Laws Against Asian-Americans


8/20/10 Philadelphia Inquirer: "Radnor family assaulted and robbed, possibly because they are Asian,"
by Bonnie L. Cook
    Lisa Lee, 17, thought she was dreaming at 3 a.m. Wednesday when she opened her bedroom door in Radnor Township to find a stranger wearing a bandanna across his face and holding a gun.
    "Make a noise and I'll hurt you," said the intruder, pointing the gun to her head.
    Struggling to emerge from sleep, Lee heard the sound of a scuffle downstairs and her father, Jei Lee, crying out in pain.
    "I began crying and screaming, 'Don't hurt my dad,' " she said Thursday during a doorstep interview in the three-generation family's tree-lined neighborhood near Bryn Mawr Avenue and Glenwyn Road.
    "Tell your dad to cooperate, or I'll hurt you," the bandit said. "Give me the money."
    And the family did, Lee said, handing over to four armed and masked bandits $3,000 in cash from Jei Lee's wallet and $23,000 saved by Lee's aunt in her room upstairs.
    In all, the four men escaped with $26,000, a computer owned by Lee's brother, the family's jewelry, and a 52-inch TV. The men were described by police as wearing dark clothing with white or black-and-white bandannas, with two more than six feet tall.
    Jei Lee, who works at a dry cleaners in Wayne, was pistol-whipped by one of the intruders and was bleeding profusely from a scalp wound when officers arrived, his daughter said. He required treatment at a nearby hospital, but was able to work Thursday.
    John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., said Thursday that Asian American business people were being targeted by criminals, and that the activity seems to run in cycles.
    "I'm not sure why they come in spurts, but they do, and it's unfortunate. Part of the pattern is that the criminals follow the merchants home," he said.
    Investigators spent from 3:37 until 9 a.m. Wednesday processing the house, but could find few clues because the intruders wore gloves, Lee said.
    Police Sgt. Andrew J. Block, of the Radnor investigations unit, said by e-mail Thursday that no arrests had been made. No one saw a fleeing vehicle, Block said, and the TV had not turned up.
    He said that officers were trying to learn if the family was targeted because it is Asian. All four robbers were described as African American.
    But Lisa Lee said she had been told by police that the businesses her two uncles own - a dry cleaners at 15 W. Seventh St. in Chester, and Brewers Outlet, a beer distributor at 48th and Spruce Streets - may have been the link.
    "If you have an OK-looking car and own a business, they think you might have money," Lee said she was told, adding it was possible the bandits followed her uncles home.
    Other Asian families have been targeted for home invasions in recent years. One resulted in the death of businessman Robert Chae, who suffocated after being bound too tightly with duct tape by intruders on Jan. 9, 2009.
    Chae, 58, of Montgomeryville, owned a beauty supply store in Center City. He and his family were tied up and robbed of $15,000 to $20,000 in cash, jewelry, and a bank book.
    Seven people were arrested in connection with the crime. Two are serving life prison sentences for second-degree murder, a third is serving 16 to 32 years, a fourth was acquitted, and the others, including Chae's nephew, are awaiting sentencing.
    Chin said part of the problem may be the economic downturn. Another piece, he said, may be the reluctance of recent immigrant merchants to call police when they see suspicious activity.
    "Maybe these perpetrators know this," Chin said. In Chinatown, neighborhood watches are being formed, but it's difficult to protect merchants who are targeted at home, Chin said.
    He called Wednesday's crime at the Lee home "brazen."
    "It's one thing to rob a house where nobody is home," Chin said. "It's another thing to break into a house where people are sleeping."
    What struck Lisa Lee about the home invasion was the viciousness of the attack and the way the men tied up frail family members with telephone cords and corralled them into a room upstairs.
    Lee would not disclose her family's names, but said that her father, two uncles, aunt, brother, grandmother, and grandfather reside in the house. Lee, who lives in Massachusetts with her mother, was visiting her relatives.
    The grandfather, 96, and the grandmother, who walks with a three-point cane, were made to lie facedown on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs, 
    Lee said. Her aunt and uncle were forced to lie face down on a bed.
    The bandits gained entry through an unlocked basement door that opens to Lee's brother's apartment. Lee said the intruders tied her brother up before casing the rest of the house.
    As the bandits left, they made sure her aunt's and an uncle's hands were tied loosely enough to allow them to get free and call for help, Lee said. Once they were gone, her father crawled upstairs to help the others, Lee said.
    Asked if she had any advice in the wake of the attack, Lee didn't hesitate.
    "Lock your doors," she said. "You never know what will happen anymore."
    Radnor police are asking anyone with information to call 610-688-0503.



8/18/10 Delaware County, PA Daily Times "Asian business owners worried about robberies: 
Upper Darby police are on alert after three Asian-American business owners were recently 
targeted in home invasions,"
By Linda Reilly
    Upper Darby — Asian-American business owners in the 69th Street area are again being 
targeted by robbers who believe the entrepreneurs don’t use banks, police said.
    Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood cited three home invasions involving owners of 
shops on South 69th and Market streets.
“The most recent home invasion involving 69th Street stores occurred 2:30 a.m. Aug. 8 in 
Haverford,” Chitwood said.
    Others were reported on the July 27 on Hampden Road, Upper Darby, and on July 22 
in Ridley Township.
    “All three are business owners in the 69th Street area,” Chitwood said.
    The targeted victims are owners of a nail salon, restaurant and beer distributor.
    According to an Asian-American beauty shop owner on 69th Street, most business owners 
do not share information and only hear about the home invasions when it’s in the newspaper.
    “I am aware robbers target Asian owners,” the proprietor said, asking her name not be used. 
“I used to have a business in West Philadelphia for six years and never had a problem. It’s worse 
here. I’m very afraid here. I’ve been here for nine months and it seems we are just targeted in 
Delaware County.”
    The woman utilizes a security door for patrons to enter and exit her store and had an alarm installed.
    “I live in Drexel Hill and never drive straight to my house,” the woman said. 
    “And when I get there, I drive around the block to make sure I wasn’t followed and I look around 
before I get out of the car. One time I did see a man sitting in a parked car. He ducked down when 
I saw him.
    “Robbers have experience. They’re crazy. We don’t save our money at home. We use 
banks. I do see the cops constantly driving around here.”
    An employee at the Asian Supermarket on South 69th Street reported a recent attempt at a 
break-in at the store when an intruder smashed the front glass window and door.
    The Indian, Pakistani and Bangladesh grocery store sells fruits, vegetables, candy, audio and 
videotapes and household goods.
    “I knew (about the home invasions),” Amarjit Singh said.
    Singh added he was worried, citing a recent purse snatching on the street and damage to the 
front window of the store.
    Employees of the targeted beer distributor could only say they have told others about the home 
invasion, but declined to talk about the incident.
    A police alert was issued regarding the attacks against Asian business owners.
    According to Chitwood, the Haverford incident involved owners of a beer distributor targeted in 
the middle of the night by three to five black male intruders, with no further description.
    “The victims are not sure if they were followed home,” Chitwood said. “It looks like the individuals 
were targeted and more than likely followed home. Why else would that house be hit? The common 
thread is they are all Asians and have businesses in the area of 69th Street.



6/14/10 The Anniston Star: "Alabama’s hate-crime rate,"
by our readers
    The FBI says hate crime incidents per 100,000 for 2008 were 2.9 percent nationwide. New Jersey had the highest rate with 8.6, and Alabama had the lowest rate with 0.4. Are Alabama law enforcement agencies accurately reporting hate crimes?
    For example, a recent incident in a Montgomery high school involved an Asian-American student and one or more African-American students. The high school is 94 percent African-American and very, very few students of Asian descent. If the incident involved an African-American student and white student in a school that was 94 percent white with very, very few African-Americans, then activists would be leading marches and giving interviews on national TV proclaiming “hate crime, hate crime.”
    I am not convinced Alabama has the lowest hate crime rate in the United States. The incident cited above may be a hate crime but not reported as one.
Joe Boyett
Montgomery



5/16/10 Associated Press: "Attacks on Asian-Americans lead to racial tension,"
By Juliana Barbassa
    San Francisco — Mrs. Cheng feels like she's living under siege in her own home.
    In January, an 83-year-old neighbor, also a Chinese immigrant, was beaten into a coma. Days after he died in March, Mrs. Cheng, 53, was attacked and pushed off a public transit platform, coming to minutes later with front teeth knocked out and her mouth full of blood.
    Both attacks happened within a block of her house. Now Mrs. Cheng avoids going out, gets rides to work, and keeps her two daughters close to home. She doesn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation, but she doesn't want too much to be made of what happened to her, either. She repeatedly said through a translator that she just wants everyone to live in peace.
    Still, such attacks and the death of a Chinese immigrant from San Francisco who was assaulted during a visit to Oakland have focused the anger of Asian-Americans here, pushing them to vent in emotional rallies their long-simmering perception that they are targets of racially motivated violence. In all cases, the perpetrators were black teenagers, police said.
    "This just sent them over the top. This is an activist city, but this isn't an activist population at all," said Chia-Chi Li, one of the organizers of a rally that drew hundreds of mostly older Chinese-Americans to the steps of San Francisco City Hall bearing signs saying, "Asians are not punching bags," and "Stop attacking the elders and the vulnerable."
    In this bastion of diversity and tolerance, the tension between two of its minorities has become painful.
    Although both groups have suffered discrimination over the decades, the African-American community has been declining here faster than in any other major city, while the Asian-American community has been growing, partly due to immigration.
    Now almost one in three San Franciscans is of Asian descent, and many have moved into affordable, historically black neighborhoods.
    Street violence in these neighborhoods is not new, say people in the black community. They've suffered it for years. It just never drew much attention, they said.
    But seeing this violence serve as a wedge dividing two ethnic minorities that have much more to gain from working together is particularly hard, said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who represents the district where Mrs. Cheng lives.
    "It is so sad — in a wealthy city, in this city of St. Francis that harbors everyone, to see that our children are in such distress, our communities are in such distress," said Maxwell, who is African-American.
    Maxwell emphasized race was not a factor in the attacks — the problem was the violence inflicted on a neighborhood.
    "These kids need help. They are perpetrating violence against all of us," she said. "How are we going to protect each other and be responsible for each other?"
    Police Chief George Gascon has played down the role of race in the attacks, and pointed to statistics to show Asian Americans are not disproportionately targeted in street crimes in San Francisco.
    Asian Americans make up 30 percent of the city's population, and account for 19 percent of the victims, Gason said. African Americans are 7 percent of the population, but make up 21 percent of victims.
    These are crimes of opportunity, agreed Greg Suhr, police captain of the Bayview district where Mrs. Cheng lives. Victims tend to be vulnerable — the elderly, the young, women, "whoever's easiest."
Mrs. Cheng is about 4 feet 10 inches tall, he said. One of her assailants, a 15-year-old who was arrested and charged with felony assault, is 6 feet tall.
    Thirty-two officers have been reassigned to foot patrol to reduce violence in Mrs. Cheng's neighborhood and other areas where assaults have occurred.
    The department opened drop-in centers where Chinese-Americans can find officers who speak their language and who will take reports of crimes and offer information.
    These measures were welcomed by Asians and blacks alike. The announcement led to some frustration on the part of black residents, however, who questioned the police chief at a community town hall on Wednesday about why such measures weren't taken when African-Americans were the victims.
    Some of the violence suffered by Asian-Americans in San Francisco comes from the fact they are moving into neighborhoods that have crime, said Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco and head of the city's NAACP chapter.
    "Without diminishing the seriousness of what happened to the Asian seniors — this has been happening to African-American seniors for a long time," Brown said. "If you move into a community where there is violence, you will be a victim."
    In Mrs. Cheng's family, she says her elderly mother, her 13-year-old daughter, her husband, her brother and her sister have been mugged over the last 10 years.
    Racism is not a word thrown around carelessly in this politically correct city. Accusations of that sort are hard for Mrs. Cheng to square with the smiles she trades with her African-American neighbors of 20 years, or with her teenage daughter's black friends, who walk her home to keep her safe.
    When Asian-Americans moved into black neighborhoods like Mrs. Cheng's, it may have created tensions that were exacerbated by economic stresses and deep language and cultural barriers, experts say.
    "From the African-American community's perspective, they feel like they're being invaded by outsiders, and they want to defend their own turf," said Edward Chang, a University of California, Irvine, professor who has studied race relations. "It invites a sense of resentment."
    The incidents have led community organizations to develop a plan, as summer approaches, to involve as many kids as possible in jobs, programs and community organizations.
    San Francisco can't arrest its way out of this, said Joe Marshall, president of the San Francisco Police Commission.
    "You have kids that are hurt, who don't have adult guidance. said Marshall, who is African-American, and directs Omega Boys Club, an organization that steers teenagers away from street violence. "They take that out on everybody. If you lock them up, they get out, do the same thing."
    Zhirui Wang — whose husband, Tian Sheng Yu, died in April — is quietly calling for an end to violence.
    The San Francisco painter and contractor hit his head on the sidewalk after being punched in broad daylight in Oakland. Two 18-year-olds were arrested with help from numerous witnesses, who were outraged by the attack.
    "Everyone is asking what about justice? To the Yu family, it is simple," she said through a translator. "True justice is when there will be no more violence."



