San Francisco officials and community groups are continuing to work to reduce hate, bias and related violence, including with a march set for Sunday along the Upper Great Highway.
On Saturday, Mayor London Breed, the city's Human Rights Commission and community leaders launched the Campaign for Solidarity to unite the Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx, American Indian and multi-racial communities.
"San Francisco is stronger when we are united and work together,'' Breed said in a statement. "We must continue to come together to denounce all forms of hate, bias and discrimination."
The campaign launched in Civic Center Plaza with intergenerational discussions, storytelling and sharing of successful examples of allyship and why standing together is important.
Event participants assembled "solidarity kits," which included children's books, family passes to the Asian Art Museum, mental health resources and information about public and personal safety.
The kits will be distributed to residents in Chinatown, Bayview Hunters Point, the Tenderloin and other areas.
San Francisco's measures to reduce racially motivated violence comes as crimes against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have soared since the start of the pandemic.
Local
According to Chinese for Affirmative Action, there have been 3,795 reports of such crimes since March 2020 across the United States, 43% of them in California. And about 24% of all racially motivated violence reported in California occurred in San Francisco.
"When we stand together in solidarity, we have strength," Jon Osaki, executive director of Japanese Community Youth Council, said in a statement. "It's more important than ever that we stop the finger pointing and violence that tears us apart."
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Regional and community leaders also held an event in support of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities on Saturday in Milbrae.
Organizers of the "United in Action with Asians" rally and march said its goal was to improve overall safety, awareness and protection of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander, or AAPI, communities and of communities in general.
Sunday's event in San Francisco, which seeks safety for AAPI communities, is slated for 1 p.m. Participants will meet at the intersection of Upper Great Highway at Sloat Boulevard. In addition to the march, there will be speeches, performances, and resource tables.
