Asians again are hate-crime targets in Bay Area

California law enforcement authorities recently issued several safety warnings amid a spike in crimes against Asians, especially women, the elderly and store owners, as the Lunar New Year approaches Friday.

On Feb 5, the South San Francisco Police Department told Bay Area women that a group of burglars are targeting them in a unique crime pattern: Suspects approach women who are near or inside their cars. They also snatch purses, leaving victims throughout the Peninsula and South Bay.

Vendors and residents in Oakland's Chinatown also have been victims of random robberies, burglaries and attacks.

In a surveillance video that went viral in the Asian community, local gift shop owner Ken Lam and his wife were fighting bare-handed with three women who sneaked into Lam's store on Jan 31, stealing ornaments and souvenir plants.

Failing in their robbery attempt, the suspects got in their vehicle and made violent turns as they fled the scene, almost running the couple over.

"I got scared when they said they were going to try to kill me, literally," said Lam. "Something definitely needs to be done."

Lam is one of the many Asian store owners in Oakland who recently either gor robbed or have had a store vandalized.

"Be extremely cautious," said Scott Le, a Milpitas resident. "These thugs know the Lunar New Year is coming, and Asian folks will shop a lot with cash."

Asian senior citizens are vulnerable, too. A recent video clip released by the Oakland Police Department shows 91-year-old Vincent Chin walking on the sidewalk in Chinatown on Jan 31 around noon. A young man passed him and pushed him to the ground before swiftly walking away.

The suspect also was believed responsible for two other attacks, that of a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, who were assaulted in the same manner and hospitalized. Their conditions remained unclear.

"Asians are being targeted, and unfortunately they're also targeting our seniors," said Carl Chan of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who helped organize a community gathering Wednesday to press local police to act.

One of the citizens' objectives, said Chan, is for a return of police foot patrols in Chinatown and the installation of surveillance cameras citywide.

In response to the national momentum of Black Lives Matter, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May, the Oakland City Council in December embraced the concept of "defunding the police" by cutting law enforcement budgets, disbanding several police units, including all bicycle and foot patrols and community resource teams that protect specific neighborhoods, including part of Chinatown.

Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers' Association, said in a statement that the council's actions were "accelerating the city's already high violent crime rate".

Oakland Police Captain Bobby Hook fin echoed Donegan, adding, "They (hate crimes) appear to be more violent for whatever reason, and that's why we need this to stop before something even more heinous occurs."

"The intentional targeting of Asian merchants and residents is abhorrent, and we will do everything within our power and resources to put an end to it," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff said in response to the concerns of the Asian community.

"Promise (of the politicians) is rosy, however, the reality is cruel," said Michel Zhang, a Bay Area resident. "Do you know that police in San Francisco stopped releasing mug shots of suspects and criminals since December?"

The publication of mug shots on social media or in the news "creates an illusory correlation for viewers that fosters racial bias and vastly overstates the propensity of black and brown men to engage in criminal behavior", said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott on July 1, when he initiated and pushed for adoption of the directive.

"If the public is barred from knowing the suspects' identity, even what they look like, how could we stay vigilant when they approach us?" asked Zhang.

In response to the public pleading for justice for Chan and other Asian victims, actor Daniel Wu and Daniel Dae Kim over the weekend announced that they are offering a $25,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

"Despite the skyrocketing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans this past year, our pleas for help go unheard," Wu, the star of the show Into the Badlands and a Bay Area native, wrote. "@danieldaekim and I are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of this man and his accomplices. We must do more to help the literally thousands of Americans who have suffered at the hands of this absolutely senseless violence."

In August, Wu offered $15,000 for information in a hate crime against a 90-year-old Asian woman in Brooklyn, New York. In that incident, the victim was slapped, and her shirt was lit on fire by two men as she was walking outside her home.