Local Asian American civil rights organizations expressed solidarity with Aki Maehara.
By J.K. YAMAMOTO
RAFU SHIMPO
The victim of an apparent anti-Asian hate crime, joined by community organizations supporting him, spoke to the press on May 22 at the Chinese American Museum in Downtown Los Angeles.
Aki Maehara, a professor at East Los Angeles College, was struck by a vehicle while riding his electric bike on April 29 in Montebello. He said that racial slurs were directed at him before he was struck, even though he was wearing a helmet that would have made it impossible to identify him as Asian.
The main hosts were the Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Coalition and Asian American Civil Rights League. Co-hosts were Greater Los Angeles JACL, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Southern California, Save Our Seniors Network, Chinese American Museum, Alliance for Asian American Justice, Faith and Community Empowerment, Chinatown Overwatch, and Asian Youth Center.
Mitchell Matsumura, president of GLA JACL, noted that when President Trump referred to COVID as the “China virus” during his previous administration, “Asian hate crimes spiked to 149%, and it went up from there to 339%. Asian Americans were the hardest hit of any group … during the coronavirus.”
He pointed out that the museum is located near the site where 19 Chinese immigrants were massacred in 1871.
David Monkawa, chairman of Save Our Seniors Network, added, “In the first 100 days of this administration, hate crimes for Asian people were way up. Same for everyone else, too.”
Stating that civil rights are no longer a priority for the FBI under the new director, Kash Patel, Monkawa said, “In fact, the White House has become the number one perpetrator of hate, the number one perpetrator of discrimination and illegal deportation and disappearance.”
Given the current political climate, even compiling accurate statistics on hate crimes is a challenge, Monkawa said.
Speaking Out
Maehara expressed “heartfelt appreciation” to those who have supported him, not only Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders but people from many different backgrounds “from across the nation and from many parts of the world.”
Having taught a variety of courses, including Asian American studies, African American studies, Native American studies, the Vietnam War, the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, and the history of racism in the U.S., he said that he has “participated in efforts to construct strong bridges between diverse communities on both a local and national level” and is “providing the next generation with skills, knowledge, and experience they would need to move forward.”
Noting that generations of Japanese Americans have been touched by racial abuse — either as victims or as witnesses of acts committed against others — Maehara said, “My observations strongly suggest that we as a nation need a new approach to confronting and acknowledging, examining, and resolving this cultural problem.”
Recalling the attack, he said he saw “a four door, mid-size sedan coming right at me” and “heard somebody yell out, ‘f—-ing Chink,’ and then I got hit … I ended up face-planting on concrete several times … I heard someone yell out, ‘Go back to Chinkland’ as I heard their vehicle drive away.”
He was treated at the VA hospital in Long Beach for “a concussion, neck injuries … cheekbone injured, neck, chest, lower back and hip. My left elbow was cut open, requiring over 10 stitches. I had bruises and scrape wounds all over my body. And I was experiencing dizzy spells for about four to five days afterwards.”
A report was taken by two officers from the Montebello Police Department, Maehara said. “Almost two weeks later, I had a phone conversation with the detectives about my case and found out the police officers who had taken the initial report did not include the information I provided on a possible suspect and possible motive … This was very disturbing. It does not give me faith in an objective, thorough process of investigation.”
Maehara said that he has been targeted by white supremacists because of the content of his college courses.
“Once the preliminary report is finalized, I’m supposed to be given a copy, which will be reviewed and examined,” he said. “Decisions about how to proceed from there will take place at that time.”
A Go Fund Me campaign has raised more than $82,000 for his medical expenses. “I will need to have my damaged teeth removed and get a full upper and lower jaw implants that are not covered by any dental insurance policies and are very expensive,” Maehara said, adding that he is “considering shifting our Go Fund Me campaign to redirect support of me to other victims of Asian hate violence and other victims of racist violence.”
Statements of Support
Connie Chung Joe, CEO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-SoCal, said that Maehara’s case “is a sad reminder that anti-Asian hate is not just something of the past. It is something that continues to permeate our society today … Last month we got a complaint of another case where an individual was told by a group to go back to China, go back to her country.”
“What we need is to continue to see an investment of resources for prevention and training around anti-Asian hate, because it will not stop on its own,” Joe said, noting that the State of California has made such investments but that at the federal level, “the Department of Justice has suddenly stopped and terminated those multi-year grants to address anti-Asian hate prevention and education.”
At the local level, Joe said, AJ SoCal recently filed a lawsuit against the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department “because we had gotten complaints from a group of residents in a neighborhood in the South Bay where a bigoted neighbor was harassing and threatening them because they were Asian. They continuously went to their local Sheriff’s Department to try and make a complaint, and they were continuously turned away and told there’s nothing to be done.”
