Sacramento leaders talk anti-Asian hate solutions + Car rally on Florin: Your AAPI newsletter

It is Thursday, April 1, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.

Here’s a recap of the stories I’ve covered and ones I’m following:

More than 200 Sacramento residents tuned into a town hall with local and state leaders last Thursday to hear what local officials are doing to combat anti-Asian discrimination and hate.

Hosted virtually by OCA Sacramento, speakers included Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang, Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. Open to all AAPI residents, residents asked a wide range of questions such as what specific policies leaders were enacting to address anti-Asian racism and how law enforcement distinguishes between a hate crime and a hate incident.

“We will no longer accept statements. We want accountability and actions to combat anti-Asian hate,” OCA Sacramento President Jinky Dolar said.

Local leaders outlined strategies and legislation in the works such as state Sen. Richard Pan’s SB 17 to declare racism a public health crisis, Assemblyman Rob Bonta’s recent AB 886 to help victims of hate crimes access services and Pan’s push to create a state office for racial equity. Steinberg said he is building a city office that will hire community leaders such as social workers to deescalate non-criminal situations, rather than resort to law enforcement.

Vang also vowed to improve language accessibility in local government, push for more disaggregated data on Sacramento’s AAPI community and create a racial equity initiative that would ensure the city’s budgets center the needs of marginalized communities.

“There have been incidents in this city where Asian lives have not been seen with a sense of urgency,” Vang said. “What I’m asking is making sure we have victim-centered approaches (to policy and change).”

Decked out in colorful balloons, handwritten signs reading “Stop AAPI Hate” and even a few lion dance heads, more than 100 people drove from across the capital region Saturday morning to gather on Florin Road in Sacramento and speak out against anti-Asian racism.

The caravan, organized by Asian Resources Inc. and supported by a wide range of local community organizations, drove in three long parades of cars from ARI headquarters on Elder Creek Road, the Sacramento Chinese IndoChina Friendship Association and Happy Garden on Stockton Boulevard before converging at the Florin Mall. Cars were covered in handmade posters, signs and slogans written in grease marker like “I am an American” and “Asians aren’t a virus. Racism is.”

Sacramento leaders like Mayor Darrell Steinberg, County Supervisor Patrick Kennedy and City Council members Eric Guerra and Mai Vang spoke out against the rise in violence from a makeshift stage on the back of a pickup truck.

Allen Duong, an acupuncturist from Elk Grove, pulled up to the rally with lawn chairs and boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts with his family of six.

After the shootings in Atlanta and the steady yearlong rise of violence against Asian Americans, he and his family felt it was time for them to express their anger and frustration and show up for their community. Before this year, they had never taken part in a political rally, they said; this month, they’ve joined three.

“We were a little nervous (at our first rally). We’re not activists, we’re not politicians ... but being a little nervous beats going to a funeral,” Duong said. “We’re here for those who are afraid, our elders.”

In other news

• Man yelled racist threat at Asian American woman, Woodland police say (KCRA)
• S.F. Chinatown patrols met with hope, ambivalence amid attacks, bigotry against Asians (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Asian-owned businesses in Calif., including Bay Area salon, targets of racist anonymous letter (SF Gate)
• ‘The Office’ actress criticizes show’s “racist” portrayal of Asian-American women (NME)
• K-pop’s BTS calls for end to rising anti-Asian racism, says it suffered racist abuse (Reuters)
• Brutal Attack on Filipino Woman Sparks Outrage: ‘Everybody Is on Edge’ (The New York Times)
• Man who killed his mom in 2002 arrested in NYC attack on 65-year-old Asian woman (NBC News)
• Police Arrest Man Accused of Threatening to Kill Asian Americans in San Francisco (NBC Bay Area)
• Letters to the Editor: I had no idea I shouldn’t ask Asian Americans ‘where they’re from.’ I’ll stop immediately (Los Angeles Times)
• Opinion: After attacks on Asian American elders, here’s how to talk to your kids about racism against us (NBC News)

This week in AAPI pop culture

It’s been a hard couple of weeks. Opening the news feels bruising and every day seems to bring fresh news of an attack on an Asian elder somewhere or threats made against Asian communities.

This is just a reminder that it is not on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to continually stay up-to-date on every detail of every hate crime that happens to someone in our community. If reading the news starts to feel more draining and traumatizing than informative, it’s OK to close your tabs. It’s OK to not watch those horrifying videos.

We can each decide for ourselves whether we have the mental and emotional capacity to stay tuned in, or if we just need a break. No one can tell you otherwise.

One thing that’s consistently helped me decompress the last few weeks has been soaking my brain in entertainment. And when every story about Asian Americans in the news these days seems to be hinged around pain and trauma, it can be helpful to be reminded that our stories are much larger than this moment.

So to that end, I just wanted to compile a short list of some recommendations for films and TV about and created by Asian Americans (and one Canadian) that you can stream right now. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a handful of creations that have personally brought joy and offered reprieve in the past.

Films

“The Farewell” (Amazon Prime)

“Minari” (Amazon Prime, for an extra fee)

“To All the Boys” (Netflix)

“The Half of It” (Netflix)

“Saving Face” (Tubi)

TV Shows

“Dash & Lily” (Netflix)

“Kim’s Convenience” (Netflix)

Documentaries/Specials

“Meet the Patels” (HBO Max)

“Minding the Gap” (Hulu)

“Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King” (Netflix)

Got a story suggestion? Please reach out to me at awong@sacbee.com.

That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

Please spread the word about our newsletter and send to a friend. Sign up here to receive this newsletter each week.