5/10/10 cbs5.com (San Francisco): "Bay Area Ex-Con Admits To Targeting Asians,"
http://cbs5.com/local/asian.crime.targets.2.1686348.html  
    Recent attacks on Asian-Americans have stoked racial tensions in some Bay Area communities. One African-American ex-con admits to targeting Asians, but says he didn't do it out of hate. 
    Ananze Emenike talks about robbing Asians like it was no big deal - during his teen years, it wasn't. 
    "We got busted for a hate crime, due to the fact that when they linked us to the other robberies…they were 75-85 per cent Asian," recalled Emenike. 
    Emenike's reign of terror ended with his arrest in 2007 at the age of 17. Ananze said he once targeted Asians, but not because he had any animosity toward his victims. He said he chose Asian victims due to a perception that they carried a lot of money, wouldn't fight back, and wouldn't go to police because of a language barrier. 
    "We would go places where we knew Asians would carry a lot of money. Like for a good example Stonestown. That was a place we knew lots of Asians came and spent a lot of money," he recalled. 
    Race played a part in Emenike's robberies. His victims were targeted because of race, but for specific reasons, they presented for him a crime of opportunity. We can't tell you about all such crimes, but it does offer a different perspective to the debate.
    Emenike has cleaned up his act, after spending time in prison. He's now a video producer for the news agency Youth Outlook.



5/6/10 New America Media: "San Francisco's 'Black on Chinese' Violence Goes Back Decades."
Commentary by Hubert V. Yee
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=dbcb572a81ab28c969cae0c307f408ae
    African-American and Asian-American elected and appointed officials have failed to address the growing racial tensions in southeast San Francisco.
    Growing up as an Asian American in southeast San Francisco was not easy. Safety was a huge issue for all residents. We heard gunshots at night and sirens wailing past our homes. Our neighbors and family members heard stories about other neighbors and family members becoming victims of crimes by a segment of the African-American community.
    When I was 16, I was attacked by eight African Americans while riding Muni’s 15 Third bus line. I was spit on. We fought. I was beaten unconscious and remained out for a few seconds. I am reminded every day that I was beaten for no apparent reason when I look in the mirror and see my scar.
    My mother and father were also victims. I remember waking up hearing my mom and dad screaming. I ran downstairs to see my mom and dad being robbed and assaulted in front of our home by two African Americans. 
    These criminals target Asian Americans because we are seen as weak, unorganized, foreign, and as “walking ATM machines.” We are racialized in many of these instances of violence.
    Our pain has not been felt or heard by so-called elected representatives, black and Asian alike. Sophie Maxwell, who represents District 10 on the Board of Supervisors, has said little. Others, like Human Rights Commissioner Yvonne Lee, have provided a false historical narrative of the violence. At a recent commission meeting, Lee said these incidents have only occurred in the “past several years.”
    As a resident of the neighborhood for more than 25 years, I disagree.
    Supervisor David Chiu said on TV that these instances were not racially motivated. I disagree. The violence is racial. Asian Americans are seen as easy victims.
    In order to heal, these “racialized” assumptions and misperceptions about Asian Americans need to be acknowledged. We need community development projects that involve multiracial interaction to dispel such racist stereotypes. In 2005, I created a youth program, APIYLDP, that explored the African-American experience and the Asian-American experience in District 10 with a group of multiracial youth and multiple nonprofits. Asian-American youth learned about the African-American experience through community immersion, fieldwork and research. Research conducted by youth documented racial misunderstandings between Asian-American and African-American youth. Results showed that the youth participating in this project better understood the commonalities and the struggles the two communities shared.
    Efforts to continue the dialogue between Asian-American and African-American youth are hopeful solutions to the growing despair facing many Asian Americans in the Bay View and Visitation Valley. We must focus on developing our community through multiracial coalitions and continually hold accountable not only District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, but also those who claim to be our voice: Asian-American elected and appointed officials.
    All San Francisco residents, including those in District 10, should feel safe riding a bus, walking to school and being in their homes.
    Hubert V. Yee has been a resident of San Francisco's District 10 for more than 25 years. As a community activist with a Master of Arts in Asian American Studies, he has worked on multiple projects to develop healthier community relations.



5/2/10 San Francisco Chronicle: "Dirty secret of black-on-Asian violence is out,"
by C.W. Nevius
    San Francisco's hidden truth is out. That's what community organizer Carol Mo calls the realization that Asian residents are being targeted for robberies, burglaries and intimidation by young black men.
    "It is San Francisco's dirty little secret," said Mo, a former Safety Network Community organizer in the Sunset District. "It's not news to us."
    Hundreds of people marched into Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting to express their fear, frustration and outrage. But so far the response has been disappointing, particularly from the San Francisco Police Department. It seems intent on downplaying the role of race and its impact in the community. 
    The recent incidents of black violence against Asians is the perfect opportunity to open a dialogue about racism. Instead, they are attempting to close the door.
    City officials, including the Police Department, say these assaults are part of a larger crime picture where gangs of kids take advantage of a vulnerable group of small stature. But Mo participated in a 2008 survey by the Police Department in which about 300 strong-arm robberies were analyzed. "In 85 percent of the physical assault crimes, the victims were Asian and the perpetrators were African American," she said.
    The squeamishness city officials are experiencing about confronting those numbers doesn't reflect well on anyone. No one is saying the entire African American community is violent. But ignoring the legitimate anger and frustration from Asians is disingenuous and unfair.
    "We love San Francisco," said the Rev. Norman Fong, a Presbyterian minister. "And we don't want to do anything to divide the communities. But at the same time, our community is hurting and we feel like our voices are not being heard."
    Now that the Asian community has found its voice, city leaders must listen and respond. What should be done? Here are a few suggestions:
    -- Understand the underlying conflict: This isn't just about stealing iPods. There's a deep divide between the two communities. Edward Chang, who lectures on civil unrest and race relations at UC Riverside, has studied the contentious history of Korean-African American relations in Los Angeles when Korean store owners moved into black neighborhoods.
    "There was this sense of being invaded by someone else," Chang said. "There was a sense of needing to protect and defend their turf."
    Another factor is the way the two cultures are perceived. Lee Mun Wah, a Berkeley-based documentary filmmaker and diversity trainer for large corporations, said there is resentment over how Asians are seen as "the favored minority."
    "We are pitted against each other," Wah said. "African Americans sometimes say, 'We did all the work in civil rights, and they get all the benefits.' "
    -- Create a dialogue: As Chang said, "In order to build trust, you must do things together." Wah suggests hiring black employees in Asian stores. Board of Supervisors President David Chiu is pushing a summer program to hire black and Asian youths to work together in community patrols.
    -- Speak up: Chiu thinks the language barrier is a huge part of the reason Asian victims do not report crimes. He stresses the need for multilingual police officers. 
But the Chinese community also needs to overcome its reticence to go to the police.     They are only making themselves more vulnerable by being seen, as one officer put it, as "silent, vulnerable and unwilling to fight back."
    -- Listen to Mrs. Cheng: The 52-year-old woman was attacked March 22 when a 15-year-old boy allegedly threw her off the Muni platform at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue. She was injured, but she says she doesn't want retribution.
    "This is my simple request," she wrote in an e-mail with the help of an interpreter. "That we can all live safely in our own homes without being burglarized. I feel ashamed that this horrible bad luck has happened to me. I only hope that my bad luck will fend off future bad luck situations for other people."
    And then she added one more thought.
    "My neighbor is black," she said. "Though we can't communicate much, he is a good person and a good friend. He often jokes that he would teach me English and I Chinese to him."
    That would be a great start - two people talking.


