Neighborhood Safety Companions publishes their “framework” approach to addressing still-rising anti-Asian violence
Members of PANA initiated Neighborhood Safety Companions (NSC) in March 2021 to provide a vehicle for those willing to stand up to the violent attacks on Asian Americans across the U.S. and world. As an extension of PANA members’ work to win full equality for Asian Americans, the work PANA members do in NSC is an extension of our efforts to build political power and solidarity to win the societal change that our communities need. Please support these efforts.
“If one is to be serious about putting an end to racist anti-Asian violence, there has to be an addressing of causal factors. Advocating increased policing or crimes reporting alone fail to address the problem at the street level. Few Asian/Pacific Islander organizations are advocating direct aid to victims and families like Neighborhood Safety Companions (NSC) does. This needs to change. Our “demands” are a work in progress, but hopefully, what we present can encourage further discussion and constructive debate.”
On February 25, 2022, fire destroyed 2 of the 6 buildings at Historic Wintersburg, and is now under investigation for possible arson. Republic Services, owners of the property, demolished both buildings several hours after the fire, destroying evidence for the investigation. They previously applied to demolish all 6 historic buildings so they can develop or sell. In the lead up to the fire, Historic Wintersburg volunteers have been attacked by racists on social media, stalked, photographed, and been subjected to other acts of intimidation against the preservation project.
Mary Urashima, organizer for the project, has requested that organizations and individuals write letters to the Huntington Beach mayor and city council demanding:
An arson investigation.
That Republic Services cooperate with government agencies to help preserve the buildings.
To bring Republic Services to the bargaining table to arrange a purchase of the property by preservationists.
Commenters on social media have demanded independent state and federal level investigations, which have been done before, to investigate the Fountain Valley PD in the 1980s and 1990s. (Hayashida, NSC)
This fire happened as hate incidents have skyrocketed across the country. A recent report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism said hate incidents, which include hate crimes, have increased 339% from 2020 through 2021. (Yam)
Attacks against Asian Places of Worship in 2020 and 2021, locally, have been numerous and dramatic.
Six Buddhist temples in Orange County were vandalized, and people were verbally harassed, in November and December of 2020. (Introvigne, Kandil)
Higashi Honganji in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo was vandalized, and arson attempted. (Peralta)
Konko Church, a Shinto shrine in Boyle Heights, was attacked by arsonists twice. (Yamamoto)
An old Japanese American church in Sacramento was vandalized. (CBS Sacramento, CAIR)
Two Seattle, WA churches were vandalized with graffiti including “China, you will pay,” “go home” and “f–k China,” even though only 5% of the congregation was Chinese. (Chen, Esteban)
Three statues were destroyed at Wat Lao Santitham, a Buddhist temple in the town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. (Stills)
In Calgary, Canada, a Vietnamese Canadian church was burned. (CBC News)
Other sources report additional incidents at temples, mosques, video conference church meetings. (Kandil, ACLU, Borja)
Vandalism against ethnic churches should be understood intersectionality, as not only an attack against a place of worship, and not only as an attack against a specific minority, but an attack against the intersection of the two.
Racists, typically white Christians, have attacked Black Christian churches and other houses of worship since they originated, because the serve as community political centers to defend Black people, and increase Black power. (Boddie) Japanese American faith organizations have similar functions: popular mobilization, protection, and power.
Causes for anti-Asian violence and vandalism are numerous, but it’s often irrational, where general anger from one situation results in violence against an Asian person or Asian institution completely unrelated to that situation.
China is blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic, and Asian people in western countries experience rising rates of violence. (Yam)
The infamous murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was by autoworkers angry about international competition from cars made in Japan. (Guillermo)
In 2016, when North Korea was in the news for nuclear missile testing, a Korean American church in Buena Park was vandalized with swastikas. (Ryan)
In 1984 three Vietnam war veterans burned a Tibetan Buddhist temple after dissatisfaction with Veterans Affairs, a US government agency. (Kandil)
The fire at this historic site is happening at the same time that reactionaries are mounting an attack on “Critical Race Theory”, or CRT, in the state legislatures. CRT is a legal theory, but their use of CRT is a code word for Ethnic Studies and accurate U.S. history. It’s a push back against teaching minority histories in the schools. (Sawchuck)
It’s against this ambient and legislative attack on history education that we must consider this fire could have been arson, motivated by hatred or anger at a racial minority.
