Anti-Asian hate crimes can happen anywhere – even in a small, Asian-majority community like Milpitas.
This morning, Bill Chuan, a candidate for Milpitas City Council, found that his campaign banner, which was hanging on the fence of an empty lot located on Barber Lane, had been vandalized with graffiti. The words “No Asians” were written in big letters all across his sign.
“Dion Lim from ABC7 sent an email and said that she got a tip that my banner on Barber Lane was vandalized,” Chuan told The Beat in an interview. “I went to go check it out…”
When he got there, Chuan couldn’t believe what he saw.
“When I first saw it, I was shocked. Of all places, in Milpitas?” Chuan said. “The population is majority Asian; and it’s in an area with all these Asian restaurants, too.”
Next to Chuan’s sign, Hon Lien’s sign was also vandalized with two words: “No No.”
Lien is currently serving as a Milpitas City Councilmember, and is currently running for Mayor.
“Discrimination is real and it exists,” Councilmember Lien told The Beat. “Everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination or violence because of their race, ethnicity, or heritage.”
After Chuan saw the vandalism, he called the Milpitas Police Department.
“This is a hate crime. So I just wanted to let them know,” said Chuan. “They came and took down the banners.”
The Milpitas Police Department is currently investigating the incident.
“I’m saddened this happened in Milpitas given our City’s history of diversity and inclusion,” shared Milpitas Police Chief Jared Hernandez. “There’s no place in our community for hate-based rhetoric like this. Whomever is responsible does not represent the values or views of our community.”
Although I am an old white guy, I agree with Milpitas Police Chief Jared Hernandez that “There’s no place in our community for hate-based rhetoric like this. Whomever is responsible does not represent the values or views of our community.” I suspect that hate-based rhetoric like this comes from a Trump follower. If Trumpers are against Hon Lien for Mayor and Bill Chuan for Council, that is 1 good reason to vote for them. I will.
“I suspect that hate-based rhetoric like this comes from a Trump follower.” That’s hate speech against Trump followers. Hypocrite.
You may just be ignorant, but there is plenty of interracial hate crime targeting Asians, not just from your typical Trump supporter (old, White, male). For example, as far back as the aughts, a very familiar story in the Asian community has been Black men assaulting Asian people, often elderly or female. In 2010, one man in SF was beaten to death and another woman thrown onto the tracks; the Chinese community became afraid to board the Muni for months. This sort of thing has been a regular occurrence all the way up until and even after the pandemic in pretty much every major American city. The most recent example was Michelle Go, a native of nearby Fremont and a friend of a friend of mine, who was pushed into the path of an oncoming train in NYC maybe two years ago. And I recall an elderly Thai man who was shoved to the floor and died in SF, perhaps in the same year; it’s hard to tell because it happens so often, it blends together.
So don’t you go telling us that you suspect it’s Trump supporters without evidence.
I’d guess whoever did this doesn’t know much about the makeup of Milpitas of the attitude of most of its citizens.