San Francisco apologizes for historical anti-Asian racism; 4th California city to do so

Name: Biden signs bipartisan anti-Asian hate crimes bill
Uploaded: 2021-06-05T20:30:35-04:00
Duration: 4 min 38 s
Description: Rep. Young Kim details the new bill: 'it provides law enforcement agencies with tools to better improve our reporting'

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Biden signs bipartisan anti-Asian hate crimes bill

Rep. Young Kim details the new bill: 'it provides law enforcement agencies with tools to better improve our reporting'

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution apologizing to Chinese-Americans in the city for historical racism, becoming the fourth California city in the last year to do so, according to a report.

The Northern California city has a large Asian population and the country’s oldest Chinatown. The resolution coincided with the Tuesday's start of the Lunar New Year.

A worker cleans a street Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in the Chinatown district in San Francisco. (Associated Press)

The resolution apologizes for "systemic and structural discrimination" and violence targeting Chinese immigrants related to historical resolutions from past board supervisors calling for harassment of Chinese residents and restrictions on Chinese laundries.

‘Unusual noise’

One historical ordinance prevented the use of traditional gong percussion instruments in performance because the instruments produced an "unusual noise disturbing the peace."

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A woman stands at the entrance of a market in Chinatown in San Francisco, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. (Associated Press)

Supervisor Matt Haney, the chief sponsor of the resolution, rallied Wednesday with Chinese-American civic leaders for increased investments in the Asian community.

Other actions

In 2021, Los Angeles, San Jose and Antioch passed similar resolutions and President Biden also signed the bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act after it was passed by Congress.

The anti-hate measures come amid a rise in anti-Asian crime connected at least in part to misplaced blame surrounding the Chinese origins of the coronavirus.