Hayashida, Kenneth. Comment on thread, “The details of the situation boil down to the fact that the Cal DOJ / Attorney General Bonta and the Biden US DOJ / Attorney General Garland need to task the hate crime investigation group on this. The fire needs arson investigation, but so far, other than me, there’s been nobody posting the need for a hate crime investigation.” “There’s no discussion of anti-Asian hate crimes and no demand to investigate the bulldozing of the site after the fire occurred. The point is that the owner of the land sent his bulldozer across a public street, tore up the street, and bulldozed the remaining structure that the fire department saved. That is a pretty clear indication of hate.”. https://www.facebook.com/groups/671388230002326/posts/1330957914045351/
Black Americans remained the most targeted group in most cities, but anti-Asian American hate crimes increased 339% in 2021, the preliminary report found.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City broke records with the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans, while Georgia saw the largest number of fatal events with six Asian women murdered in two attacks.
In New York City, the number of anti-Asian American hate crimes jumped from 30 in 2020 to 133 last year.
Though Asian Americans have always been subject to racism, the majority of the last two years has been “in crisis mode,” Cynthia Choi, Stop AAPI Hate co-founder and executive director of the advocacy group Chinese for Affirmative Action, told Axios.
“The fact that we have members of our community who are afraid to leave their homes, to go to work, to take public transportation to go to the grocery store, to basically live our daily lives is heartbreaking,” said Choi. Her organization is based in San Francisco, where reported anti-AAPI hate crimes surged 567% in 2021.
Progressive Asian Network for Action (PANA) continues to work with other to build the solidarity necessary to fight this rise in hate crimes. Please join this important community event in Koreatown, Los Angeles, on February 16: https://safetywalks.org/feb16
On December 30, PANA and Neighborhood Safety Companions (NSC) were not deterred by rain as they joined calls for justice in downtown L.A. on the one-year anniversary of Christian Hall’s murder by Pennsylvania State Police. Organized by Answer Coalition, Los Angeles, other attendees included Anti-Asian Violence community safety allies from Asians with Attitude and Pan Asian Harmony Society. We heard recorded statements from Christian’s parents and his best friend. Solidarity statements included members of Party for Socialist Liberation, Roofers Union Local 36. Music by @taevinmusic.
PANA and Neighborhood Safety Companions taking a stand for Justice for Christian Hall on 12/30/2021
Reggie Wong of PANA and NSC advocates support of CA AB 1400 which would finance increased mental healthcare for all Californians
Please support the campaign to win Justice for Christian Hall, which is the intersection of killer cops accountability, the lack of mental health services in the U.S. and the challenges faced by adoptees and their families.
Through direct interaction with local seniors, small businesses, workers, street vendors, housed and un-housed neighbors, the NSC street-walk teams hold conversations about their efforts to combat Anti-Asian Violence. NSC also engages in mutual aid, distributing safety supplies (whistles, personal alarms, pepper spray) and personal health items (personal hygiene items, alcohol wipes, masks, socks, etc).
PANA members working on the NSC effort also try to connect the work to the larger battles for healthcare, quality housing, social services and the need to build solidarity between various social movements.
NSC recently launched a new website to compliment their ongoing presence on Instagram. NSC is also looking for a non-profit fiscal sponsor so as to pursue financial support for their work and restocking supplies.
Please visit and share the new NSC webpage and follow NSC on Instagram. Better yet, join NSC!
Biden may reject the hateful language of “China virus,” but he is extending the “tough on China” policy, which was the overall framework for so many of Trump’s racist tweets and remarks. This bodes poorly both for US-China relations and for Asian Americans, whose treatment has always been connected to Americans’ perceptions of the region.
PANA expects that anti-Asian racism and violence will continue to be supported by anti-China rhetoric coming out of the Biden Administration, including continued increase in propaganda to justify U.S. military provocation in the Asia/Pacific region, either directly or via proxy (e.g. Japan, Duterte).
September, 2021: The staff, workers, customers and neighbors of Wi Spa have been subjected to racist violence and terror by far right extremists over the past few months. It is time the Asian communities recognized and supported Wi Spa.
“When they (Proud Boys) come to protest, the police shut down this place for over 3 hours. We cannot make money, customers afraid and cannot go in and out and people don’t want to come near. This is very bad for us and for business.”
About 30 members of the “Proud Boys”, an armed white supremacist paramilitary group have come to Westlake on the east edge of Koreatown twice to protest Wi Spa for serving transgender people.
They believe transgender people should not be served. A video was allegedly shot of a transgendered person displaying genitalia inside the spa during the summer. The video went viral on far right news stations and Fox Mews. Then L.A. transgender activists were targeted on social media. Then, the protests began.
When these people attack Wi Spa’s right to serve trans people with their threats of violence, dozens of workers and customers are stuck inside and terrified. For Manager Jonathan, a Korean American and the Korean workers and staff, it means loss of income and a bad reputation. The surrounding neighborhood is forced to avoid the area including a high school located just 1 block north of the spa. Two people were stabbed at one of the confrontations and one pro-Wi Spa supporter was shot by the LAPD with rubber bullets.
The media has portrayed the Wi Spa incidents and violence as a protest by far right extremists against Wi Spa for allowing a transgender customer into the spa.
