Aged Asian lady assaulted in San Francisco plans to donate virtually $1 million to battle racism
Posted by Rachel Trent | CNN
A 75-year-old Asian woman who was attacked on the street is taking the nearly $ 1 million donated for her medical bills and using it to fight racism, her family says.
After Xiao Zhen Xie was slapped in the face in an unprovoked attack in San Francisco on March 17th, she hit herself back. “He harasses old people,” Xie said in a video that was filmed after the attack by CNN subsidiary KPIX. “So I struck.”
After the attack, Xie suffered from two black eyes, a swollen wrist, and post-traumatic stress disorder that made her too scared to leave her home, according to a GoFundMe page her family set up to raise money for medical bills .
GoFundMe raised more than $ 930,000 within a week of the attack. The original target was $ 50,000.
Now her family says Xie wants the money to go to the Asian American community to fight racism and say the problem is bigger than her, according to the online fundraiser.
The site also says that Xie’s mental and physical health has improved. Now she can open her injured eye and is “in a better mood”.
Anti-Asian attacks are increasing
San Francisco police said a 39-year-old man assaulted an 83-year-old Asian man and was followed by a security guard when he beat Xie.
The suspect was taken to the San Francisco County Jail and was due to appear in court later this month.
After the attack, police said investigators are “working to determine whether bias is a motivating factor”.
San Francisco Police have stepped up patrols in predominantly Asian neighborhoods after “an alarming spike in brazen anti-Asian violence in recent weeks” in the Bay Area, the ministry said.
Anti-Asian attacks have increased dramatically in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate group says it received more than 500 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents in the first two months of 2021.
The CNN Wire
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