4/30/10 New York Times: "Attacks on Asians Highlight New Racial Tensions,"
by Gerry Shih
    The Chinese who had gathered at San Francisco’s City Hall — several hundred of them, chanting and waving bilingual placards under a persistent drizzle — were mad. Their words and signs said they felt under attack, vulnerable, unheard by the police, city officials and even their own community leaders.
    Their grievances included these in March: An 83-year old Chinese man beaten to death by five boys on a Bayview street and a 57-year-old woman injured after being thrown off a Third Street Muni platform. On April 16, two teenagers in Oakland assaulted Tian Sheng Yu, a 59-year-old Chinese immigrant, in broad daylight. A punch knocked him to the ground; the fall killed him.
    Tammy Tan, the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Community Center, watched as Chinese leaders took up the megaphone to vent their fury in lilting Cantonese tones.
    But something hung in midair, unspoken.
    “We recommend our staff not to say it,” Ms. Tan said, looking over the crowd. “We don’t want to escalate with African-Americans, so we don’t say it.” Then she turned and faced a reporter. “But it is racial,” she said. “That’s fact.”
    It has been years since race relations in the Bay Area, where diversity and tolerance are pillars of the civic religion, have taken such a sharp turn for the worse.
    The recent spate of highly publicized attacks on elderly Asians by black teenagers has abruptly enhanced a longstanding perception among Asians that they are disproportionately targets of racially motivated violence.
    George Gascón, the San Francisco police chief, announced last week the emergency deployment of 32 additional beat officers to the Bayview-Visitación Valley neighborhood. Although “crime numbers have not gone up,” Chief Gascón said in an interview, he wanted to address the “tremendous amount of fear and apprehension” among Asians.
    It is these historically black neighborhoods in southeast San Francisco that have undergone the sharpest demographic changes in the city in the past 20 years. Decades after Koreans transformed the Fillmore district from what it once was — the “Harlem of the West,” its blocks lined by the swaggering, smoky haunts of jazz lore — Chinese started moving to the Bayview in large numbers.
    Community leaders predict that the 2010 census will show the Asian population, almost all Chinese, now making up 40 percent of the Bayview’s residents and as many as 60 percent of Visitación Valley’s.
    “At one point, one group may emerge because they’ve got greater population and another group feels pushed out — feels like they don’t have any voice anymore,” said the Rev. A. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church. “It involves a kind of power shift. That, of course, creates some of the tension.”
    The rapidly deteriorating climate has alarmed local leaders. The president of the Board of Supervisors, David Chiu, noted that on Wednesday, hundreds of Chinese lined up at a board meeting to tell stories of assaults and intimidation, sometimes without clear motivation, by young African-Americans.
    Two days later, a young black man, Amanze Emenike, 21, said he was 12 when he heard older boys talking about why they singled out Asian and Latino immigrants: they would not report the crime and had no gangs to back them up. On Friday morning, on a Hunters Point hilltop with a breathtaking view of the Bay, Mr. Emenike and his sister, Sherry Blunt, 22, recounted their “spree” of crime against Asian and Latino immigrants several years ago.
    By the time he was 15, Mr. Emenike said, he and his brother, Armani Bolmer, would get up at 5 a.m. to rob Mexican day laborers who got off the 23 Monterey bus from the Mission district.
    They began to single out Chinese, he said, because they had more money. In 2006, they stalked a Chinese man at the last Muni stop, robbed him, and were arrested hours later.
    Black civic leaders say they are troubled by the rash of crimes and have repeatedly emerged at rallies alongside Chinese to show solidarity. They also point out that black-on-black crime remains, statistically, a far bigger problem.
    But at these Chinese rallies and vigils, beneath the megaphone-amplified din of positive rhetoric, there are worrying murmurs about revenge, said Henry Der, who was the executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, an influential Chinatown organization, for more than two decades.
    “I’m getting e-mails saying, ‘We need to retaliate, it’s time we pick up arms,’ ”Mr. Der said. “And these are from grown, supposedly responsible adults.”
    At such a fraught time, leaders like Ms. Tan say they must tread a narrow path between irresponsibly amplifying racial tensions and dishonestly ignoring them.
    Part of the frustration, some say, is fueled precisely by the reluctance — both among Chinese and among San Franciscans generally — to discuss such issues.
    “Because San Francisco sees itself as very progressive, people just don’t want to talk about these issues,” Mr. Der said. “But that’s how people feel about it. You can’t argue it away.”
    An alternative narrative, emerging from places like the Asian Law Caucus or the Rev. Amos Brown of the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter, argues that race played no role in the disparate attacks.
    “They’re not the same perpetrators, and they’re not in the same neighborhood,” Angela Chan of the caucus said. “So it’s not a very advanced way of thinking about things.”
    And the widow of Mr. Yu, Zhirui Wang, has repeatedly tried to play down any racial overtones in the attack on him, the Chinese-language press reported. “We are not separated by race or skin color,” she said in an interview with The World Journal. “I hope everyone can treat others as family members, so tragedy does not happen again.”
    Mr. Emenike and his sister, Ms. Blunt, said the teenagers involved in the recent attacks were following in his footsteps, as he had followed older boys.
    “It’s not ‘this is an Asian person let’s get him,’ ” Mr. Emenike said. “It’s we thinking, ‘this Asian person is probably carrying a large amount of money. And this is our neighborhood, this is our home, why not?’ ”
    But if the motivations were largely strategic, and not out of unadulterated racial hatred, they were also influenced by complex emotions and a wariness of change.
    “I wake up and I’m hungry, my stomach growling,” Ms. Blunt said. “Why am I just getting by when there’s this Asian walking out of the house with a laptop going to the cafe?”
    There is also the frustration at perceived prejudice by Asians. Ms. Blunt still recalls a Chinese classmate in junior high ignoring her requests to borrow a pencil.
    “You approach them, and they just keep giving you the cold shoulder,” Ms. Blunt said.
    Last week, New America Media, a nonprofit coalition of ethnic news media outlets, published an essay in which Mr. Emenike talked of his past. It was soon translated and republished in both The Singtao Daily and The World Journal, the two main Chinese-language newspapers.
    Mr. Emenike is a proud new father with a 3-month-old son, so he has “calmed down,” he said. He edits video for New America Media. He also projects an almost avuncular sense of responsibility for the teenagers in his neighborhood, and has come to terms — if grudgingly — with the changes there.
    “We tell them that’s so played out, there’s no use anymore,” Mr. Emenike said. “They’re a part of the neighborhood, so it don’t make no sense to rob them. Like you see them everyday.”
    He paused, then added, “But that’s the way I guess it’s supposed to be.”

4/29/10 San Francisco Chronicle: "Asian American attacks focus at City Hall,"
by C.W. Nevius
    On Tuesday, Mrs. Cheng came to City Hall for the first time in the 20 years she's lived in the city. She intended to speak to the Board of Supervisors through a translator, but she uttered just a few words before she began sobbing uncontrollably.
    On March 22, Cheng was checking on her daughter who was late coming home on the bus. Standing on the Third and Oakdale Muni platform, she recalls being grabbed from behind, choked and thrown off the 5-foot-high metro stop and into the street.
    The impact knocked her unconscious, shattered some of her teeth and left her lying in the path of a bus. The attacker was identified as a 15-year-old African American boy who was charged with robbery. But he threw her to the ground for no apparent reason.
    Cheng was just one of the nearly 300 Asian Americans who showed up at City Hall to share story after story about being assaulted, robbed and intimidated. The two hours of testimony were tearful and angry. The need to share their stories was triggered by Cheng's experience; the January beating death of Huan Chen, 83, as he left a bus station at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue; and Tian Sheng Yu, who died after he was punched by an 18-year-old African American man in Oakland.
    The stories highlighted what will be a difficult conversation. The speakers said they felt they were being targeted by African American teenage boys.
    "I live in constant fear," Cheng wrote in her first interview, which was conducted over e-mail. "I am afraid to go out any more. I can't eat because I have no lower teeth. I have a big lump on the back of my head ... I walk with a limp and need help to move around. I am afraid I may lose my job. I came from China 20 years ago. I came because it offers its people freedom, freedom of speech, good education. How would I have imagined I would become a crime victim? I have lost confidence in America."
    African Americans attacking Asians is a reality, said Young Kong, a local talk radio show host on a Chinese language station.
    "This is a hate crime," he said. "The supervisors don't want to say it because they don't want to exacerbate the tension. They are too chicken, too politically correct."
Cheng says she has a long-term relationship with her neighbor, who is black, and the people who rushed to her aid were all African American. This isn't a race war. But something is happening here.
    "Let's face it, if older black men were being killed by marauding groups of kids, we'd be going crazy," said Lynette Sweet, a lifelong resident of District 10 and candidate for supervisor there. "We in the black community have to take responsibility for our kids." The concern, however, is that the discussion is too polarizing.
    No truly great city can allow this. It is time to take a break from debating boycotting Arizona for its immigration policy and look at our own streets.
    "This is the immigrant's voice not being heard in a city of immigrants," said Yvonne Lee, a former police commissioner who helped translate for Cheng. "This is years of frustration and fear that has burned into anger."
    Bayview police station Capt. Greg Suhr says the police are responding, including adding 32 officers to his station to make Muni safer. But he thinks the racial issue is clouding perceptions.
    "We are seeing large kids or kids in large numbers taking advantage of people of smaller stature," Suhr said. We have Hispanics in the neighborhood who are targeted fairly frequently."
    That may be, but Supervisor Carmen Chu said she's heard stories of Asians being pushed on the bus, or insulted or spit on.
    "Some of the perceptions are based on reality and some on stereotypes," said Chu. "The reality is that they exist. This is something we need to talk about."
    Sweet believes there's potential for resolution. She sees hope in the fact that when Cheng was injured, members of the black community quickly identified the attacker, who has admitted the crime.
    "People in the Asian community need to vent, and we need to listen to them," Sweet said. "But I have found that after we give people that opportunity, it very often turns into a chance for the community to come together."
    That would be great. Because right now the two sides couldn't be much further apart.
    C.W. Nevius' column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.


4/28/10 San Francisco Public Press: "Asians denounce suspected hate crimes,"
by Dana Sherne 
    Hundreds of Asian Americans joined city supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom at a rally Tuesday to call for safer neighborhoods after a rash of attacks against Asians, with much of the blame being focused on African Americans.
    Newsom promised a $100,000 reward for finding the youths who assaulted and fatally injured Huan Chen on Jan. 24. Chen, an 83-year-old San Francisco resident, was attacked after he left a bus stop at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue on Jan. 24, according to police. He died on March 19.
    After the rally, on the steps of City Hall, Asian Americans who say they have been victims of racial violence addressed the supervisors, some tearfully relating their stories and demanding action from the city.
    “I feel I am not protected properly — I am afraid to go out,” said one woman who was beaten by five black youths and declined to give her name. “I felt like I lost my human rights when I was attacked. I ask that city government paid more attention to the Asians.”
    A 57-year-old Chinese woman was thrown off the Muni platform at Third Street and Oakdale on March 22, police say. Not giving her name, she spoke haltingly at the board meeting through her tears.
    “I came to the U.S. because I hoped I would be able to have a good life and achieve the American dream,” she said, echoing many other speakers’ disillusionment with their adopted country.
    Many in the audience called for increased police presence and attention from the city government. Some of the speakers said the District 10 supervisor, Sophie Maxwell, was absent from this meeting. The ethnically diverse district, includes Potrero Hill, Bayview Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Silver Terrace, Dogpatch, Little Hollywood and the Portola districts.
    Many of the speakers emphasized that these attacks were alleged to have predominantly been committed by African Americans.
    One woman spoke of how her image of African Americans changed after she and a friend were surrounded and robbed by a couple of black teenagers. Attending high school with blacks, she had never been afraid before, but now had a different perspective.
    “My entire image of African Americans changed. They could be violent. They could be stealing things around,” she said. “I still can be friends with them, but there’s just something bad in my heart that feels like they could be dangerous sometimes.”
    Other speakers addressed the need for dialogue and communication between races.
“But I think we also need to understand that in America, race matters,” said Vincent Pan, the executive director of the San Francisco-based advocacy group Chinese for Affirmative Action. “It always matters, and the question is how we make race matter in a way that moves us toward positive solutions as opposed to negative solutions.” 
    Earlier Tuesday, at a press conference, Police Chief George Gascon noted that there is not enough evidence to call these attacks hate crimes. Instead, they might be “crimes of opportunity” and robberies.
    But he acknowledged: “There was clearly race, and race factors there.”



4/23/10 San Francisco Chronicle: "Oakland Street Killing: Shocking,"
by William Wong
    I attended a vigil for Tian Sheng Yu in uptown Oakland (California) on Friday (April 23). I didn't 
know him, yet I was among about 100 people who gathered on a gorgeous spring afternoon at 
18th Street and Telegraph Avenue, a few steps away from the grand entrance of beautifully 
restored Fox Oakland Theater, a former movie house where I used to pay a quarter to see 
double-features (in the late 1940s and early 1950s!).
   This was where Mr. Yu was beaten and later died in what has been described as a random 
attack by two 18-year-old men (boys?) exactly a week prior to the vigil.
   The beating and subsequent death of Mr. Yu, who was 59 years old, have shocked Oaklanders, 
especially those of Chinese and Asian descent, but from the looks of those attending the vigil, 
people of all ethnic backgrounds and ages were emotionally affected by this senseless street 
violence.
   Mr. Yu wasn't even an Oaklander. He was a home-care worker in San Francisco, a fairly 
recent immigrant from China.
   He and his 27-year-old son were in uptown Oakland to shop for coins.
   Then, suddenly, violence struck when the two teenagers, who happened to be African 
American, first slugged the son, then later the father, Mr. Yu, who fell hard to the pavement, 
hitting his head. That was a fatal blow.
   It was also another blow to Oakland's reputation. This city of about 400,000 residents, just 
across the bay from world famous San Francisco, has suffered for decades from both an 
inferiority complex and a negative regional and national image. Crime. Poverty. Bad schools. 
No there there.
   What's ironic about the scene of Mr. Yu's beating is that uptown Oakland, after so many 
years bereft of life, has been gaining favor with the urban hip -- restoration of the Fox 
Oakland, trendy restaurants, a lively art-gallery scene, new condominium developments.
   Whether this killing, which happened in broad daylight, plunges this part of Oakland back 
down in the dumps is hard to know.
   The killing also could potentially set back Oakland's chronic struggle with copacetic race 
relations.
   Until World War II, Oakland was mostly a white city with a no-nonsense, blue-collar, 
can-do attitude. Its Asian, African American, and Mexican populations were relatively 
small. The war years brought in large numbers of African Americans to work the shipyards.
   After the war, many white middle class families started moving to the burgeoning suburbs, 
aided by new freeways that sliced through Oakland.
   Gradually, Oakland's industrial base eroded, and its once robust economy began to weaken.
   Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing for the next several decades, the Chinese and 
other Asian population ballooned. So did its Latino population. The city became much 
blacker, browner, yellower.
   It still is with a population that is about two-thirds non-white. I wonder whether there's a direct 
correlation between that fact and my native city's bad rep.
   How people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds get along is a hugely complex 
matter that continues to befuddle Americans and recent immigrants, the election of Barack 
Obama as president notwithstanding.
   In Oakland, we see the gamut -- from loving, genuine, sincere cross-racial and cross-
cultural interactions to irrational, emotional, ignorant, stupid and bigoted behavior.
   So was this attack by two black teenagers, reportedly intoxicated and raring for some 
action, on a Chinese immigrant father and son racially motivated?
   While that conclusion has been reached privately by some Oaklanders of Chinese 
descent, the reason the two youth beat up the son first, then the father, hasn't yet been 
revealed publicly, if it ever will be.
   It is so tempting for anyone to say, yeah, those black guys beat up the Yu father and son, 
killing the father, because they were Asian, but so far, there's no proof or evidence that 
that was the case.
   I know it's not a politically popular perspective, but I do wonder why those two teenagers 
behaved so badly and violently. Eighteen years is not a lot of years on Earth, but apparently 
they are enough to have poisoned those two young men in some way to take out their rage 
on innocent bystanders like Mr. Yu and his son.
   Chinese immigrants, Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans have been 
especially shaken by the beatings and killing. They gathered by the hundreds at two news 
conferences held at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Chinatown in the days following 
the killing.
   I doubt if many Oakland Chinese knew the Yu family. Nonetheless, Mr. Yu's shocking death 
touched a deep chord with many of them, especially the immigrant elderly, because their 
personal safety on the streets near Chinatown and downtown -- and now uptown -- Oakland 
is a major worry.
   At the vigil, where Bo Hing, an Oakland Buddhist monk, chanted a lengthy prayer 
(Mr. Yu was a Buddhist), some African American men and women were in the crowd, along 
with a typical Oakland multicultural mix, in tribute to Mr. Yu's memory and his family's grief.
   David Bonner, SEIU member, remembers Tian Sheng Yu.  David Bonner, an African 
American and a member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), spoke to 
the crowd. He said he was a mentor to Mr. and Mrs. Yu, both home-care workers and 
SEIU members in San Francisco. Chinese and black members of United Healthcare 
Workers, an SEIU affliate, stood in silence during the one-hour vigil, and they have helped 
raise thousands of dollars to support Mr. Yu's survivors.
   I asked Mr. Bonner whether he thought the attack was racially motivated. "It was not a 
racial thing. It was so sad," he said.