Although the intent of the Proud Boys is to express their homophobia and hatred for the LGBTQ community, their actions are anti-Asian racist in nature regardless of intent due to the terror and damage to Korean workers and it’s owners and customers.
The far right extremist Proud Boys must be condemned for both their virulent anti-trans homophobic actions and their anti-Asian racism stepping on the rights and dignity of the Korean business as they “protest’ LGBTQ customers
Extremists like the proud Boys now have the arrogance and audacity to organize terror demonstrations into L.A.’s majority people-of-color neighborhoods.
“We are only following the law. The law says we cannot discriminate against transgender people. What is wrong with that?”
July 31, 2021: Wi Spa forced to shut down for hours due to racists’ threat of violence
System changers, progressives and reformers must work with and unite the broad masses of working class folks, small business and urban professionals especially in our POC communities against the far right. At the same time we must continue struggling with liberals over economic and foreign policy issues influenced by the republicans and win them over to the most progressive stances at the moment.
We urge community organizations to educate our communities about these dangers in our neighborhood and the threat to our country.
We urge community groups to take strong public stands against these fascists as the first step to prevent future attacks. (Currently, PANA and Neighborhood Safety Companions members are collecting statements to gather together and publish online and in other venues.)
We urge community groups to join us at the next Proud Boy protest into Koreatown to sent a message, they are not welcome.
We urge Neighborhood Councils in Koreatown, Westlake and surrounding neighborhoods to condemn the Proud Boy fascists.
The LAPD must enforce the law and arrest these fascist for violent crimes, not assist them by arresting mostly counter protesters.
Neighborhood Safety Companions, KoreatownProgressive Asian Network for Action
Korean Resource Center (KRC)
No Harm Koreatown LA
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)
StreetWatch-LA
ANSWER Coalition
J-town Action and Solidarity (JAS)
Save Our Seniors Network (SOSN)
Please contact PANA at [email protected] to endorse this position in support of Wi Spa and against fascist violence against transgender people.
Chronology:
June 23 2021- A Wi Spa customer, “Cubana Angel” made a video of herself complaining that a trans woman customer with male genitalia was in the women’s section. The video went viral.
The video is portrayed as a negative example and condemns Wi Spa. The spa asserts it is simply obeying CA Civil Code 51B which forbids discrimination against transgender customers. Moreover, records at Wi Spa do not show any transgender customers coming to the spa on June 23 for appointments.
Right wing talk shows like Tucker Carlson and fascist websites prop up the story and agitate reactionary responses.
July 3 2021- First “protest” by Proud Boys. Results in violent confrontations between the groups.
July 17- Results in 40 arrests mostly counter protesters who oppose the Proud Boys. Violence breaks out after a Proud Boy stabs a demonstrator and an LAPD cop shoots a counter protester at point blank range after she plead not to shoot.
July 31, 2021- The Proud Boys did not show up to this protest. However the LAPD made one arrest of a counter protester for “resisting arrest.”
July 17 LAPD Outside of Wi SpaJuly 17 Proud Boys Demonstration turns violent with 40 arrestsJuly 30: PANA and Neighborhood Safety Companions members join counter protest against Proud Boys
Oct. 7, 2021: Neighborhood Safety Companions deliver Safety Equipment for Wi Spa Staff
Available information suggests the perpetrators of anti-Asian hate incidents were predominantly male and disproportionately white. Among politicians who made stigmatizing statements and supported discriminatory policies and proposals, the primary perpetrators were white, male and affiliated with the Republican Party.
May 18, 2021
Anti-Asian Hat protest. Image Credit: Kareem Hayes on Unsplash
Asian American Studies and history professor at Columbia University
Asiatic exclusion and Jim Crow segregation were two modes of racial management necessary for white supremacy after the Civil War, when the West and the South were being integrated into a national economy based on corporate capital and a polity made up of white male voters. These policies relied on euphemisms and legal fictions—“aliens ineligible to citizenship” and “separate but equal”—to work around the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal protection and due process for all. Indeed, in the late 19th century, the Supreme Court would interpret the Fourteenth Amendment to favor the rights of capital, and not those of formerly enslaved people or Asian immigrants.
By Zijia Eleanor Song and Noreen O’Donnell • Published April 15, 2021 • Updated on April 15, 2021 at 11:28 pm
A recent survey from SurveyMonkey and AAPI Data shows that white supremacy harms people from all racial minorities. The survey finds elevated levels of experiences of hate crime and hate incidents across all communities of color. Among Asian Americans and Latinx surveyed, 27% report experiencing hate crime and hate incidents, higher than the national average of 22%. Black and multiracial respondents report a level of 34%, highest among all communities of color.
PANA: Resistance to oppression is not new, neither is solidarity between Asian Americans and African Americans. Our solidarity is the power that will overthrow this system of white supremacist violence towards both of our peoples.
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