AMID the continued surge of anti-Asian hate and violence in the United States, an elderly Filipina American is the latest victim after being attacked and robbed in the Bay Area last week.
Antonette Solis, 68, was shopping in Oakland’s Chinatown along 8th Street on Friday, April 30, when an unnamed man allegedly snatched her purse in broad daylight and threw her down on the pavement, according to an NBC Bay Area report.
“I’m buying mango and all of a sudden somebody grabbed my body and dropped me here,” Solis told the news station.
“I didn’t see it. He grabbed me in the back. Grabbed me, trying to get my purse, and he took it,” she added.
This is Antoinette Solis. I asked for her permission to record her. She’s from San Leandro. She was shopping for mangoes ? in Oakland’s Chinatown when a man stole her purse that had $200+ in cash. She says she hit her head very hard on the concrete. #StopAsianHate @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/9lNcTwfmo5
— Melissa Colorado (@melissacolorado) April 30, 2021
Solis also told NBC Bay Area that she “hit her head” very hard on the concrete after she was attacked.
She reported that police did not arrive at the scene.
The purse, according to Solis, contained around $300 in cash and a treasured jade bracelet.
The NBC Bay Area reported that a young woman with a volunteer foot patrol team saw the incident and memorized the attacker’s license plate.
Despite the calls for the violence against Asian Americans in the U.S. to stop, the members of its community continue to suffer attacks.
Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that tracks anti-Asian American discrimination, reported that from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, it has received 3,795 firsthand incidents of racism and discrimination from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Of that number, 503 incidents took place in the first two months of 2021 alone.
On April 28, U.S. President Joe Biden called on the House of Representatives to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act approved by the Senate, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.
Biden thanked the Senate for advancing the legislation, saying “you acted decisively and you can see on television the viciousness of the hate crimes we’ve seen over the past year — this past year and for too long.”
He also “urged” the House to pass its version of the bill “and send that legislation to my desk, which I will gladly, anxiously sign.”
