
Suspect: None
News article

Unidentified Asian Woman
Age: 63
Date: May 2021
Location: Mid-Market
Crime: Stabbed
Suspect: Patrick Thompson
Video of attack
News article

Chui Fong Eng
Age: 85
Date: May 2021
Location: Mid-Market
Crime: Stabbed
Suspect: Patrick Thompson
Video of attack
News article

Unidentified Asian Man
Age: 36 and one-year-old son in stroller
Date: May 2021
Location: Mission Bay
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Sidney Hammond
Video of attack
News article

Danny Yu Chang
Age: 59
Date: March 2021
Location: Financial District
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Jorge Devis-Milton
News article

Xiao Zhen Xie
Age: 75
Date: March 2021
Location: Mid-Market
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Steven Jenkins
News article

Ngoc Pham
Age: 83
Date: March 2021
Location: Mid-Market
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Steven Jenkins
News article

Gordon Pang
Age: 83
Date: February 2021
Location: Tenderloin
Crime: Assaulted, hip broken in multiple places
Suspect: Haskell Allen
News article

Unidentified Asian Man
Age: 67
Date: February 2021
Location: Chinatown laundromat
Crime: Assaulted
Suspects: Calvin Berschell, Jason Orozco, Nolowde Beshears
Video of attack
News article

Vicha Ratanapakdee
Age: 84
Date: January 2021
Location: Anza Vista
Crime: Assaulted and killed
Suspect: Antoine Watson
Video of attack
News article

Hanako Abe (along with Elizabeth Platt)
Age: 27 and 60
Date: December 2020
Location: SOMA
Crime: Struck and killed by parolee driving under influence in stolen car
Suspect: Troy McAllister
News article

Ms. Nguyen
Age: 71
Date: October 2020
Location: Tenderloin
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Michael Turner
News article
News article

Kelvin Chew
Age: 19
Date: June 2020
Location: Portola
Crime: Shot and killed
Suspect: Zion Young and Fagamalama Pasene
News article
News article

Yuanyuan Zhu
Age: 26
Date: March 2020
Location: Civic Center
Crime: Spat on and called racial slurs
Suspect: Unidentified man
News article

Unidentified Asian Man
Age: 70s
Date: February 2020
Location: Bayview
Crime: Assaulted and robbed, called racial slurs
Suspect: Group of unidentified men
News article

Rong Xin Liao
Age: 84
Date: February 2020
Location: Tenderloin
Crime: Assaulted and jump kicked in wheelchair
Suspect: Eric Ramos Hernandez
Video of attack
News article

Three Unidentified Asian Men
Age: 60s
Date: November 2019
Location: Chinatown
Crime: Assaulted
Suspect: Four men
News article

Chang Hwang and Unidentified Asian Man
Age: 60s
Date: July 2019
Location: Chinatown
Crime: Assaulted and robbed 
Suspect: Three men
News article

Yik Oi Huang
Age: 89
Date: January 2019
Location: Visitacion Valley park
Crime: Robbery, beaten into coma, died from injuries 
Suspect: Keonthe Gathron
News article