4/20/10 San Francisco Chronicle: "S.F. man beaten in Oakland dies; suspects held,"
by Henry K. Lee
    Oakland -- A San Francisco man who was beaten on an Oakland street died today, a day after two 18-year-old men were arrested on suspicion of attacking him, police said.
    Tian Sheng Yu, 59, had been in Oakland's Highland Hospital since he was attacked Friday afternoon in the Uptown neighborhood after asking the assailants why they had punched his son.
    Doctors at the hospital took Yu off of life-support this morning, said Carl Chan, an Oakland Chinatown organizer who has been working with Yu's family.
    "Mr. Yu is no longer with us. It truly is a tragic loss," Chan told several hundred people who gathered at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for a rally originally scheduled to support Yu.
    When Chan contacted Yu's hospital room today, he said, "all I could hear was crying voices."
    Police confirmed that Yu died at 11:27 a.m.
    Alameda County prosecutors are expected to consider filing murder charges against the two men arrested Monday in connection with the attack.
    Lavonte Drummer and Dominic Davis, both of Oakland, were originally booked on suspicion of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and battery causing great bodily injury.

    Drummer turned himself in about 5 p.m. Monday at Oakland police headquarters after a member of the clergy contacted investigators about his surrender, said Lt. Brian Medeiros of the homicide detail.
    Davis was arrested by Oakland police as he rode a bike near Carleton and Sacramento streets in Berkeley at about 7:50 p.m. Monday. Davis, who turned 18 on Saturday, the day after the attack, didn't give up immediately but cooperated once he was stopped, police said.
    "He knew he was on video, that he was on the news," Medeiros said.
    Medeiros would not disclose a motive for the attack but noted that both men have previous arrests as juveniles for robbery. Drummer lives on Castro Street, just four blocks from the attack, public records show.
    Both were identified with the help of tipsters, many of whom were outraged by the attack on the 1800 block of Telegraph Avenue, a relatively safe area increasingly known for its restaurants and nightclubs, authorities said.
    Video that police released over the weekend shows two young men walking on the street near the time of the attack; investigators described them as the suspects. Police said today that they have another video that shows the actual assault of Yu.
    "We had numerous people who called and gave us information that led us to the capture of these suspects, and I'd like to applaud this community," Police Chief Anthony Batts said at a news conference.
    Drummer is being held in lieu of $80,000 bail; Davis' bail is $530,000. They could be arraigned as early as Thursday.
    "There is no room in a civilized society for this kind of maddening, violent assault upon human beings," said Mayor Ron Dellums, who joined police officials at the news conference. "It should be beyond us as people."
    Yu and his son, 27-year-old Jin Cheng Yu, were beaten about 3 p.m. Friday as they headed to a coin and jewelry shop on Telegraph Avenue. The younger Yu told The Chronicle that a pair of young men had approached him on the sidewalk and punched him in the eye for no reason as his father parked his car. He said he had then told his father about the attack.
    The two men found the assailants, and the elder Yu, in Chinese, asked them why they had attacked his son. The assailants hit the older man in the face and he fell to the sidewalk, apparently injuring his head, his son said.
    Yu, who emigrated from China with his family in 1998, ran a painting and remodeling business. His son studied biochemistry at UC Davis.

4/20/10 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo: "59-year-old Oakland assault victim dies,"
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7396508



    by Terry McSweeney and Cecilia Vega
    Oakland, CA (KGO) -- ABC7 has learned from a family friend, that the 59-year-old San 
Francisco man beaten during a brutal attack in Oakland Friday afternoon was taken off life 
support earlier today and has died.
    Two suspects have been arrested in the beating. They are accused of assaulting 27-year-old 
Jin Cheng Yu and sending his father, 59-year-old Tiansheng Yu, to intensive care.
    Both Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts thanked the 
public Tuesday for their help brining the case to what is, in their opinion, resolution.
    The two suspects, 18-year-old Lavonte Drummer and 18-year-old Dominic Davis, were both 
shown on surveillance video previously released by the Oakland Police Department. Drummer 
turned himself in to police around 5:00 Monday evening. Davis was caught in Berkeley Monday 
night by a gang task force.
    The assault occured around 3 p.m. Friday in front of the Fox Theater in the 1800 block of 
Telegraph Avenue in Oakland's Uptown neighborhood. Tiansheng and his son were shopping 
when Jin was attacked. Tiansheng stood up for his son and in turn was beaten and sustained 
a serious head injury.
    "One lived very close to where the crime occurred," Lt. Brian Mediros told reporters Tuesday
morning, referring to the suspects. "I cannot get into exact details of the interview because it 
hasn't even been presented to the DA's office yet, but both have made admissions to the crime."
    "What brings us to this moment is extraordinary cooperation on behalf of a number of residents
in this community who stepped up, who worked diligently with the Oakland Police Department, 
to bring us to this moment," Mayor Dellums said.
    The mayor and police chief both expressed their deepest regrets to the Yu family. The attack 
occurred in broad daylight in what is known to be a safe part of Oakland.
    Police say both suspects in the case have police records from when they were juveniles. 
The headline on their rap sheets is robbery.


4/19/10 http://abclocal.go.com: "Two suspects arrested in vicious Oakland assault,"
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7396129
by Terry McSweeney
    Oakland, CA (KGO) -- Two suspects have been arrested in the beating of a 
59-year-old San Francisco man who was assaulted while shopping with his son in Oakland.
    They are accused of assaulting 27-year-old Jin Cheng Yu and sending his father, 
59-year-old Tiansheng Yu, to intensive care.
    Both Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts thanked the
public Tuesday for their help brining the case to what is, in their opinion, resolution.
    The two suspects, 18-year-old Lavonte Drummer and 18-year-old Dominic Davis, were
both shown on surveillance video previously released by the Oakland Police Department. 
Drummer turned himself in to police around 5:00 Monday evening. Davis was caught in 
Berkeley Monday night by a gang task force.
    The beating occurred around 3 p.m. Friday in front of the Fox Theater in the 1800 block 
of Telegraph Avenue in Oakland's Uptown neighborhood. Tiansheng and his son were 
shopping when Jin was attacked. Tiansheng stood up for his son and in turn was beaten 
and sustained a serious head injury.
    He was transported to Highland Hospital where he has remained on life support. A family
spokesman says that barring a miracle, Yu may have to be taken off life support.
    "One lived very close to where the crime occurred. Lived off of Castro," Lt. Brian Mediros
told reporters Tuesday morning. "I cannot get into exact details of the interview because it 
hasn't even been presented to the DA's office yet, but both have made admissions to the crime."
    "What brings us to this moment is extraordinary cooperation on behalf of a number of 
residents in this community who stepped up, who worked diligently with the Oakland Police 
Department, to bring us to this moment," Mayor Dellums said.
    The mayor and police chief both expressed their deepest regrets to the Yu family. The 
attack occurred in broad daylight in what is known to be a safe part of Oakland.
    Police say both suspects in the case have police records from when they were juveniles.
 The headline on their rap sheets is robbery.

