Hundreds gather downtown to rally against anti-Asian violence

On Friday, hundreds of people gathered in Union Square for social justice, rallying against anti-Asian violence in downtown San Francisco.

Jian Yang, Staff Reporter

March 27, 2021

Hundreds of people gathered in San Francisco’s Union Square on Friday, as they staged a march against hate incidents stemmed from anti-Asian violence.

Stop AAPI Hate recorded nearly 4,000 incidents of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans between March 19, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021 — and the number increasing. Twenty Bay Area organizations, such as Women’s March SF and Malaya Movement SF were responsible for setting up Friday’s demonstration.

Julie Caliston, executive director of the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor SF State, said that the goal of the event was to raise awareness of and highlights these aggressions toward the AAPI community.

“Hopefully, we can have this continue to support trying and vouch for legislative change or you know, even social change,” Caliston said.

Taking note of the participant turnout at the demonstration, Caliston expressed excitement.

Organizers of the demonstration, Rise Up with Asians, walk down from Union Square to Market Street. (Sebastian Miño-Bucheli / Golden Gate Xpress)
(Sebastian Mino-Bucheli)

“I’m honestly so thankful for all the support — even if there was like only 20 people here, I still would have been so happy,” Caliston said. “Seeing everyone here is just absolutely amazing. I hope we can keep the same energy for future events.”

David Kim, a photographer documenting the event, expressed his support of the protest.

“This is nothing new to me, someone who’s experienced depression my whole life and has experienced racism and hatred. It’s clear [the Trump administration] really doesn’t quite understand the impact of words and the narrative that goes along with that,” Kim said. “We’’re all tired, I’m tired.”

“You just show up for our brothers and sisters, we show up for each. It’s very clear that the Asian community will show up for each other,” he added.

District 6 Sup. Matt Haney was also in attendance, along with board President Shamann Walton and former Sup. Sandra Lee Fewer. Haney participated in the crowd for the entire three-hour duration of the march.

“I’m not an Asian, but when I saw the news, [seeing] Asian people get killed, it makes me angry, it makes me sad — but we all have to be determined to take action,” Honey said. “It’s also a time for non-Asian people to listen and to learn, because a lot of Asian people are experiencing racism and discrimination. And it’s not widely talked about. So it’s also a time for us to learn more and educate ourselves.”