Fresno leaders stand against Asian hate. New office created to serve marginalized communities
Fresno city leaders on Tuesday denounced anti-Asian hate heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and announced a new city office dedicated to connecting marginalized communities to resources.
Mayor Jerry Dyer said he will create the Office of Community Affairs and hire an Asian staffer to be the liaison between city officials and community-based organizations working with the city’s Asian population. The liaison will connect marginalized communities to services such as law enforcement, education, financial aid, rent relief, immigration services and more.
The Fresno City Council during its Thursday meeting will vote on a resolution that codifies the position, denounces anti-Asian hate and white supremacy and commits to celebrating the city’s diverse communities.
Those steps demonstrated that city leaders were taking action to make Dyer’s campaign slogan “One Fresno” a reality, Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said.
“This is part of making sure that we are living (up) to that standard that has been talked about from during the campaign season,” she said. “The city of Fresno is going to be one city.
“I’m just proud to stand with my Asian brothers and sisters here in Fresno to say no more to that hate here in our community. … We are one community that will protect and defend each other, and that hold people accountable that tried to cause harm.”
Dyer and Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza and Soria made the announcement during a news conference at Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, where they were joined by FIRM Executive Director Christine Barker; former City Councilmember Blong Xiong, now the executive director of Asian Business Institute & Resource Center; and Katie Moua, program director for Hmong Innovating Politics.
The announcement came after a white man last month targeted and killed eight people at Atlanta spas. Six of the victims were Asian women.
In Fresno, Asian Americans make up the city’s second-largest community of color.
Hate crimes underreported
Fresno Police Department investigated 16 hate crimes in 2020, including one against an Asian victim, Dyer said. So far in 2021, no hate crimes have been reported, he said, except for one that was listed as a potential hate crime.
Those numbers demonstrate hate crimes in Fresno are significantly underreported, Dyer said.
The City Council resolution listed a number of racist, anti-Asian incidents that occurred locally since the start of the pandemic last March.
In March 2020, a woman told Saeng Bunsy to “move out of my way” before using a slur when Bunsy was buying diapers at a grocery story. On March 9, 2020, a Lao family’s car was vandalized with the words “(expletive) Asions [sic] and Coronyvirus [sic].” A Hmong-American man was assaulted Jan. 18 while on his morning walk in Roeding Park. A Lao woman was threatened at gunpoint on Feb. 17 in the parking lot of the River Park Target.
“We won’t tolerate hate in our community, regardless of who that hate is demonstrated against,” Dyer said. “Quite frankly, people who commit hate crimes are people who are cowards. …It is so important that we send a message, not only send a message that it’s not tolerated, but we stand with those people who are victims of hate crimes and hate incidents.”
Asian community in fear
In many Asian households, young people care for their parents and grandparents, Moua said. Since the start of the pandemic when anti-Asian hate surged, young people in the Asian community expressed fear for their family members running errands. They began texting Moua when they went into public, asking her to check in on them in case anything happened.
Barker said many community members have told FIRM staff of their experiences with anti-Asian discrimination or violence, but they choose not to report it to police. FIRM staff honor those wishes.
“Countless other incidents have been shared with trusted community partners, but there are limited linguistically accessible and culturally responsive ways to report hate incidents to the city of Fresno,” the council resolution reads.
Barker said the resolution and new liaison position will help create culturally-sensitive and community-based solutions.
“For too long, these issues and struggles have been ignored. They’ve been minimized and explained away. For too long, community members have suffered in silence or been gas lit when they brought up concerns,” Moua said. “And for too long, we had to rely on ourselves, masked by the model minority or pitted against other communities of color.”
Moua said Tuesday’s announcements were a good step forward, but more work remains.
“Our Asian American community is not a monolith, and therefore we cannot rely on a one-size-fits-all solution. We must partner and work together with those serving the diverse Asian American community in Fresno to ensure we are meeting the needs of the whole community.… We have to continue working together and holding our leaders and electeds accountable to address the root causes of anti-Asian racism.”