Despite the increasing awareness, crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander community continue to increase nationwide. In a recently reported incident, a Millbrae city council member says he was attacked Saturday night while with his family near Lands End, a national park in San Francisco. The councilman, identified as Anders Fung, shared his story on social media. Elected in 2020, Fung is the city’s first Chinese immigrant to serve on its city council.
He noted that while he initially thought he was struck in the head by an object by accident, two people continued to throw things at him, leading him to realize the attack was intentional.
The perpetrators dropped a concrete brick from a cliff onto Fung’s head, leaving a 2-inch wound on his scalp.
"As my family came to my rescue, they looked up and was yelling at the perpetrator who was still throwing objects, heavy objects, down from above. About 20 feet high," Fung said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“When my family confronted the perpetrators demanding them to stop, one of them gave my family an obscene hand gesture before fleeing the crime scene,” Fung continued. While the men got away, family members were able to take a photo.
As a result of the attack, the councilman was rushed to a hospital in San Francisco and treated for a head gash and a cervical disc herniation in his neck.
“I know I’ll recover, but what can we do to make sure that attacks like this don’t continue?” Fung asked in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle. “Being a victim is not a shame.”
He also encouraged that others who face such violence report it.
“I want everyone to understand it’s important to speak out so that law enforcement understands it... that our policymakers understand how it impacts our community and how important it is for us to take action to stop these senseless violence and hate,” Fung told ABC7 News. “It is important we bring these perps to justice so this doesn’t happen again. Don’t be afraid to speak out and report this to law enforcement.”
At this time the act has not been declared as a hate crime, but police officials have not ruled out the possibility, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. No arrests have been made at this time.
"I’ll be happy to work with the US Attorney’s office should they be able to bring the perpetrator to justice, and properly categorize this incident, this crime that was committed against me. But what is undeniable in what happened, an AAPI elected official was assaulted yesterday," Fung said.
Attacks against the AAPI community have increased at an alarming rate since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Hate crime data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino found that hate crimes against Asian Americans surged in 2020 in at least 15 cities, Daily Kos reported. As the cities were further reviewed, a new report indicated that crimes against Asian Americans rose by 169% when comparing the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.
Additionally, data released by the FBI found that hate crimes targeting people of Asian descent in the U.S. rose by 70% last year when compared to the number of such incidents in 2019. The report found that more than 10,000 people reported hate crimes to law enforcement, the highest tally of reported hate crimes since 2008.
“All senseless violence and hateful acts must stop,” Fung said in his Facebook post. “As a community, public safety is paramount to our collective success. We must stand firm against all senseless violence and hate. Our people deserve a safe living environment.”
Learn how you can help stop the hate against our AAPI friends here.