San Francisco apologizes for history of racism, discrimination against Chinese Americans
The city of San Francisco on Tuesday announced a unanimous resolution formally apologizing for its past atrocities against the Chinese community, coinciding the decision with the Lunar New Year.
The decision by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors acknowledges the city's discriminatory policies had a significant impact on the Chinese community, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The resolution apologized on behalf of the board and the city for the "systemic and structural discrimination" against the community as well as the targeted acts of violence. It also admitted that the Board of Supervisors had passed numerous laws that persecuted the Chinese immigrants.
"The recent surge in anti-Asian hate crimes continues to affirm [that Asian and Pacific Islanders] continue to be seen as foreigners and not Americans," API Council of San Francisco Director Cally Wong said at the hearing, according to the report.
According to The Associated Press, more than one-third of San Francisco's estimated 900,000 residents are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, with Chinese Americans making up the largest share.
It added that more than a dozen ordinances were passed by the board of supervisors to restrict Chinese-run laundries, the AP added.
This resolution comes as the San Francisco Police Department reported earlier this year that the number of people who reported being the victim of a hate crime against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was up by 567 percent.
The move by San Francisco followed similar ones made by the California cities of Antioch, San Jose and Los Angeles. Antioch was the first to offer a formal apology in May last year, followed by San Jose in September and Los Angeles in October.