4/18/10 San Francisco Chronicle: “Son describes Oakland assault that left father near death,”
    A 59-year-old San Francisco man was on life support Saturday, a day after he was assaulted in broad daylight in downtown Oakland trying to defend his son's honor in what Mayor Ron Dellums called "a brutal and random attack."
    Tian Sheng Yu was punched once in the mouth by an unknown assailant and fell to the ground, hitting his head, said his son, Jin Cheng Yu, 27, who witnessed the blow. 
    "It happened so fast," the younger Yu said Saturday afternoon in front of his home in San Francisco's Portola district, where he stood still wearing pants splattered with blood, his left eye badly swollen from the unprovoked blow. His father was listed in grave condition and was in intensive care at an Oakland hospital.
    Jin Cheng Yu, a recent graduate of UC Davis, said that he and his father went to the 1800 block of Telegraph Avenue in Oakland around 3 p.m. to check out coins in a jewelry shop when the attack occurred. 
    Tian Sheng Yu let his son out of the car while he went to look for a parking place. Jin Cheng Yu started walking toward the shop when one of two young men or teenagers walking toward him slugged him in the eye "for no reason." Stunned, he caught up with his dad and told him what had just happened. 
    "My father wanted to know why I didn't fight back," he said. "He took me to go look for them." 
    He said they found the suspected assailant and his companion around the corner. 
    "My father asked them in Chinese - his English isn't very good - 'Why do you beat my son?' They didn't say anything. Then one of them punched my father in the mouth. He fell backwards to the ground." 
    The suspects then turned to the son. Jin Cheng Yu said they punched him "four or five times." He said he tried to hit back, but kept missing. Jin Cheng Yu had never been in a fight before.
    Witnesses called 911. One of those callers was Jean Van Fleet. She saw the attack through the front window of her bookstore, Bibliomania, across the street. A passer-by yelled into the store for her to call police, and when Van Fleet looked outside she thought she saw three young men beating up someone else.
    She was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher for only two or three minutes she said, and when she turned back to the street, the young men were gone and Yu was on the ground. His face was bloody and his body was convulsing.
    "I'm so sad he was beaten so badly," Van Fleet said Saturday, adding that she never saw the faces of the young men involved in the attack. "I kind of wish I'd gone over there with a broom and yelled at them all to leave."
    Tian Sheng Yu never got up from the sidewalk. He was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital. His son said his chances for survival are slim.
    "It's all my fault," he said after a sleepless night keeping vigil with his mother at the hospital. "I shouldn't have ever told my father I was punched."
    A motive for the attack has not been determined, according to police. Jin Cheng Yu said he was not robbed.
    Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said the attack was unprovoked.
    "There was no warning, no explanation," Thomason said. "The father did not walk up in a threatening manner. He just wanted to know what happened. Any father would want to do that."
    It was not the first time the family fell victim to crime. In January, Tian Sheng Yu's wife was robbed on Third Street in San Francisco, her son said.
    The family emigrated from Beijing in 1998. Tian Sheng Yu started a painting and remodeling business. His only child graduated from UC Davis with a degree in biochemistry and had plans to go back to school. 
    "Now I don't know what I'm going to do," said Jin Cheng Yu, who lives with his parents in a modest house on a dead-end street with sweeping views of the East Bay. "I have to get a job and support my family. I can never forgive myself for what happened."
    Dellums issued a statement Friday, condemning the assault.
    "The brutal and random attack this afternoon in broad daylight on two innocent men was senseless and outrageous," Dellums said. "Our hearts and prayers are with the father, now on life support, and his loved ones who are also suffering."
    The mayor said police have stepped up patrols in the uptown and downtown business districts, and "they will pursue every lead until those responsible for this violence are apprehended."
    Police released surveillance video and still images of the suspects and asked for the public's help in identifying them.
    Thomason described the first assailant as a black male teenager with a medium to dark complexion, short hair, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 120-130 pounds and wearing a black "Raiders-like jacket." He described the second suspect as black male 17 to 20 years old with a medium to dark complexion, short hair, 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 150-160 pounds and wearing a maroon shirt.    
    The assault occurred on an open stretch of sidewalk next to the Fox Theater, beneath a towering palm tree. The 1800 block of Telegraph Avenue is in many ways an up-and-coming neighborhood, area business owners said, with new restaurants and bars opening amid some of the older pawn shops and cash checking storefronts.
    Van Fleet said that in 15 years of running a used book business on the corner of Telegraph and 19th Street, she's never felt unsafe. Sometimes troubled people will walk into her store and yell or make a scene, but she's always been able to handle them.
    A few blocks down the street, Warren Taylor said he wold have moved a long time ago if the neighborhood weren't safe. His psychology office is just a couple of blocks from where the attack took place.
    "It's a good neighborhood," Taylor said. "This was really an unfortunate incident. But it could have happened anywhere."
    John Hopes, a city worker who cleans and sweeps the streets in the neighborhood six days a week, said he's never seen any kind of violence in the area.
    "Further downtown, sure," he said. "But around here it's rare. People come here and do their business and just pass through. Actually, they're really nice to me, always saying hi. It's really sad what happened."
    Oakland homicide investigators were called in to help with the probe because of the severity of the assault, according to Oakland police spokeswoman Holly Joshi. Anyone with information is asked to call (510) 238-3821.  

Police are looking for these two women, who they believe may be the pair who have assaulted older Asian women in at least five incidents. It's believed the women were joined by three men, who are also sought in the attacks.

Police released surveillance video of five possible suspects wanted in connection with bias attacks on Asian women on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

    Police released surveillance video of five possible suspects wanted in connection with bias attacks on Asian women on Manhattan's Lower East Side. 
    There's fear on the Lower East Side as police investigate an apparent series of hate crimes. 
    Five women were attacked, police say, and all the victims are Asian, but that's not the only coincidence. 
    Police say the five assaults on Asian women took place over the last ten days within a nine-block area right near the Williamsburg Bridge. 
    "I'm horrified, scared," neighbor Tiffany Tan said. "As long as you don't go near them, it's okay."
    Police released a videotape showing five people they seek for questioning in connection with the assaults. 
    Police want to question two women captured by the surveillance video because they believe they may be the ones assaulting the victims. Police believe they are part of a gang of five, where the three men in the group watch the females commit the hate crimes.
    The group was captured by surveillance cameras at 1:20 a.m. at the location of the first attack, in the Gompers Houses at 90 Pitt Street. The victim in that first assault on March 31 was a 50-year-old Asian woman. 
    Later the same day, at 9:20 p.m., police say a 60-year-old Asian woman was assaulted at the Baruch Houses, in the back of 577 FDR. 
    According to police, a 71-year-old Asian woman was then assaulted opposite 120 Baruch Drive, also at the Baruch Houses. And so was the next attack, on a 66-year-old Asian woman at 95 Baruch Drive. 
    The last attack, according to police, was on Monday in front of 247 Broadway at 11 p.m. The victim was a 68-year-old Asian woman. 
    "It's weird – this neighborhood is quiet," resident Ai Asa said. "The Hasids, the Spanish, the Asians, the blacks, we all live quietly here. They don't really have a problem." 
    "I'm absolutely horrified," said neighbor Angela Pires. "This is a very mixed neighborhood, we have a lot of ethnicities, it's very quiet." 
    "Why would anyone beat up old, Asian women? It's ridiculous," said neighbor Ayana Carey. 
    Police say the group physically assaults the women, but they don't take any money or property. 
    Because all the victims are Asian, the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force has been called in to investigate.


4/9/10 New York Post: "Alleged Hate Crimes Against Asians: Young suspects are accused of attacking 
elderly Asians in downtown Manhattan."  Watch video
http://www.nypost.com/video?vxSiteId=fe3e21a8-49f1-4cec-9ba5-cfe372fa6572&vxChannel=PostTopFilmStrip&vxClipId=1458_907418&vxBitrate=700

1/8/10 NJ.com: "Three men, suspected of targeting Asian households, indicted for attempted burglary in Watchung and Parsippany,"
by Independent Press 
    Somerville — A Somerset County Grand Jury on Wednesday indicted two men from Queens, New York, and a third from Tampa, Florida, with conspiracy to commit burglary of homes in Parsippany and Watchung (Somerset County). 
    The attempted burglaries were similar in that the targeted homes were owned by people with Asian-sounding last names. 
    The trio, Carlos Gomez-Jansasoy, 35, and Rodrigo Lopez, 27, both of Queens, and Jhon J. Lopez, 29 of Tampa, are also suspected on burglarizing homes in Bridgewater (Somerset County).
    The arrests on December 8, 2009, in Bridgewater, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest, were the direct result of a coordinated investigation between law-enforcement agencies in Somerset and Morris counties of similar previous burglaries in which targeted homes were also owned by people with Asian-sounding surnames. 
    Police said the victims had received calls on their cellular or home telephones from individuals that they did not know on the same day that their respective homes were burglarized and entry into the homes was made in a similar way. 
    Police departments in both Bridgewater and Parsippany-Troy Hills intensified patrols in the areas that were targeted utilizing both marked and unmarked cars. 
    On December 8, 2009, while on patrol in an area of Bridgewater that had been targeted by the burglars, A Bridgewater police officer stopped a white Dodge van with Florida license plates driving through a residential area, investigators said. 
    Police said the van was occupied by Gomez-Jansasoy, Rodrigo Lopez and Jhon J. Lopez. After investigation at the scene, the three men were arrested and charged with offenses including possession of burglary tools and possession of a police scanner to facilitate the commission of a crime. The police scanner contained frequencies from both the Bridgewater and Parsippany-Troy Hills police departments. 
    Detectives from multiple jurisdictions were able to link cellular phones confiscated from the three men that were allegedly used to call a burglary victim shortly before his home was burglarized in Parsippany on December 7, 2009, authorities said. Additionally, on December 8, 2009, police identified that eight residences in Bridgewater and Watchung had been called using the confiscated phones within about 90 minutes preceding seizure of the phones. 
    Further, the location where the three suspects were stopped was within about one half mile of the Bridgewater homes that were called, police said. The Bridgewater and Watchung residences also belonged to individuals with Asian surnames. 
    The Grand Jury indictment included charges of conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of a police scanner to intercept emergency communications. 
    Gomez-Jansasoy and Jhon J. Lopez are currently being held in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail. Rodrigo Lopez was released after posting bail.
    The investigation is continuing.


12/23/2009 Denver Post: "Denver cops give 911-only cellphones to refugees worried about recent attacks,"
by Bruce Finley 
    Recent beatings of South Asian refugees have prompted Denver police to hand out cellphones to newcomers from abroad.
    The hope is that the emergency-only phones, which require no payments, will help refugees reach paramedics and police to prevent future trouble, said Scott Snow, director of the Denver police Victim Assistance Unit.
    "It gives a sense of security," Snow said.
    A dozen refugee victims of recent attacks now carry police-issued phones. Police are talking with a potential corporate partner to supply 50 phones, he said. Ultimately, police aim to give phones to all refugees, along with orientation information and safety tips.
    On Dec. 11, a group of men beat and robbed teenage refugees from Bhutan in east Denver, following them from an RTD bus, according to police.
    Six were beaten, one requiring emergency-room treatment. The attack spread fear among refugees from Bhutan, Burma and elsewhere — who are concentrated in low-rent apartments and have been victims of previous robberies.
    "If they kill me and my son, what will my daughter and wife do?" said Dambar Bhujel, father of an 18-year-old victim, who is now wary of letting his son go to school.
    "At first, I was happy to come to the United States. After one year, I'm feeling very bad and I don't want to stay longer. But we can't go back to Bhutan and we can't go back to Nepal," Bhujel said. "They told us America was secure."
    A police-issued cellphone to call 911 helps — but arresting the attackers would be better, he said.
    The U.S. government granted the refugees special permission to enter the country as protection from persecution in Asia. Violence in Denver "is not what they expected," Snow said.
    Police and social workers launching the cellphone initiative "aren't talking about putting $300 BlackBerrys into the hands of these people, but we want good equipment so people can count on it working," he said. "This is concrete. It gives immediate contact with emergency services. It's one step to building a bridge to a community that is traditionally underserved."
    Police increased surveillance on RTD buses after the Dec. 11 attack, which followed several assaults and robberies reported in May.
This time when police arrived, about 50 refugees approached. Many spoke little English. "Several members of the group had been assaulted by a large group of black males," the report said.
    No arrests have been made. "It's possible it is bias-motivated," police spokesman Lt. Ron Saunier said. Detectives "are still looking at that aspect of it."
    Police also are looking into a possible retaliatory assault, Saunier said.
    Officers recently attended a community meeting in a basement apartment where elders and a social worker expressed worries.
"You have older folks. Usually they don't speak the language. You have younger people. There's a feeling of fear. Uncertainty. 'What do we do?' " Denver District 3 Commander Kris Kroncke said. "Sometimes we've had incidents were people are hesitant to come forward."
    Police previously have issued emergency-only cellphones, giving text and voice access to 911 dispatchers, to help low-income victims of domestic violence.
    These efforts are appreciated, said Paul Stein, director of refugee services in the Colorado Department of Human Services. Federal funding for refugee resettlement is insufficient for safer apartments, Stein said.
    "Affordability drives everything," he said. "The newest to arrive are the most vulnerable. Bullies will target who is available and who is the most vulnerable."



11/16/09 WCIA 3 News: "Threat Shakes Asian Community," 
by Amanda Evans
    University of Illinois (Champaign) - A note was found in a bathroom threatening a mass shooting of Asian students. It said it would happen Monday. It's been a long, frustrating few weeks for the Asian American community. The note was found here at Everitt lab. It's a place a lot of students spend time and they met to talk about the threat tonight. Students from all different communities throughout campus talked about their fears and how the racially charged threat has affected them. 
    The U of I police department was also there. Officers were on high alert today. Student and staff say it felt better to come together and talk about this threat peacefully and brain storm about solutions.
    "It's good that at a place like the u of i we always have these types of meetings and kinda talk through it together work through it as a community," said senior student Nathan Cheng. "This one is particularly disturbing because of the violent threat," said David Chih, Director of the Asian American Cultral Center. 
    The FBI is investigating. There are no suspects.


