The City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to adopt a resolution condemning anti-Asian hate and discrimination in Sacramento.
As part of the resolution, the City and its officials will work to develop “tangible, community-led solutions against racism, xenophobia and intolerance toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.”
“While there are structural and institutional examples of racism, I know from personal experience that there are so many more incidents and hate and actions towards the Asian American community that go unreported,” said Councilmember Mai Vang, who introduced the resolution.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, harmful and xenophobic rhetoric related to the geographic origins of the disease has resulted in a rise in reported hate incidents and crimes against AAPI individuals, communities and businesses throughout the state.
Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition aimed at addressing anti-Asian discrimination amid the pandemic, documented more than 2,800 hate incidents targeting AAPIs in the United States since March 2020. From March to June 2020, Stop AAPI Hate received reports of more than 800 hate incidents in California against AAPIs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest in the country.
In Sacramento, Kelly Shum, owner of Mad Butcher Meat Company, last month found a dead, mutilated cat found in the business parking lot. Shum reported it to the Sacramento Police Department, which is investigating the incident as a hate crime.
To increase awareness around discrimination and reporting hate crimes, the Sacramento Police Department is hosting two community outreach and resident engagement meetings in the coming days. The first will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, March 12 at Oto’s Marketplace (4900 Freeport Blvd.). The second will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at Vinh Phat Market (6105 Stockton Blvd.). Bilingual officers will be at both events.
The City of Sacramento is home to more than 513,000 residents, of which approximately 20 percent identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. An estimated 6,000 small businesses in Sacramento are owned by people of Asian American or Pacific Islander descent.
The new resolution aligns with the City of Sacramento’s commitment to inclusion and advancing equity and justice for people of all races, national origins and ethnicities, officials said. It commits the City to developing community-led solutions that “acknowledge the experiences of AAPI residents, root out systemic racism and uplift racial solidarity.”