What are we doing

It is absolutely embarrassing for the city of San Francisco to have your football team’s first round rookie get shot whilst shopping downtown. In what looks like an armed robbery gone sideways, the incident reinforces the image of a lawless hellhole of a city that Fox News would like its audience to believe. Giants legend Buster Posey was right: San Francisco’s seedy reputation (perceived, factual, or otherwise) might indeed be a deterrent for free agents to sign with local sports teams.

Because if I am going to be paying over half my salary in combined State and Federal taxes (thank you for your service, millionaires), I definitely would want to feel safe.

Ricky Pearsall getting shot will only serve further pause to future free agents. Pearsall didn’t have a choice - he was drafted by the 49ers as an amateur out of college. Fortunately for him, he is going to make a full recovery. The bullet did not hit any vital organs.

With that out of the way, the blame for this mess is on everyone who are in positions of power in this city for the past few years. Mayor, supervisors, police, non profits, judges, et cetera. We can’t have nice things because those in power are actively choosing to not have them. Breaking the law must have consequences, even if the offenders are minors. A slap on the wrist simply because they are underage is not acceptable. We can’t let an entire class of teens terrorize the community with impunity. And If you really can’t charge the kids, sue their parents or guardian for supreme negligence.

The apprehended Pearsall’s shooter is reportedly a 17-year old male from nearby Tracy. There’s got to be at least some prison time, right?

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Someone has to bring all of this down.

A house is not a home

Hate crimes and attacks targeting the Asian American community are very much in the news lately. The worst of which occurred last week, when a lunatic shot up a few massage parlors in Atlanta, killing eight people. The entire community is on edge, lacking a sense of safety when we step outside of our homes. You always have to be on alert, a certain amount of underlying stress that shouldn’t be there in a civilized society.

As someone who grew up in the south-eastern side of San Francisco, I am innately familiar with that specific kind of stress. It only takes a few muggings for the young me to realize I need street smarts to walk around my neighborhood. The five senses are always tuned in to the surroundings, always on alert for anything - or anyone - untoward. You relax for one moment, and the next thing you know, you’re getting robbed of your iPod (remember those?) violently. I still have the scar on my chin. 

The subconscious trauma never leaves, so long as I never the left the neighborhood. Even as the crime rate fall as the years advanced, I could never relax in that corner of the city. Surely that’s the same feeling felt by Asian Americans presently, especially our elders. I can attest it’s the worst not being able to feel safe walking around your home neighborhood. Is there even an area of San Francisco where an Asian person can feel completely at ease? I am not so sure.

One of the reasons I love traveling to Asia is because the aforementioned type of stress simply does not exist. In major cities of Asia, I can walk anywhere, at anytime, and feel absolutely safe. The lack of stressor is so freeing, a sense of calm that I miss dearly every time I step off the plane back onto American soil. Safety - isn’t that what living in the first world is about? 

Never mind the fact that gun violence and gun deaths are uniquely American. The problem is both structural and cultural. 

I understand and empathize greatly with the trauma and anxiety that Asian Americans are feeling these days. I don’t have much of the answers, but one of them has to be that perpetrators of crime need to be persecuted to the fullest extent. There has to be stiff penalty for doing harm to others. Robbery may only be of material loss, but I speak from experience: the mental harm can last for a very long time. 

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House of Cesar.

Attack on Asians

The recent rash of robberies and attacks against Asian Americans is (finally) receiving some attention in the news media. Every year around the time of the Lunar New Year celebrations, there’s an increase in robberies because the perps suspect that Asians are carrying around more money than usual. That’s been a trend I’ve noticed for as long as I can remember, especially having grown up in the southeastern side of San Francisco.

So it’s rather interesting to see people having discussion about the latest attacks and utterly dancing around the real problem. Lots of finger pointing at former President Trump’s rhetoric vis a vis the coronavirus. Lots of blame on white supremacy, and how the model minority myth breeds resentment towards Asian Americans from other minorities group.

All of that is fairly bullshit. The issue is, and have always been: young African Americans targeting Asians. I’ve seen plenty of it growing up, and have had it happened to me personally. Chicken or the egg: what came first? Asian American’s negative - often time racist - attitudes towards Blacks, or Blacks harassing and robbing Asians? I reckon those two things are innately intertwined.

Solving the problem is easy (in theory): alleviate poverty. These crimes are more about economics than pure racial hate. Asians are seen as easy targets with lots of money - especially our seniors, an attractive prey for those who have no life choice but to rob for sustenance. If they are otherwise gainfully employed and have the resources for a fulfilled life, I think the instances of crime against Asian Americans will drop dramatically.

That said, those who have perpetrated the crimes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

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Tag, you’re it!

A tradition unlike any other

Property crime in San Francisco: a tradition unlike any other.

As I was waiting for my transfer bus last evening, I noticed a dude sort of hiding out in the center median of the avenue, looking back and forth at the bus stops on either side. I half thought nothing of it because honestly it’s not all that weird, and half thought that dude must be looking for an opportunity to rob someone. For much of the time I was waiting for the bus, the guy remained on the median, continuing to look back and forth, scoping out the scene.

I grew up in the ghetto part of town - back when San Francisco had such a thing, so I am well-trained at not making myself an enticing robbery target. I almost never take my phone out; listening to podcasts is all I do during the commute, so the iPhone stays in my pocket the whole time. I even use the cheapest pair of black in-ear earphones I can find on Amazon, so to avoid the extra attention a set of AirPods or Beats headphones would attract. I don’t wear any jewelry, and on particularly hot days where short-sleeve t-shirt is mandatory, I even take off my watch and put it in the backpack.

It’s about making myself as less of a potential target as possible.

Sure enough, the dude in the median was indeed looking for someone to rob. A few minutes before the bus arrived, he and two other guys walked over to our side of the avenue, pass the cluster of us waiting at the station, and proceeded to quickly snatch the phone off the hands of an unsuspecting woman behind us. After that, they swiftly got into a waiting car, and sped off. The victim had no chance.

Even with activation lock technology rendering stolen phone unusable for the next person, I guess there’s still a lucrative parts market. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a coordinated attack by four guys simply to steal one phone. Though now that I think about it, that woman probably wasn’t the only victim that night.

Welcome to the richest city in America!

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You only get slivers here and there.