Hundreds of people on Sunday gathered in San Francisco to denounce the violence against Asians after a series of cases in recent weeks.
Hundreds of community members and state and local leaders rallied together in the Castro District and marched to the civic center as part of a solidarity march for Asian lives hosted by the LGBTQ+ community.
San Francisco’s Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, or GAPA, organized the march to denounce the recent surge in violence and hate crimes against Asian members of the city’s community.
“Creating a holding space for our community to process the tragic events that happened in Atlanta and right here in our Bay Area, in Oakland, in San Francisco against the Asian community,” Michael Nguyen said.
“The LGBTQ community specifically has a long history of activism and organizing, and of being scapegoated during a pandemic before. We’ve seen this story before and I think the LGBTQ community has the power, has the resources, has the energy to make a dent in white supremacy and having racial justice for all,” he added.
City and state leaders, including Mayor London Breed and Assemblymember David Chiu, also spoke out about the violence against Asians and called the community for action.
“We need to everything from better patrolling of our communities, to ensure we are investigating all incidents that occur, to insuring that were providing victims with the full panel of services and support that they need, to making sure we’re investing in long term answers to this which is ethnic studies, which is restorative justice. It has to be comprehensive. We have to move on all fronts at the same time,” Chiu said.
