Community Members Rally at the Seal Beach Leisure World to Recent Anti-Asian Racist Incident
Thursday, April 1st, 2021
On April 1st, KRC visited Seal Beach Leisure World, an Orange County retiree community, for a solidarity demonstration with residents who were shocked by a recent anti-Asian racist incident. According to media reports, last month, a handwritten letter was sent to an 82-year-old Korean American woman who is a resident of the community. It said her husband’s recent death “makes it one less Asian to put up with in Leisure World.” and to “Watch out! Pack your bags and go back to where you belong!”. Currently, the Seal Beach Police Department is looking for the culprit through handwriting analysis and DNA investigations.
More than 30 people attended the demonstration, including Seal Beach Leisure World residents and KRC staff and members. On this day, the in-house community leader Grace Kim came out to the protest site and spoke out against racism with an energy and verve that defied the fact that she is over 90 years old. “This is a community with a lot of Koreans and respected diversity," Kim said, "and Koreans are usually passive on these issues, but they need to be vocal about opposing racism."
"Systemic racism and hatred has reared its ugly head once again. It permeates our day to day life. It might not always be as clear as this hate mail" said Eric Yang, Youth Organizing Manager at KRC, stressing that "We are all here to show support to not only the brave and strong Choi family but to all communities of color that have been attacked over and over for many, many years." Members of the staff also handed out free KRC T-shirts to residents.
It isn’t just physical violence—the use of documents or language with hateful messages also qualify as hate crimes. KRC has a hate crime hotline at 213-709-3685. Whether you think it's small or big, if you're harmed, get in touch and get help. Hotline assistance is also available in Korean.
