Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang announces resolution condemning anti-Asian hate

Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang announced in a Tuesday morning news conference she would introduce a resolution to the City Council condemning anti-Asian hate and laying out strategies to keep Asian American and Pacific Islander residents safe.

“I want to affirm to our Asian American community, our businesses, our families, our elders, that you are not alone,” Vang said. “We are not alone, and we are here together to say we will not be targets of any form of hate.”

Joining Vang outside Mad Butcher Meat Company on Florin Perkins Road were Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City Councilmen Eric Guerra and Rick Jennings, Sacramento API Regional Network co-director Lee Lo and Pastor Les Simmons. Vang will introduce the resolution during tonight’s City Council meeting for a vote at next Tuesday’s meeting.

“You attack the Asian Pacific Islander community, you attack all of us,” Steinberg said.

In addition to the resolution, Vang also called for the city to partner with the AAPI community for culturally appropriate data collection, to acknowledge the specific experiences of AAPI residents and how systemic barriers can discourage reporting anti-Asian discrimination and to invest in community-based intervention to keep people safe.

“When you have a society that don’t acknowledge the harm and trauma of Asian American experience, then what ends up happening is that you create a climate that excuses hateful acts,” Vang said.

The proposed resolution is a direct response to the rise in reports of anti-Asian racism and violence across the country, including an incident last Monday when a mutilated cat was left in the parking lot of Mad Butcher Meat Company, owned by a family of Chinese descent. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Mad Butcher Meat Company owner Kelly Shum thanked the community for their support during the news conference. She added she wants to see concrete protections enacted for the AAPI community, not just statements.

“Asian Americans have always been talking about what’s been happening to us. We just needed you to listen,” Shum said during the press conference. “We need our elected officials to listen. We need change. ... We need for it to be different. It shouldn’t have to escalate to this level.”

During the news conference, city leaders underscored their support for the AAPI community and noted the incident outside Mad Butcher Meat Company was not an isolated act. Guerra said businesses on the Little Saigon corridor have struggled for the past year as a result of anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lo also commented during the news conference on the video of a Grant Union High School teacher using slant eyes to depict Chinese and Japanese people. She noted the Twin Rivers Unified School District has not issued an apology nor said the teacher’s actions are a result of the district’s inadequate training.

“What seems like harmless gestures … is an invitation to target and attack Asian Americans without consequences,” said Lo, who graduated from Grant.

“What you are seeing across the country … is not new in our community,” Vang said. “It is a long history of racism, not just against Asian American Pacific Islanders, but also all communities ... This is Sacramento, and we must do better.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 12:05 PM.