Fear, and Discord, Among Asian Americans Over Attacks in San Francisco

A string of attacks against older people of Asian descent has led to calls for more police officers, an idea rejected by the city’s Asian American leaders.

SAN FRANCISCO — Two grandmothers stabbed and a third punched in the face in broad daylight. An 84-year-old man fatally shoved to the ground while on his morning walk. In the past seven months, at least seven older Asian residents have been brutally attacked in San Francisco, a city with one of the largest Asian American populations and the oldest Chinatown in the country. “It’s a horrible feeling to be afraid in your own community,” said John Hamasaki, who is a member of San Francisco’s Police Commission and who is ethnically Japanese. “People are genuinely afraid to go outside, to walk down the street alone.” The attacks first shocked and angered Asian American residents in the city. But the question of what to do about the violence has now become a source of division.