Chino Yang recently wrote a rap — a diss track, to be specific — about his frustration with anti-Asian hate, the current state of San Francisco and Mayor London Breed. Within days, the Asian rapper found himself the focus of condemnation from San Francisco’s African American leaders and the subject of a media frenzy.
The reaction to Yang’s rap criticizing Mayor Breed was as much about the messenger as the message, said Kyle Shin, 26, a fifth-generation Chinese American in the city who is also a rapper. Generally, he noted, Asians are perceived as reserved, the “model minority.”
That model minority may be turning on Breed. Interviews with small-business owners and leaders in the Asian community indicate that many are unhappy with the mayor and ready to support another candidate in the November election.
“I see people that are mad at London Breed, you know, don’t trust her at all,” said Albert Chow, president of the neighborhood association People of Parkside Sunset and owner of Great Wall Hardware on Taraval Street.
“I know there’re a lot of people that aren’t very happy with what’s going on now with the politics,” added William J. Barnickel, president of the Outer Sunset Merchant Professional Association and a commissioner on San Francisco’s Veterans Affairs Committee. While Barnickel is not Asian, most of his association’s members are.
David Ho, a Chinatown organizer and political consultant, said that the community now sees the mayor as responsible for the public-safety issues that have been there for years. Previously, the mayor and others could blame former District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
“If Chesa Boudin was not recalled, none of these matters would be about the mayor,” he said. “It would be about the district attorney.”
And so it was in 2022. Some 58 percent of the Sunset/Parkside neighborhood is Asian, according to the 2020 census and, in 2022, 66 percent of Sunset voters chose to recall Boudin. The citywide average was 55 percent. Asian voters in San Francisco do not vote as a political monolith, but the Westside of the city is known to have a more conservative bent.
“Maybe this time we can point at the mayor, ‘You better do your job,’” added Sean Kim, vice president of Richmond District’s Geary Boulevard Merchants Association and owner of Joe’s Ice Cream. For small businesses, Kim said, it is dangerous to do business in San Francisco now. “But we don’t see any accountability, so we are not happy.”
Chow, who has worked with various city departments, said he does not personally fault Breed, and instead cites “a contested Board of Supervisors” and a shorthanded police department. He “might” vote for Breed in November’s mayoral election, he said, but is also considering mayoral candidate Ahsha Safaí.
But, he acknowledged, others tend to direct their anger toward the incumbent mayor. “I hear a lot of negative,” Chow said, maintaining that there’s growing dissatisfaction in his community. “I think [people’s perception of Breed] was better last year.”
‘His rap is valid’
After Yang, who moved to the U.S. at the age of 13 from mainland China and grew up in Bayview Hunters Point, released his verse in September. After it picked up national press attention, the mayor’s allies sprang into action: The Rev. Amos Brown, the president of the San Francisco NAACP, held a winding press conference pushing back against the rapper; he coaxed an apology from Yang, who later said Brown had threatened and intimidated him. Brown apologized yesterday.
For some Asian business owners, the spectacle was unsettling.
“I’m really glad to see Chino Yang speak up, and we have to support him,” said Kim, who also noted the chilling effect the aftermath of the incident would cause. “This kind of incident gives signal, ‘Oh, any other Asian small businesses, you better be quiet, otherwise you will be targeted.’”
“I think his rap is valid,” added Chow. “Many of our businesses have been burglarized, robbed. Chinese citizens or Asian citizens have been physically attacked. Some have died.”
“His motions, his dance moves, the way he talks, it’s all from the hood,” said Chow. “He’s Chinese, but he’s acting like he’s from the Bayview. It’s the culture that influenced him, the music that influenced him that he loves, that he embraces. It’s all part of San Francisco. There’s so much different variety here. ”
If not Breed, who?
Breed will have the benefit of incumbency, but she is facing a burgeoning field: Daniel Lurie, nonprofit founder and the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, pulled papers in September, joining District 11 Supervisor Safaí. Former District 2 supervisor and acting mayor Mark Farrell is reportedly exploring a run, and supporters of Board President Aaron Peskin have urged him to throw his hat in the ring.