11/13/09 Washington Post: "Fairfax police charge 3 in probe of gold thefts: Wave of burglaries may have hit 26 homes of local South Asians,"
By Tom Jackman
    Fairfax County police said Thursday that they have cracked a ring of burglars who were stealing only gold from South Asian homeowners, after they arrested two men and a woman from the New York City area in Centreville. 
    Police suspect the burglars hit 26 homes in Fairfax and three more in Loudoun County since January. Each time, the invaders disdained silver, gems and electronics, taking only gold jewelry, saris with gold threads and gold statues. 
    The victims were almost all South Asian and have said that their families traditionally pass 22-karat gold from generation to generation. Police said they believe gold was being stolen because it is selling at more than $1,000 an ounce. But they don't know how or why certain houses, mostly in the Fair Oaks, Reston and Centreville areas of western Fairfax, were targeted. 
    Despite the arrests, police did not recover any stolen property or personal documents, such as passports and green cards, that also were taken. They said the investigation has a long way to go. 
    "We don't know how extensive this may be or if we're looking for anybody else," Fairfax police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said. "We're looking into whether more people were involved, why they came down here [from New York]. We've got a lot of investigating to do." 
    After their arrests Tuesday, the three suspects were charged with burglarizing four homes in the Fair Oaks area: on Highland Oaks Drive, Timber Oak Trail, Poplar Valley Court and Lady Somerset Lane. The defendants -- Francisco Gray, 39, of Nassau County and Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez, 27, and his wife, Melinda Soto, 33, both of Queens -- were charged with four counts of burglary, four counts of grand larceny and one count of conspiracy to commit burglary. They were being held Thursday without bond in the Fairfax jail. 
    The burglaries generated intense concern in the South Asian community, and three town hall-style meetings were held, first with elected officials and then, last month, with Fairfax Police Chief David M. Rohrer. Residents were pleased by the arrests. 
    "The community is excited," said Raman Kumar, whose home in Centreville was burglarized. "They are also thankful for the awareness the media put on this," because neighbors who learned of the burglaries might have provided information that led to the arrests. 
    A search warrant filed Thursday in Fairfax Circuit Court revealed that witnesses helped police identify two possible suspects: a Hispanic man in a blue jumpsuit or work uniform, appearing to be a maintenance or repair worker, and a Hispanic woman with pink- or red-tinted hair who knocked on doors soliciting plumbing work. 
    Some witnesses also told police that they had seen a small, blue sport-utility vehicle, possibly a Ford, parked in the neighborhoods where some of the break-ins occurred. The thefts often occurred during the day. 
    Police assembled a task force that included burglary detectives, bike patrol officers, intelligence officers and federal marshals, and the group's urgency intensified after a streak of six break-ins in two days last month.
    About 30 task force members were on surveillance Tuesday when the break came, Jennings said. 
According to an affidavit filed by Fairfax police Detective T.J. Harrington, Deputy U.S. Marshal Edgar Cline was working on the investigation and spotted a blue Ford Escape about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on Cavalier Woods Lane, just south of Lee Highway. The SUV was being driven by a Hispanic male, and a Hispanic female was in the passenger seat, Harrington wrote. Cline began pursuing it. 
    The Escape made several U-turns, apparently trying to evade Cline, according to Harrington, but the marshal pulled the Escape over on Moore Road near Clifton Road. The woman in the front seat had red coloring in her hair, and the driver was wearing a dark blue work uniform, Harrington wrote. Another man was in the back. 
    According to the affidavit, police also found a laptop computer in the woman's lap; a portable Global Positioning System device between the SUV's front seats; a black plastic clipboard with a contractors' invoice on it; and a portable police scanner, tuned to Fairfax police frequencies, in the back seat. The Escape was rented in New York but had Virginia tags, Jennings said. 
    Jennings declined to say how investigators linked the suspects to the four Fair Oaks burglaries. She said police hoped the search of seized items such as the laptop computer would lead them to more property or more suspects


10/29/09 Philadelphia Inquirer: “Teen given up to 25 years for killing of elderly walker,”
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
    An Oxford Circle teenager was sentenced this morning to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison for jumping and killing an elderly man who was taking his daily post-dinner walk.
    Marcquis Walker-Williams, 19, received the sentence from Common Pleas Court Judge Shelley Robins New for his Aug. 28 third-degree murder conviction in the death of 69-year-old Kwok Wai-Ho.
    Walker-Williams testified in his own defense during the trial, calling his actions dumb but saying he never intended to rob or kill Ho.
    This morning he repeated that assertion in a rambling 10-minute speech to the judge and Ho's family in the courtroom.
    "We're Christians and our God asks us to forgive," Walker-Williams said, turning to the Ho family. "I'm asking you to forgive me."
    Walker-Williams added that he could tell that the Ho family did not believe he was sorry, adding, "I am sorry for what happened. I'm nervous, I'm scared, I'm lost, because I don't know what may happen to me."
    Ho's son, Thomas Ho, described his father's journey as a penniless immigrant from China who built up a lunch-truck business catering to workers at the Food Distribution Center in South Philadelphia. He said his father was not just their family's foundation but a force for good in the city's Chinese-American community.
    "These senseless acts of violence have to stop," Ho told the judge. "They have affected so many families and communities. It can easily happen to you and me as soon as we step out into the street."
    According to trial testimony, Walker-Williams was among a 
group of teens walking on Greeby Street near Loretto Avenue on July 10, 2007 when he spotted Ho. As the group passed Ho, Walker-Williams suggested to his friends that they "catch a body" - jump someone, throw a punch and run.
    Walker-Williams said he ran up behind Ho, wrapped his arm around Ho's shoulders, below his neck, and pulled him back so Ho could not defend himself.
    At that point, two neighbors began yelling at Walker-Williams to stop and he released his hold and ran. Ho hit the concrete, struck his head on a curb and sustained a mortal injury.
    Ho died a week later after his family decided to take him off life support.


http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/10/traffic-agent-confrontation-caught-on.html 10/26/09 angryasianman.com: “Traffic agent confrontation caught on camera,”
    This confrontation, between a NYPD traffic agent and a car owner in New York's Chinatown, was caught camera earlier this month. According to witnesses, the agent allegedly struck, cursed at, and made racist comments against Qiang Nian Zhu, who says he was just trying to explain that he was parked legally.  However, it was Zhu who ended up behind bars: Traffic Agent 
    Confrontation in Chinatown.
    Security camera video shows the traffic agent charging at a woman in who complained the  agent was not being fair about a parking ticket. The agent, Twana Chapman, was surrounded by other traffic agents and then cursed at all the people around her, according to witnesses
    She told them " 'You f------ Chinese, go back where you came from. All of you f------ Chinese,' " according to one witness.
    Mr. Zhu says on October 8 around 3:15 PM on Lafayette Street in Manhattan, NYPD traffic agent Chapman began the process of ticketing Zhu's parked car. He says he told her he still had one minute left on his NYC parking receipt, displayed on his car's dashboard. He also told Chapman that his wife was buying another ticket at that moment at the Munimeter.
    Zhu says that the agent told him she would ticket him anyway.
    The video shows Mr. Zhu putting his hand over the registration sticker on his windshield so it cannot be scanned for a ticket. Then Traffic Agent Chapman appears to hit him and is pulled back by another traffic agent.
    Mr. Zhu, a burly man, blocks then puts his hands back into his sweatshirt so he could not, he says, be accused of striking the smaller Ms. Chapman. Several people witnessed the attack and say the agent clearly struck Mr. Zhu.
    Chapman called for police officers, who arrested Zhu and charged him with obstruction of governmental administration and harassment. After spending 9 hours in jail, Zhu, who has no record, got a lawyer for this criminal case which could send him to jail for a year.
    Ironically, Zhu didn't even receive the parking ticket that started the whole thing.


10/14/09 Boston Herald: "Four thugs charged in brutal banker beat down,"
By Marie Szaniszlo
    Three reputed gangbangers were held on $50,000 bail yesterday after they were accused of nearly stomping a State Street banker to death because he refused to pay for their Chinatown dinner.
    John Benoit and Jumoke Marshall, both 22, of Roxbury, and Eric Wallace, 19, of Everett pleaded not guilty to the Mother’s Day beating that left Joe Yoon Kang, 28, in the hospital for a month, permanently brain damaged, prosecutors said.
    A fourth suspect, Fianfranko Dy, now 16, was arraigned in juvenile court on related assault charges and released to his parents. He is due back in court Dec. 1.
    Kang and an unidentified friend went to the New Golden Gate Restaurant in Chinatown shortly before 2:30 a.m. on May 10 and were seated next to six other young men they had never met, authorities said.
    The victim and his friend stepped outside to smoke, Assistant District Attorney John Lacey said, and when they returned the suspects demanded they pick up their bill.
    The victim and his friend refused and left, Lacey said, but the group followed them to Tremont Street in the Theatre District and surrounded them.
    Dy then allegedly ran up to Kang, yelling the name of their gang, “Skeet Skeet,” and sucker-punched him, knocking him unconscious, according to court records.
    Benoit stomped on the victim’s head about seven times with his Timberland boots, Lacey said. Wallace kicked him several times, the prosecutor added, and another member of the group kicked Kang once in the midsection and stole his wallet at the direction of Benoit and Marshall.
    The attack left Kang with seven skull fractures, two broken eye sockets, bruised ribs, a broken nose, memory loss, headaches, mood swings and a permanent loss of smell and taste, according to court records. He is unable to work or care for himself and has moved out of state to live with relatives, records say. His friend escaped, uninjured.



10/13/09 Boston Globe: “Man’s severe beating leads to four arrests,”
by Hannah McBride
    Four people have been arrested in connection with the brutal beating a South End man on Mother’s Day that left him with brain damage.
    Roxbury residents John Benoit and Jumoke Marshall, both 22, were arrested over the weekend, according to a joint statement from Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.
    Police also arrested Everett resident Eric Wallace, 19, and a 16-year-old from Roxbury who will be charged as a juvenile because he was 15 at the time of the attack, said Conley spokesman Jake Wark.
    The men are all charged with mayhem, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and unarmed robbery.
    Police said the four were eating at the New Golden Gate restaurant on Beach Street in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood with the 29-year-old victim and his friend at 2:20 a.m. on May 10.
    The victim and his friend stepped out to smoke cigarettes before the group ordered. The other four ate most of the food before demanding money for the check from the victim and his friend, according to reports.
    The victim, who police would not name, allegedly refused and left the restaurant with his friend.
    The four followed the victim and his friend outside to demand money a second time. Both refused again. The four then converged on them in front of a closed lounge at 265 Tremont St., intending to rob them, according to police reports.
    One or more of the attackers stomped on the victim’s head a half-dozen times, fracturing his skull and cracking his eye sockets before stealing his wallet, the statement from Davis and Conley said. Police said the victim’s friend fled the scene and they are looking for him to interview.
    The victim was left with bruising and swelling to his brain, memory loss, and permanent cognitive damage. He has moved out of state and is living with relatives, Wark said. He did not know the extent of the victim’s recovery at this time.
    “Aside from the sheer brutality of the attack, what’s disturbing here is that, as far as we know, the suspects and victim had no connection prior to these events,’’ Conley said in a statement.
    The four defendants will be appointed lawyers in Boston Municipal Court today, Wark said. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. 

