Santa Clara County Board Pledges To Address Anti-Asian Hate

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Before becoming the first Chinese American to serve as a Santa Clara County Supervisor, Otto Lee was a Sunnyvale mayor, a lawyer and a commander in the United States Naval Reserve. He received a Bronze Star for his service in Iraq. He speaks three Chinese dialects, in addition to Spanish. He’s lived in the Bay Area for nearly 40 years.

And yet, Lee is aware that to some, his skin color belies all of the above. In a statement during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting discussing a referral regarding the recent rise in anti-Asian hate incidents, Lee became personal.

“Many of you know me as Otto Lee. I do have a name in Chinese — Li Zhōu Xiǎo,” Lee said. “My family escaped from communism and immigrated from Hong Kong, but I am not an alien or foreigner. And I'm certainly not a virus. Please don’t judge by staring at me and think that you know me.”

Following Lee’s impassioned remarks, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a referral to implement a work plan that includes forming an Anti-Racism Community Outreach and Education Campaign.

Lee said that his grandfather served in World War II and that patriotism runs deep in his family. Yet, right now, his mother is afraid to take the bus. Her friends are too scared to walk down the street or shop at the market.

“Screaming, swearing, spitting, slapping, shoving another person just because they look Asian is not freedom of speech,” said Lee, who was elected to the Board of Supervisors last November. “It is a hate crime. A hate crime against one is a hate crime against all of us.”

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in hate crimes targeting Asians, including several documented attacks against Asian elders in the Bay Area in recent weeks. The Stop AAPI Hate organization has reported over 3,700 incidents of anti-Asian hate in the country since the pandemic began.

Last week, a gunman killed eight people in three spas in a rampage in Atlanta. Six of the deceased were women of Asian descent, further escalating fears.

In Santa Clara County, the district attorney’s office announced recently that it was prosecuting two separate hate crime incidents that occured in the county. On Mar. 8, a Marin County woman was charged in connection with a hate crime in Mountain View, when authorities said she spat on a stranger of Asian descent, uttered an ethnic slur and told her to go back to "where you come from."

On Mar. 12, District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced charges against a San Francisco man after an Asian woman was sexually assaulted as she was waiting for her train at the San Jose Diridon Caltrain Station. The 26-year-old victim was grabbed by the neck, tossed to the ground and dragged while the suspect repeatedly said anti-Asian slurs, according to the district attorney.

Last week, all police chiefs in the county signed onto a statement condemning the violence and pledging to hold those responsible accountable.

Lee said that people shouldn't excuse dislike for the Chinese government or the North Korean dictatorship to "direct this hate at anyone in America that looks Asian."

"The myth of model minority — that Asian Americans are just good students, obedient workers, quiet and passive — is exactly that. It’s just a myth," Lee said. "Asian Americans have now spoken loud and clear that we will not be silenced."

The other supervisors expressed support for Lee’s motion and thanked him for his personal words.

“That was absolutely spot-on,” said Mike Wasserman, the board’s president. “Hate is wrong. Your history, your words, they were incredible. Thank you.”

Supervisor Susan Ellenberg added that the county should increase its investment in language outreach and improve upon infrastructure to allow people to report violent incidents, “so that we can understand the scope of the problem.”

“It well could be much bigger than we know,” Ellenberg said.

Joe Simitian, another supervisor, appreciated the effort to attempt actual change beyond supportive words.

“I think we all know we have to go beyond that expression of concern and do the tangible work that is embodied in the motion,” Simitian said.

Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Supervisor Lee as the first Asian American to serve on the Board of Supervisors. He is the first Chinese American to serve on the board.