The choice of the Asian community?
“Peskin,” guessed Chow. “They probably would vote for him because he’s Mr. Chinatown — if he ran.”
“People like Aaron,” added Barnickel of the Outer Sunset. “Aaron’s a nice guy.”
Others mentioned Lurie, saying his emphasis on public safety is appealing for many in the Asian community, who still fear violence.
“Asians around here are not very likely to vote for Breed,” said Stanley Jiang, owner of the vitamin store Mei Shen Ginseng, at Irving and 23rd streets. Jiang said he finds Lurie may be an ideal candidate because his campaign emphasizes “a safer San Francisco.”
“Around me, a lot of people support Daniel Lurie, probably because he’s new. Also a lot of people mention Aaron Peskin,” added Kim, hoping the more progressive board president would win over Breed.
For Kim, the mayoral election is a necessary step to “plug in all the holes” in the city’s criminal justice system where “probably we have holes in every single chain,” he said. “SFPD probably did a lot of work, but they are shorthanded … [DA] Brooke Jenkins really did her job, but somehow, we don’t see that much improvement because, the mayor, what did she do? She is just pointing fingers.”
Last Saturday, Lurie held an unofficial event at Irving Street Chinese restaurant Sun Maxim’s to meet his Sunset supporters. “Lurie’s platform prioritizes safety, and everyone here wants safety,” said Lee, owner of Sun Maxim’s, where several Lurie’s campaign signs remained visible. “I’ll vote for whoever values safety the most, and supports small businesses.”
Similar sentiments pervade Chinatown. “There is definitely a sense of turmoil in Chinatown … I think people are grappling with the current situation,” said Shin, the 26-year-old rapper whose latest album features San Francisco Chinatown. “There are difficulties, and it’s gone on for a long time.”
I live in the Mission District. I am not what one would call a “conservative” voter. But Chino Yang speaks for far more of San Francisco than the political class wants to acknowledge.
My building sits next to a street of homeless encampments. In the past few months our surveillance has recorded multiple encampment fires, one of which was confirmed as arson. There has also been at least one stabbing.
When we tried to have a meeting with Hilary Ronen, she didn’t even show up. Instead, an orchestrated Live Action Role Play of DSA “activists” showed up to shout down the rightly-concerned residents and defend the status quo.
Many of us are so fed up. Fed up with Breed. Fed up with the Board of Supervisors. Fed up with the toxic direction this city’s politics have gone. We demand change.
(Also, thank you Mission Local for excellent reporting on this)
Ronen stood up a meeting with residents of the North Mission neighborhood a year or two ago. The DSA and Ronen are not close. Ronen probably did what she did when she feared being held to account for abandoning Defund SFPD, called out her nonprofit and labor patronage network to harass residents.
It’s absurd that we have to try to choose politicians who think crime is bad and should be addressed, but that’s the political climate in SF right now.
Breed isn’t the worst on crime; obviously that was Boudin. But she just can’t seem to accomplish anything. That’s why people like Peskin even if he’s left of where they want to be.
The anti-Asian racism in this city continues to be appalling. It’s another area where at least Breed has said the right things sometimes, but she hasn’t actually done anything.
Safety is a primary human need. Progressives here have really lost sight of this. Other cities are turning around much faster post-pandemic because they’re more serious about limiting crime. It’s really that simple.
This article is yet another example of how hollow the discourse has become about the city’s “problems.” This article and the people interviewed can barely articulate what the problems are (presumably crime and homelessness) let alone what they want the a mayor to do about them.
Look folks, you can either throw every single homeless person in prison, or you can eliminate poverty and increase low-income/public housing. SF lacks the budget for either of those options.
I laughed out loud at the idea that people blamed the DA, now they blame the mayor, and they would vote for Peskin to repace Breed. These folks don’t even know what they want, let alone the ideological differences between Boudin, Breed, and Peskin. Would be nice for these voters to get a bit of a political education. But I guess we have the government we deserve.