8/2/09 Boston Globe: "Deliveryman dies after robbery: A life of work ends in Lawrence,"
By John M. Guilfoil
    Thu Nguyen had endured a Vietnamese prison, a refugee camp, and cancer, and after years of working two jobs to support his family, he was preparing to retire in a couple of years.
    Last Thursday, the 59-year-old Methuen resident was delivering food from a restaurant in Lawrence when he responded to a phony order. He was robbed of the food and found unconscious with a fractured skull. He died the following day.
    Yesterday, his son recounted Nguyen’s life - a story that includes both an immigrant’s tale and a history lesson.
    Phu Nguyen, 24, a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst , described a life that consisted almost entirely of work. Thu Nguyen worked to get to this country. He worked to pay for his family to come here. He worked to put two children through college. He worked to buy a house that he was rarely home to enjoy.
    Nguyen was a lieutenant in the South Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War, his son said, serving under his father, who was a colonel. Nguyen met his wife in Ca Mao, on the southern tip of the peninsula.
    After the war, the North Vietnamese Army swept through the area, Phu Nguyen said; his father was detained and spent eight years in a prison camp.
    Thu Nguyen went to the Philippines after his release and spent several years in a refugee camp before the United States accepted him for immigration.
    He came to this country in 1986 and worked various jobs, eventually finding permanent work in the shipping department of New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. in 1991.
    He learned English, worked days at New Balance, and delivered Chinese food at night.
    About a decade ago, Nguyen was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery and recovered, his son said.
    Age and illness were catching up with him, however. While still working his day job, he had cut back on his nightly deliveries, coming in to help the Evergreen Chinese Restaurant when it was busy and when he was able. He planned to retire from New Balance within the next two years and return to a more peaceful Vietnam , his son said.
    But he was working last Thursday night.
    A city employee found Nguyen lying on the sidewalk of an Osgood Street housing complex around 8 p.m. The food he was delivering was gone, but his car, wallet, cash, and other food orders remained.
    Nguyen was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and later to Tufts Medical Center , where he died Friday of complications from a fractured skull.
    Police Chief John J. Romero said police did not know how Nguyen had been injured, whether he was struck or fell.
    The robbery appeared to be part of a disturbing trend, Romero said. More than a half-dozen times this year, someone has ordered food using a random address and a prepaid cellphone.
    The thief or thieves lie in waiting for the deliveryman to arrive. When he does, they attack him and take the food.
    No witnesses have come forward, he said, but police are following promising leads.
    “We expect to find the person or persons responsible,’’ he said.
    Romero said the death was senseless.
    “This is a case of a guy who’s just out there to make money and bring it home to his family,’’ Romero said by phone yesterday. “It’s tragic, just tragic.’’
    “It’s an injustice,’’ Phu Nguyen said. “He worked all his life, and he really had no chance to actually enjoy the fruits of his labor. He worked so hard to save every penny, dime. This is so cruel.’’

7/4/09 www.sandiego6.com: "Serial Rape Suspect Dead in Jail; Victim Describes Her Attack
by Jeff Powers 
    San Diego - A Tierrasanta man accused of seven sexual assaults on women in San Diego over the past year died by hanging Friday in his cell at the San Diego Central Jail in an apparent suicide, according to the Medical Examiner's Office and sheriff's officials. 
    The body of Thomas James Parker, 39, was found hanging from a sheet around 7 a.m. by deputies conducting a security check, according to the coroner. 
    Deputies, the jail's medical staff, firefighters and paramedics attempted lifesaving measures, but he was soon pronounced dead, said San Diego sheriff's Sgt. Roy Frank.
    Parker was not on suicide watch, said sheriff's Lt. Julie Sutton.
    On Wednesday, Parker, was shackled, handcuffed and taken into police custody after trying to attack a Mission Valley woman in the garage of her home. But the 33-year-old woman -- an avid marathon runner -- fought back and chased Parker as he attempted to flee.
    Parker was captured by police at a shopping center a few blocks away with help from passersbys, including two off-duty Border Patrol agents.
    The Tierrasanta man faced many serious charges related to a string of attacks over the past year. The method of attack was usually the same. The suspect went in through the victim's garage door, threatened a female victim with a knife, demanded money, and tried to sexually attack the woman.
    "Mr. Parker -- unless he has an identical twin -- is, in fact, the source of the DNA found in these cases," stated Mike Grubb, the San Diego Police Crime Lab Manager.
    On Thursday, detectives say they compared DNA samples in three of the seven cases and it matches.
    "The biological material from the assailant was either left on the victim herself on her clothing items," explained Grubb.
    Captain Jim Collins with San Diego Police said there was another aspect of the attacks that was similar. "The suspect in all the cases was using cable ties or zip ties to restrain his victims and that's one of the factors that tied the cases together."
    The 39-year old Tierrasanta father of two was to have been charged in relation to all seven cases.
    Parker was the co-owner of "It's a Grind" Coffeehouse in Little Italy.
    Police say there might be other victims, and police are asking them to come forward.
    The prior assaults occurred in Carmel Valley, Tierrasanta, the College area and near UC San Diego, as well as Mission Valley. 
    Most of the victims were young Asian women, and in all of the attacks, the assailant demanded money before sexually assaulting the women, police said.
    Getting the man responsible has been a high priority for the San Diego Police Department. 
    "Our efforts paid off yesterday when (the) victim decided she was going to fight back against her attacker," said SDPD Capt. Jim Collins. 
    Parker was scheduled to be arraigned Monday. 
    Christina Hennigan takes us through the frightening moments just after she pulled into her garage and was confronted by accused serial rapist Thomas Parker.
    Neighbors Shocked
    Parker's Tierrasanta neighbors are in disbelief. They say Parker -- known to his friends and family as Jim -- is thought of as a good, God-fearing, loving husband and father of two children. 
    Neighbors we talked to say they were in total shock. Sandra Drahman has called Parker her next door neighbor for many years. "I see him in the yard. We talk about kids and politics and things like that, and he just seems like a regular guy."
    Joanne West also calls Parker her next door neighbor. "It's a bit alarming. You know if the allegations are true, it would be kind of scary to have somebody living next door who has done these things." 
    They describe Parker as the loving father of a five-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl.
    Neighbors also tell us that Parker owns the "It's A Grind" coffee house in Little Italy. On a night when the area is bustling with activity, the coffee shop is shutdown. Inside, undercover detectives could be seen gathering evidence.
    A customer named Patti frequents the coffee house. She, like many, can't believe the accusations. "The coffeehouse is a nice place to come to, and I am not going to think personally about the entire business, because of this one particular person."
    Earlier Reports
    Earlier Assaults
    A serial rapist has attacked at least six Asian women in home invasion robberies and sexual assaults in San Diego, dating back to last June.
    In April of this year, a young woman was attacked in the 6500 block of Reflection Drive near Mission Valley in the Tierrasanta area. The victim had her young child with her. 
    The woman had just returned home and taken her 18-month-old child inside the family's apartment before going back to her vehicle for other items when a man grabbed her from behind as she re-entered her home, Collins said. 
    He demanded cash at knifepoint, then sexually assaulted her before fleeing, according to Collins, who said the child was not hurt. 
    "I'm Asian myself," says Alice Blasser, who lives in the same neighborhood where the most recent attack occurred. "So it makes me, kind of like, scared."
    The suspect is described as being white or Hispanic, around 30 years old and 5 feet 6 inches with a medium build. 
    In each case, the suspect got in through an open garage or front door, generally while the victim was carrying items into the home. All of the victims have been Asian women between the ages of 20 and 48, Collins said. 
    The first case occurred June 6 in the 6500 block of Montezuma Road, near San Diego State. Other assaults occurred Nov. 7 in the UC San Diego Mesa Housing area in the 9200 block of Regents Road; Jan. 16 at a house in the 5100 block of Camino Playa De Oro in Tierrasanta; Feb. 10 in the 10500 block of Whispering Hills Lane; and March 4 in the 3700 block of Carmel View Road.



6/10/09 New York Post: "Two Teens Targeting Asians Arraigned for Murder,"
by Kirsten Fleming, Philip Messing and Andy Geller
    Two Asian-hating teen pals, one the stepson of a cop, have been busted for robbing and brutally beating and strangling a Chinese newspaper executive, police said today.
    Corey Azor, 16, of Queens, and Chris Levy, 17, of Harlem - who targeted other Asians before - were arrested in with the murder of David Kao, 49, whose body was found Saturday in Flushing.
    After the slaying, they said they went joy riding in Kao's car for two days.
    Kao, who lived in Elmhurst , was a marketing executive at World Journal, the largest Chinese-language daily newspaper in the U.S.
    His 21-year-old daughter attends college in Taiwan .
    "He's a humble guy who brings happiness too everybody," coworker James Yam said of Kao.
    The teens, who met in junior high school, were charged with second-degree murder, first- and second-degree robbery, and criminal possession of stolen property.
    They face 25 years to life if convicted.
    They are expected to be charged with using similar tactics to rob another Asian man last month.
    Friends said Kao had eaten at a Korean restaurant with a friend Friday evening.
    He was dozing in the driver's seat of his sister's 2000 Lexus SUV, which was double-parked in front of his ex-wife's Flushing home when the thugs spotted him at 1 a.m. Saturday, police said.
    Azor - whose stepfather is assigned to NYPD's automotive unit - and Levy broke into the car and put Kao into a choke hold and then dragged him into the back seat.
    "I continued to hold him in the headlock and punch him in the face and then he stopped moving," court papers quote Levy as telling detectives.
    The deadly duo callously dumped his body on the street, emptied his wallet of cash and spent the next two days joy riding with a gaggle of teen friends, prosecutors said.
    They were busted on Monday.
    Yam said coworkers tried to call Kao on his cell phone Saturday after he didn't show up to play badminton. After that, they called cops.
    Cops said Azor later confessed that that he, Levy and 17-year-old Keron Wilthshire robbed Jin Tong Yuan of $60 and his cell phone on May 27.
    They followed the victim into the elevator of a Flushing building and when he tried to run, Wiltshire put him in a headlock and Levy held a silver pistol up Yuan's head, police said.
    Wiltshire later claimed it was toy gun.
    The robbery was captured on a surveillance camera and the images used to track down the suspects, police said.
    Azor, a student at Flushing HS, and Levy, a tenth grader at Robert Kennedy HS, were held without bail in Kao's brutal murder.
    Wilthshire, who attends Bryant has a prior assault arrest on his rap sheet, was held on $75,000 bail in the Yuan robbery, for which he was charged with first- and second-degree robbery and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
    Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called Kao's slaying a "senseless and brutal crime" that shows "complete disregard for human life."


5/1/09 2009 Boulder Daily Camera: “ Boulder police: Teens threatened to rape girl because she's Asian,”
by Vanessa Miller
    Boulder, Colo. — Two Boulder middle school students have been arrested on suspicion of harassment and a bias-motivated crime after police said they called a 12-year-old girl and threatened to rape and kill her because she's an Asian-American, according to Boulder police.
    The 13-year-old boys — and a 10-year-old boy, who can't be charged because of his age — are suspected of calling the girl's cell phone at 9 p.m. Monday and using explicit and violent language to describe raping her, said police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
    The girl hung up, Huntley said, and they called back and left two messages telling her that she would die because of what they were going to do to her.
    "The girl answered the first call, but her parents intercepted the other messages," Huntley said. "They didn't pick up the phone, but they listened to the messages and shielded their daughter from hearing them."
    The messages included details about damaging the girl's female organs, Huntley said.
    "In the messages, they indicated that they wanted to have sex with her because she was Asian," Huntley said. "That is the basis for charging them with a bias-motivated crime."
    The girl's parents reported the incident to police the next day, Huntley said, and the suspects' parents brought them to Boulder County 's juvenile detention center Thursday. It's unclear whether the teenagers have been released on bond to their parents or whether they're still at the center.
    When contacted about the suspected phone calls, Huntley said, the teenagers' parents said they knew "something was going on" because they had been contacted by the parent of another child about a sexually-explicit phone call. Huntley said it's unclear if that other child knew about the one victim or if another person had been called.
    Huntley said police can't pursue criminal charges against a third suspect because he's 10, and a person must be older than 10 to face criminal charges.
    Police aren't releasing the name of the middle school in Boulder that the students attend because that might help to identify them, Huntley said. Investigators have been working with the Boulder Valley School District , which can take its own disciplinary action.
    "I think one of the hopes in filing criminal charges is that if these boys can get support services, the courts can offer that," Huntley said.
    Boulder Valley spokesman Briggs Gamblin said he can't comment about the investigation or the school's response, except to say, "We are a district that does not tolerate ethnic or racial intimidation of any kind."

