Santa Rosa rallygoers condemn attacks against Asian Americans
A rally to denounce racism brought several dozen people to downtown Santa Rosa Friday afternoon, where they condemned attacks against Asian Americans throughout the country and spoke of their own experiences of discrimination within Sonoma County.
The rally convened at 3 p.m. in Santa Rosa’s Old Courthouse Square and was attended by roughly 70 people.
The group gathered at the southwest corner of the park, chanting words of support for the Asian American community and calling for the dismantling of white supremacy, among other messages.
Many in the group held signs that rejected the narrative of former President Donald Trump, who referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.”
The group also marched onto nearby Fourth Street, where they chanted as they passed groups of people dining outdoors before circling back to the town’s square.
The gathering came on the same day officials released the four remaining names of the eight people killed in an Atlanta spa mass shooting on Tuesday, most of whom were Asian American women.
Authorities say the suspect blamed the act of violence on a “sex addiction,” though some have called it a clear example of racial terrorism.
“As Asian women, we are not fetishes” Chantavy Tornado, a local activist who is Khmer, told the crowd. “We are strong, we are powerful … we will not stand down.”
On Wednesday, a 76-year-old Chinese woman reported using a stick to fight back a man who punched her as she waited to cross a San Francisco street, one of several violent attacks against Asian Americans in the Bay Area.
Grace Villafuerte, a Filipina from Santa Rosa, said the ongoing attacks on elderly people in the Bay Area have made her increasingly concerned for her mother.
She recalled an incident over the summer, when a man who appeared to be having mental health issues yelled at Villafuerte and her mother as they waited in their car for takeout.
She couldn’t quite make out what the man was saying, other than making a reference to Asians, but the incident frightened her, Villafuerte said.
“The worst part is, you don’t know who you can call on to help,” Villafuerte said.
Bea Cheung, an artist from Petaluma, reflected on her own experiences with growing up in the Sonoma County town, where she was one of a handful of students of Asian descent at Petaluma High.
She immigrated to the country from Hong Kong with her parents at 10 months old and recalled a feeling of not fitting in because of her race.
“Even just growing up, I was always aware of the environment I was in,” Cheung, 32, said. “It was always a sense of being ’othered’ all the time.”
She attended Friday’s rally because it was important for her to feel a sense of community in the aftermath of the recent attacks on Asian Americans nationwide, Cheung said.
“It’s always important just to feel together, especially with the smaller communities,” Cheung said. “I think it makes an impact. We are small but we are strong.”
You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.