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Strong parallels between the Chinatown attack and Nia Wilson. In both cases an unhoused mentally ill man attacks someone at random. Rather than discussing how anti-poor means-testing makes Medicaid unavailable to the homeless, that housing insecurity fuels illness, we talk race
Now the conversation is "Black men targeting Asians" just like in 2018 it was "White men targeting Black women", all with the same result of more police spending.
Meanwhile, most unsheltered can't even get healthcare, compounding illness and no public outcry for investment.
Meanwhile, most unsheltered can't even get healthcare, compounding illness and no public outcry for investment.
It's a conversation subject to abuse because of the history of institutionalizing and sweeps. But 'Defund' is about investing to prevent the cause of crime rather than on carceralism and police.
If you didn't have a home and healthcare, your mental health would be impaired, too.
If you didn't have a home and healthcare, your mental health would be impaired, too.
The common denominator with the killer of Nia Wilson who was an untreated bipolar schizophrenic without a home, and the viral Chinatown attacker who assaults random people and has no home, is the need for investment in housing and healthcare. Otherwise this will keep happening
Yes, white supremacy is everywhere.
Yes, anti-Asian attacks are on the rise
But in both viral instances, the public intentionally, just like in real life, pretends the unhoused distressed man isn't there, and instead makes it about race so that we can fund more cops, but woke.
Yes, anti-Asian attacks are on the rise
But in both viral instances, the public intentionally, just like in real life, pretends the unhoused distressed man isn't there, and instead makes it about race so that we can fund more cops, but woke.
Both cases feel like an extension of bigger issues. Nia Wilson's murder was used to underline anti-fascist protests in summer of '18 and the viral Chinatown attacker to underline Asian Americans being targeted from the former President right on down to average crooks.
Oaklandside should be a bit more skeptical of the crime stats in Chinatown, however. Provided its not homicide, few are going to report crimes to the often unreliable Oakland PD. OPD takes like 45 minutes to show up. Who's calling them?
Chinatown folks being targeted because they're seniors, cannot speak english as well, and are subjected to slurs, has been happening for years. Many times by people who are Black. My Asian friends have muttered this to me for years, I've seen it, but no opportunity for dialogue.
There's lot of anti-Blackness in the Asian community. And just the same, I've hung out of my Laotian's friends house on Market, my Chinese friends restaurant on Shattuck, and have witness many Black teen boys shout "ching chong" and making threats. I've seen it too many times.
Far-right websites are using these crimes to split the Asian and Black communities even more. Oakland's been surprisingly better on race relations than even SF, and LA.
If we want to combat this, Black and Asian Oaklanders must talk, together. Not ranting in our corners.
If we want to combat this, Black and Asian Oaklanders must talk, together. Not ranting in our corners.
That's why seeing this warms my heart. This is exactly what the reactionaries who never cared about living conditions in Chinatown and San Antonio, or the violence in East Oakland, until they could further divide and conquer don't want us to do. https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin/status/1360775011317944323?s=20
The city should be opening up forums between Asian and Black residents to talk about these tensions and conflicts which have existed for years.
And at the same time, get folks registered for Medicaid and in housing, rather than divert topics, to stop these random assaults.
And at the same time, get folks registered for Medicaid and in housing, rather than divert topics, to stop these random assaults.
This is a complicated thread because it's a topic I've wanted to discuss my entire life. So I wont lie and say the tone shifts mid-way through. Ultimately, there's two topics at hand, race & health, and lets not conflate or generalize either as just one.