 
2/13/09 Kingston Ontario Whig Standard: "Police call attack hate crime: Three charged after Asian man assaulted,"
    Three people, including a 17-year old girl, are charged in a violent assault that Kingston Police say was a hate crime. 
    Police say a 20-year-old Asian man was walking home from the Shoppers Drug Mart at Princess and Division streets at 11:30 p. m. Monday when he was chased down by two women and a man. 
The group had just been ejected from the Brass Pub where they had been drinking. 
    "They started making racial comments, telling him to get out of the country," said Staff Sgt. Dan Mastin. 
    The victim continued walking toward Colborne and Chapman streets and the trio followed. 
    One of the two women walked up to the victim and began hitting him in the head and face with her purse. 
    The male attacker punched the man in the head and face at least five times. 
    When he stopped, the young woman approached the victim. 
    "She said, 'Don't mind her,' and then she punched him in the face," Mastin said. 
    A passerby who saw the attack tried to intervene but was met with verbal, racial abuse. Mastin said the three assailants called the man "the N word," although he is not black. They also told him to get out of the country. 
    The passerby was not assaulted. Police were called and officers arrived quickly and arrested the three attackers. 
    Mastin said the victim had a bloodied face but was not seriously injured. He did not require medical treatment. 
    "He was very frightened," Mastin said. 
    Aaron Richards, 19, of Kingston , is charged with assault and breach of recognizance. 
    Amanda Garlick, 20, of Kingston , is charged with assault and two counts of breach of probation. 
    A 17-year-old Kingston girl who cannot be named is charged with assault and two counts of breach of probation. 
    Police classified the incident as a hate crime, Mastin said. 
    Under provisions in the Criminal Code, a person convicted of a crime in which there is "evidence that the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor," could face a stiffer penalty than a person convicted of an assault without such elements present. 
    There are specific "hate crimes" in criminal law, but they deal with a person who advocates or promotes genocide or who makes public statements that incite hatred toward an identifiable group. 
    A mischief-related hate crime also was added to Canada 's law that governs vandalism at places of worship. 
    A Statistics Canada study released last year shows that Kingston had the second- highest rate of hate crimes among Canada 's largest urban areas in 2006. 
    There were 8.5 hate crimes per 100,000 people, the study found. 
Kingston Police have said the numbers are misleading because the department is aggressive about classifying incidents as hate crimes while many other police departments are not. 
    Agencies that work with immigrants to the Kingston area say discrimination and exclusion are common in Kingston , but overt hate crimes are rarely reported. 
    A 2004 study by Statistics Canada concluded that six out of 10 hate crimes are never reported to police. 
    Youth aged 12 to 17 are the most frequent perpetrators of hate crimes.

1/16/09 Philadelphia Inquirer: “Police ask Asian Americans for help,”
by Joelle Farrell
    Since at least November, police have investigated 15 cases in which organized criminals targeted Asian American business owners in the Philadelphia area, often following them home and robbing them at gunpoint.
    Yesterday, law enforcement officials urged Asian Americans to call 911 if they fear they are being followed, and to report crimes to the police. Police also asked community organizers to spread the word that authorities will not try to have a crime victim deported.
    "We're not about going after illegal immigrants. We're not about going after illegal cash funds," State Police Capt. David Young said. "I'm trying to save lives. . . . I'm asking the community to trust us."
    Area law enforcement agencies and the FBI held a meeting at the Marple campus of Delaware County Community College , where they gave details on the attacks on Asian Americans and offered tips on how people can protect themselves.
    About two dozen people, mostly Asian Americans involved with community outreach groups in Philadelphia and surrounding counties, attended the meeting. Those interviewed said there was fear among Asian American business owners, some of whom are asking how to obtain gun permits.
    "You don't think people are going to follow you to your house, but that's what people are doing here," said Douglas Rhee, a pharmacist who also chairs a Korean American group that has advised Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.
    "Are they easy targets?" asked Rahat N. Babar, a lawyer who is part of the community-outreach committee of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania. "These are some of the questions we now are grappling with."
    Police say some suspects believe Asian American business owners carry large sums of money or stash cash in their homes because they don't use banks, an assertion some of the community coordinators say is false.
    But perception is reality for a thief, Young said.
    "Whether that's true or not, it doesn't matter," he said. "It's what the criminal element believes. It's what they're acting on."
    Most of the targeted robberies occurred in Southwest Philadelphia, but at least five have been reported in Delaware County . Last week in Montgomery County , Robert Chae, 58, a well-known Korean American businessman, was killed at his Montgomery Township home when three men met him in his driveway and stabbed him.
    Most of the crimes have occurred Wednesday through Saturday between 6 p.m. and midnight, with a few taking place between 1 and 3 a.m., Young said.
    The perpetrators often followed the victims to learn their patterns, sometimes even calling their businesses to find out when they close.
    "They're choosing their victims, then they're watching their business, they're watching your activities, they're watching your house," Young said. "We can lock up for stalking if we get the proper information. Now, it's going to take a phone call."
    Police have charged eight men with 12 of the crimes. The murder of Chae remains under investigation, as do home invasions in Marple and Collingdale.
    The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the cases and might bring federal charges, including charges under hate-crime statutes, against some of the men, Green said.


2/13/09 Kingston Ontario Whig Standard: "Police call attack hate crime: Three charged after Asian man assaulted,"
    Three people, including a 17-year old girl, are charged in a violent assault that Kingston Police say was a hate crime. 
    Police say a 20-year-old Asian man was walking home from the Shoppers Drug Mart at Princess and Division streets at 11:30 p. m. Monday when he was chased down by two women and a man. 
The group had just been ejected from the Brass Pub where they had been drinking. 
    "They started making racial comments, telling him to get out of the country," said Staff Sgt. Dan Mastin. 
    The victim continued walking toward Colborne and Chapman streets and the trio followed. 
    One of the two women walked up to the victim and began hitting him in the head and face with her purse. 
    The male attacker punched the man in the head and face at least five times. 
    When he stopped, the young woman approached the victim. 
    "She said, 'Don't mind her,' and then she punched him in the face," Mastin said. 
    A passerby who saw the attack tried to intervene but was met with verbal, racial abuse. Mastin said the three assailants called the man "the N word," although he is not black. They also told him to get out of the country. 
    The passerby was not assaulted. Police were called and officers arrived quickly and arrested the three attackers. 
    Mastin said the victim had a bloodied face but was not seriously injured. He did not require medical treatment. 
    "He was very frightened," Mastin said. 
    Aaron Richards, 19, of Kingston, is charged with assault and breach of recognizance. 
    Amanda Garlick, 20, of Kingston, is charged with assault and two counts of breach of probation. 
    A 17-year-old Kingston girl who cannot be named is charged with assault and two counts of breach of probation. 
    Police classified the incident as a hate crime, Mastin said. 
    Under provisions in the Criminal Code, a person convicted of a crime in which there is "evidence that the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor," could face a stiffer penalty than a person convicted of an assault without such elements present. 
    There are specific "hate crimes" in criminal law, but they deal with a person who advocates or promotes genocide or who makes public statements that incite hatred toward an identifiable group. 
    A mischief-related hate crime also was added to Canada's law that governs vandalism at places of worship. 
    A Statistics Canada study released last year shows that Kingston had the second- highest rate of hate crimes among Canada's largest urban areas in 2006. 
    There were 8.5 hate crimes per 100,000 people, the study found. Kingston Police have said the numbers are misleading because the department is aggressive about classifying incidents as hate crimes while many other police departments are not. 
    Agencies that work with immigrants to the Kingston area say discrimination and exclusion are common in Kingston, but overt hate crimes are rarely reported. 
    A 2004 study by Statistics Canada concluded that six out of 10 hate crimes are never reported to police. 
    Youth aged 12 to 17 are the most frequent perpetrators of hate crimes. 


1/17/09 New America Media: “Violence, Foreclosures Define Cambodian Community 20 Years After School Shooting,”
By Eric Tang
    Editor’s Note: Twenty years after a gunman opened fire on a schoolyard of mostly Southeast Asian children in Stockton , Calif., the Cambodian American community tries to heal from that violence, and the larger issues affecting refugees to America.  Eric Tang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Illinois. His forthcoming book is titled 'Unsettled: America’s Refugees and the Struggle for a Just Resettlement.'
    Stockton, Calif. -- “Going back to teach at the school was my way to letting go of it all,” said Rann Chun, a third-grade teacher at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton , Calif.
    Exactly 20 years ago, on January 17, 1989, Chun was a nine-year-old student at Cleveland when a lone gunman opened fire on the schoolyard, killing five and injuring 30 before taking his own life. Chun’s six-year-old sister, Ram Chun, was among those killed.
    Before Columbine or Virginia Tech—indeed before “school shooting” became familiar phraseology in American culture—there was the Stockton schoolyard incident.
    Few outside of Northern California recall this tragedy in which 24-year-old gunman Edward Patrick Purdy emptied 105 shots from an AK-47 assault rifle into a schoolyard of approximately 450 schoolchildren. Fewer still recall that at the time of the shooting, Southeast Asian refugee children comprised 70 percent of Cleveland’s student body. Among the five fatalities, four were Cambodian Americans—including Ram Chun—and one was a Vietnamese American. Their ages ranged from 6 to 9 years old. The
families of these children had recently resettled in Stockton in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia.
    Twenty years ago, the tragedy brought forth divergent – if not competing – analyses and lessons. Racial justice advocates demanded that the attorney general consider the incident a hate crime. Others took the occasion to call for stronger gun control laws. But for the mostly Cambodian-American survivors, there was another lesson gleaned: The struggle for peace and survival does not end with resettlement in the United States .
    According to Stockton community leader Sovanna Koeurt, those who lost their children had to “either let go and build something new and for the better or they didn’t survive.”
    Chun’s father found this impossible to do. Though he had had lost loved ones to the Khmer Rouge, he could not pull himself together after the killing of his youngest daughter.
    “He didn’t survive,” Chun said. Within 10 years of the shooting, the father passed away, succumbing to deep depression and heavy drinking.
    Three years ago, Chun returned to Cleveland Elementary to become a first-grade teacher—incidentally, this was the grade his sister was in during the time of the shooting. He now teaches third grade.
    “I went back to be role model for change, for a new beginning,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave it behind as a place where my life changed for the worse, but for the better.”
    According to Koeurt, Chun’s story exemplifies not only triumph over tragedy, but also the way in which a young man can beat the odds in a community plagued by poverty and gang violence.
    “Resettlement to America was just another verse, another phase, in our story of refugee survival,” said Koueurt, who is the founding director of APSARA, a social service agency and community development corporation created in the wake of the shooting. She is referring to how life in the United States presented a new set of hardships and tragedies, and how refugees had to draw on the skills from their past lives in order to survive. Indeed, the schoolyard shooting has not been the only hurdle to overcome in the past 20 years.
    Long Keo, 27, was among the 30 wounded during the shooting, having sustained a bullet wound to the abdomen. He recalls multiple surgeries throughout his childhood, going in and out of hospitals for years after the incident. And yet, when he looks back on his adolescence, surviving the shooting is not his defining struggle. Instead, he recalls the gang violence that gripped Stockton and nearly took his life on more than one occasion.
    Several years ago, his living room was riddled with bullets from a drive-by shooting. Then, this past summer, his mother learned that the family would be evicted from their home. They were renting from a landlord who was on the brink of foreclosure. When I came to speak with the family about the 20th anniversary of the shooting they, understandably, were more interested in talking about their current housing crisis.
    These smaller tragedies that have dotted the lives of Stockton’s Cambodian Americans perhaps explains why, there is little fanfare surrounding the 20th anniversary of the shooting. This is not to say that community members have become inured to violence and tragedy, but rather that there is a broader context of immigrant and refugee life in which the shooting must be discussed.
    Still, on Friday night the Children’s Museum of Stockton held a small, invitation-only memorial event for the victims and heroes of 20 years ago.  Today, the city’s local paper, The Stockton Record, will run a feature article looking back on the incident. And then there are those, like Chun, who find ways to “honor my sister’s memory everyday.”
    “I could have taught at another school in the district,” said Chun.  “But I chose to be here. Being here helps me let go of the tragedy, but still hold on to her.”


Hate Crimes 2005-2008

Hate Crimes 1999-2004