More victims of anti-Asian hate at Muni buses speak out beyond Janice Li and Michelle Young

(SAN FRANCISCO) On February 16, it was the first time for Michelle Young, a journalist and professor in New York, to ride on the San Francisco Muni bus to travel in the city. She encountered an anti-Asian incident on the bus which has been a common safety challenge to Asians living in the United States, especially for Asians who ride on buses or waiting at the bus stops.

Young and another Asian woman who was seated next to her were verbally attacked with racial slurs by a male rider on the 38-Geary muni bus on February 16. The man was holding fresh eggs in his hands. As another male rider stopped him and said, "Stop. You don't need to do that." The man then attacked that rider with the eggs.

Young used her cell phone to videotape the incident and posted it on social media. Her video caught the attention of news media and it became a high profile story widely covered by local media.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) contacted Young to conduct an investigation on the incident.

Young is a daughter of the first generation immigrants from Taiwan. She was born and raised in Long Island, New York. She is a graduate of Harvard College in the History of Art and Architecture and holds a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia University. She is a founder of Untapped Cities, an online magazine about cities and tourism, as well as an author working on her new book about World War II. Currently she is teaching architecture and urbanism at Columbia University, journalism at the City University of New York.

Young visits San Francisco every few years, as she has best friends living in the Bay Area. She stayed in San Francisco last week for only 30 hours to attend a Celebration of Life for a friend's sister.

In the morning of the egg attack incident on 38-Geary bus, Young was going to take some photographs for her magazine, Untapped New York. "The 38 bus was my first ride on Muni this trip, and possibly my first time on Muni ever. I have taken BART several times before," Young told Wind Newspaper.

"This is not the first time that I have been the victim of Asian hate speech and a threat of violence, and each incident has taken place in a different city," Young stated. So she videotaped the incident on 38-Geary and posted it online.

"I am aware many of them have had similar experiences and I empathize with them. I am glad to use my platform as a journalist and author to raise awareness of these types of attacks and to show the country and the world that hate crimes against Asian Americans are real and have only been increasing in the last few years," Young added.

"I shared my story publicly in the hopes that there can be more general awareness in the populace, and to push for active change in the safety policy of the transit system and how hate crimes are prosecuted," Young continued, "All that being said, I do not want

Asians to be afraid. Public spaces belong to everyone and we have the same right as everyone else to move about safely and without fear."

BART Board of Directors President Janice Li also became a victim of anti-Asian hate at a Muni bus stop on February 15 immediately after she hosted a press event for a campaign to stop the violence against women at Powell Street Station.

After the press event , Li left the BART station and walked up to Market and Powell Streets to take a 5-Fulton Muni bus back to her home on the west side of the city. Li was thrown with gummy worm candies by three kids and attacked with racial slurs.

Li also posted her experience on social media while she was still on the bus. Five days later, Li tweeted again about the hate incident, "The fact that so many people trivialized my situation is in many ways trivializing the harassment that so many people, especially Asian women, face. The 'who has it worse' competition doesn't make anyone feel safe and it is erasing the actual experiences people have."

"BART is stepping up in facing the issues faced and acknowledging that increased safety presence in our public spaces is a first step. It doesn't deal with everything, and next week, BART will be presenting a radically new deployment plan to increase presence on trains more than we've ever done before," Li stated on Twitter.

Li did not file a report with the Police Department. "Nothing the kids did were criminal, and unfortunately a lot of harassment is not criminal but it still causes serious safety concerns," Li said to Wind Newspaper.

Ms. Chen (not real surname) was a victim of an assault at the same 5-Fulton bus stop on Market Street on January 21.

Chen did not want to be named and liked to use another surname in the article. Chen is a 66-year-old immigrant and resides at an affordable housing unit in Tenderloin.

In the phone interview, Chen spoke in Chinese and recalled what had happened on January 21. The attack was still terrifying to her. She was waiting for a 5-Fulton bus at Market and Powell Streets to go home at around 4:30PM.

Chen first saw three African women running towards her. Once they almost hit her, Chen said "Watch Out" in English. One of the women who was holding a cup of full cold drinks with ice threw the cup to her head and fled.

After the attack, Chen was very wet and cold. Her head was hurt. "Someone was very nice nearby and helped me wipe the white-colored drinks. But no one called the police for me," Chen said. "I decided to file a police report and called 911 from my cell phone. I was waiting at the bus stop for about 30 minutes until the officers arrived."

Chen felt that it was obligated for her to file a police report. She didn't feel it was very helpful. "Police officers asked me if the women said anything to me. They didn't. They just threw the cup to my head," Chen said.

Chen was very frustrated to see the situation. Similar incidents kept happening against Asians. "We don't feel safe. The justice system has not done much to it," Chen sighed.

Mrs. Wong (not real last name) was another victim who was attacked to the head at the 49-Van Ness bus stop on February 17. She did not file a police report. A Yin had tried to persuade her neighbor to do so but failed.

Yin was also a victim of anti-Asian hate on a 14-Mission Muni bus in May 2021. She was attacked with racial slurs on the bus by a white couple. Yin filed a police report.

Wong shared her experience of the attack on WeChat with her friends, but she did not file a police report.

Wong refused to be identified and gave an unreal surname. She resides in SOMA and is a daily Muni bus rider. At 3 PM on February 17, Wong was planning to take a 49-Van Ness/Mission bus to pick up her young daughter from school.

While Wong was waiting for a bus at the bus stop at Mission Street and Van Ness Avenue, she saw a man around 50 years old walking towards the bus stop. All of a sudden, the man walked behind Wong and hit her head with his fist. Wong was so threatened and ran away. The suspect also fled the scene.

Commander Julian Ng of the SFPD Community Engagement Division encouraged all victims to file police reports. "First, safety is paramount, so my advice is to walk away and not interact with the subjects. Maybe catch another bus. Then call the police," Ng

said.

With respect to BART Board Chair Janice Li's incident, Ng said it could be a hate crime. "Candy thrown at her (and making contact) is misdemeanor battery and race being the motivating factor is a hate crime enhancement."

Ng and Assistant Police Chief David Lazar said they would have a police officer reach out to Li for more information.

A large number of the anti-Asian hate incidents occurred on buses or at bus stops. "We are committed to doing everything we can to stop the racist attacks on the AAPI community that have been on the increase over the past few years. Just this week alone, Muni riders, staff and colleagues from other transit agencies have been victims of this deplorable behavior," said SFMTA in a statement.

"We take all reported incidents seriously and work with SFPD, sharing video from our stations and vehicles to aid in their investigations," said SFMTA. "Each bus is equipped with at least 11 cameras that are recording any time the bus is running. In multiple instances, this video footage enabled the police to identify and arrest people who perpetrated crimes."