Millbrae Councilmember Anders Fung speaks at town hall meeting on the attack in SF

(MILLBRAE) One week after Millbrae City Council Member Anders Fung was attacked with a concrete block and injured at San Francisco’s Lands End, he participated in a town hall meeting at Millbrae to call for a stop on the anti-Asian hate and violence.

Fung was attacked on June 11, Saturday, with a concrete block when he was with his family at the Lands End Lookout in San Francisco’s Richmond District. Fung was injured in the incident and sent to the hospital for treatment and later released.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who represents San Francisco and San Mateo County, hosted a town hall meeting on June 18 at the newly-opened Millbrae Community Center to hear the concerns and thoughts from the community on anti-Asian crime.

"We are all here together to find solutions. It is important to educate the community," said Speier at the meeting. "There are 750,000 constituents in my district, about one third are part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. They have suffered disproportionately from racially motivated violence during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Speier continued, "According to the FBI, hate crimes against members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities have increased by 77% from 2019 to 2020. Almost 11,000 hate incidents were self-reported to the group Stop AAPI Hate from March 2020 to December 2021."

Fung spoke in the meeting about the violence against him a week ago in San Francisco. "I like to see myself not as a victim, but rather a survivor. I survive, and many of us do, and we will. We should not have to endure all of these," said Fung.

After the attack, Fung released the incident via his facebook page to the media and public.

"I recall the incident when the brick hit my head. I thought it was an accident, not until my wife yelled at the perpetrators to stop. Eventually they gave us an awful and hateful expression. I realized it was not an accident, but an attack," Fung stated to the audiences.

"The violence has no place in this country. The hate has no place in this country," said Fung. "All of us are here to protect all of you. We will not stop working for safety until everyone is safe."

Dr. Russell Jeung, founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor at San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department, was invited to speak at the meeting. The Stop AAPI Hate project tracks anti-Asian related and discrimination incidents online at its website from March 2020 up to the present. "For me to hear about those incidents, I am very angry. How we teach young people is very important. I am glad to see further discussions on the issue," Jeung said.

Lucas Du, a young artist who just won third place in this year’s Congressional Art Competition for his oil painting. He showed his winning artwork “End the Violence” at the meeting. He hoped he could send his message to the public through arts to stop the violence and hatred.