I don’t think SF is going to find a mayor who has been more supportive of policing than Breed, who has made it central to her political agenda & persona. She never “defunded” the SFPD although that point has been widely misunderstood. Police have gotten more $ than ever before. Boudin wasn’t the problem either, but became a scapegoat for the City’s ills as SFPD launched a ‘wildcat strike’ often refusing to do their jobs in order to snuff out the light of police accountability that Boudin was shining for the first time from the DA’s office. Jenkins was never a registered SF voter before she lied and slinked her way into office, and while arrests & prosecutions are up, so are overdose deaths. Law enforcement does nothing to move the needle on health & poverty issues, unless it’s keeping people down and draining resources from lifting people up. We’d all be a lot safer and happier if the latter were the case. Call me a stubborn idealist if you must, but it’s more constructive to try than to keep moving eggs between politicians’ baskets or trying the same old failed tricks. What irks me, not just about the way this story is being told, is that many voters think rolling the dice on someone new is the first alternative to dissatisfaction. It’s not, and frankly why would a rookie mayor do a better job? For example, Lurie has never worked in government, but has had the benefit of the fortune beneath his feet to stand on his high ground. How can voters continue to believe the stump speeches and then demand all their needs be met immediately? I don’t have a pick for mayor to uphold, but I do encourage people to learn more about addressing the root causes of crime & poverty, and focus energy on making sure elected officials put resources into proven solutions that can help everyday San Franciscans, instead of just blanketly expecting more cops or a single person (like a Mayor) to solve every problem. It’s time for SF voters AND elected officials to work smarter because we’re collectively running out of fingers to point.
I love rap (and I am a 60 yr old woman) but I don’t love Breed. I had high hopes when she came into office but now I am just disappointed. She and her team lack any creativity in managing the city or responding to crises. I am looking forward to voting her out.
Regarding issues around the police, I have read only 21% of cops live in San Francisco. And there are a few super commuters who fly in to do their job. The takeaway is most of the officers on the street just don’t have the same incentive to respond to police calls as those who are part of our community. Breed and the Board of Supervisors should look into subsidizing housing for cops. That can only help with recruiting potential cops who want to live here as well as serve.
The current mayor is clearly an incompetent administrator. She has no real vision for the city, no idea how to approach its problems—and seems unable to find people to surround herself with who do have good ideas.
Peskin by contrast just seems to be a competent, efficient politician. Probably either of he or Mark Farrell would make a much better mayor in spite of superficial political differences. Lurie and Safai would be rolling the dice again…
I like that song and production. It needs no genre designation. The best line I have heard all day came from Chris Christie a he closed his campaign. He said the reason the authors of the Constitution did not mention keeping criminals out of office is they thought we would be smart enough to figure that out. Obviously not. When crime is not punished it becomes pervasive and that is what we are living with.
I wonder if he tried to contact Dean Preston when he was burgled and got the silent treatment like most of us in D5.
Thank you Chino! You are speaking the truth about SF. I love my city.
I’m not Asian and I’m voting for anyone besides Breed.
so the identity politicians have convinced another community that sfpd lack officers to do their job.
yet, we now here her ‘zonor lauding how effective the sfpd was over the holidays. they made upscale shoppers comfortable perusing their altars of worship in union square and kept the mission free of all those downscale shoppers buying off the sidewalk.
sfpd and their poa held the city hostage (just like twa250a does) to get her ‘zonor to appoint lap dogs (jenkins, dorsey,) for political gain.
just like the dolores hill-bomb fiasco, sfpd finds the resources to project power and control when it serves her ‘zonor and the community (excluding poor and powerless minors).
Rap is not inherently Chinese. Give it up man.
Man’s race has nothing to do with the quality of his rap. Was it a great rap song? I wouldn’t say so, but there is no denying the importance and validity in his message. His messaging reminds me of a line from “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”, which is “You don’t get to hate it unless you love it”. I think Chino Yang’s criticisms come from a place of love and pride in our city. It is too bad our city by the bay is not being allowed to shine the way we all know it can.
It would be at the same time hilarious and sad to see handy andy tell Juandalynn Abernathy that classic music isn’t for her.