AJ SoCal maintains multilingual helplines for hate crime victims in eight Asian languages and dialects.
Gerald Ohn, co-founder of the Asian American Civil Rights League, urged District Attorney Nathan Hochman “to prosecute the offenders who attacked Aki to the fullest extent of the law, because the attack on Aki was an attack on all Asian Americans.”
“We as Asian Americans ask to be judged by the content of our character and not political cheap shots. We’ve been here for hundreds of years. We’ve contributed to America. This is our country, too. We, as Asian Americans, demand to be recognized as part of the diverse tapestry which makes this the greatest country on Earth.”
League co-founder Christina Ku said that after hearing Maehara, “I am personally inspired even more to fight against discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, speciesism. I feel that this case is just not a victim who was at the wrong place at the wrong time … I have learned that he was possibly followed … and targeted.”
She called on all officers of the Montebello Police Department to cooperate in the investigation.
Brian Sun of the Alliance for Asian American Justice said that immigrants of all backgrounds have experienced some form of hate discrimination. “There’s a common bond that we all have in these cases, and that is that you can’t just sit there and keep taking it because it keeps happening … We do it for our kids so we can make it a little bit better for each generation.”
He explained that his organization, which includes lawyers from major law firms and corporations, “provides pro bono services for victims to help them adjust and pursue justice … both civilly and criminally. We engage with district attorney’s offices, U.S. attorney’s offices, the FBI, the LAPD … where the investigation of a hate crime is found wanting or non-existent. We engage with law enforcement, we engage with legislators.”
In one case, the alliance sued the San Francisco district attorney when a Vietnamese American was beaten up and the white assailants were given misdemeanor probation with no jail time. In Orange County, the alliance worked with the district attorney on the case of a Korean American woman who was attacked by a man who was angry about COVID.
“If you don’t step up and make some noise, you can’t make a difference,” Sun emphasized. “Everybody here can do something, even your little part.”
King Chung of Chinatown Community for Equitable Development stressed that Maehara’s case is not an isolated incident. “It didn’t happen in a vacuum. We must find why, how, and who poisoned the air (with) widespread racism, hatred and oppression of people of color.”
He called for unity among the impacted communities in order to “make a better world for all of us and for our children.”
Robin Toma, executive director of the L.A. County Commission on Human Relations, told Maehara, “We feel you. We support you. We’re here to say that we are together against the kind of hate crime you experienced. We want to make sure you get justice. And we want to make sure that everyone knows that there are resources for people.”
Referring to the commission’s annual report on hate crimes in the county, Toma said, “One of the things that we have seen is that anti-Asian hate, despite what people may think to the contrary, has reached the second-highest level in the 40 years-plus of this report. Unfortunately, I think that people might think that because the pandemic has passed, so has this period of intensified hate. I’m here to say that doesn’t appear to be the case.
“We not only see this record-setting level of hate crimes against Asians and hate incidents, but we’ve also seen it against African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, gays, lesbians, transgender, Jewish, Muslim people in this county.”
Toma shared an incident that happened when he and his family were getting out of their car. “A young boy rode behind us on his bike and he yelled at us, ‘Get out of here, you Japs!’ I was puzzled because growing up here after World War II, I couldn’t believe that a kid that young would know that word and what it meant. Obviously you had to learn it from someone.”
Although the incident enraged his mother, who had been incarcerated during the war, “unfortunately there was no place we could go because that would’ve been considered something less than a hate crime — a hate incident. Police departments in those days didn’t even collect that data.”
Toma thanked Maehara “for calling us together and speaking here today because this is so important as a way to send a message to the community that it matters, that no matter whether it’s a hate crime or … somebody yelling at you to go back where you came from, we want to know.”
LA vs. Hate has established a hotline, 211, to report hate incidents and get access to legal support, counseling and other services. “It’s so important that everyone realize that if they don’t report the hate, we can’t do anything about it, and we can’t show the community the reality of what’s happening out there,” Toma said.
A woman who asked to remain anonymous reported an assault that occurred two years ago. “My roommate was dragged down a flight of stairs. Literally this individual pretty much put his knee on his neck … He has assaulted us multiple times and done other crimes to us multiple times, and still we have not been able to get law enforcement to take this report. That’s the reason why I’m here.”
Monterey Park City Councilmember Henry Lo attended the press conference along with Gigi Lee for Rep. Judy Chu, Jayson Hugh for Assemblymember Mike Fong, Kyle Miller for State Sen. Bob Archuleta, and Anthony Cespedes for L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis.