What the recall of progressives in the Bay Area says about Asian American views on crime

The recall last week of two Bay Area officials who both championed progressive crime policies reflects long-held frustrations around a previous increase in violence targeting the Asian American community, experts say.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price were ousted by roughly 2 to 1 in races last week. The vote is indicative of Asian Americans' rightward shift toward tougher crime policies like much of the the state, analysts say. They the area's fastest growing racial group, making up 34.5% of the county and almost 16% of Oakland.

While the nine counties in the Bay Area favored Vice President Kamala Harris, for example, all shifted right last week toward President-elect Donald Trump since the 2020 presidential election.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, also lost a re-election bid to Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie, who campaigned aggressively on crime and street safety. And in 2022, Chesa Boudin, who advocated for restorative justice and ending mass incarceration, was ousted as San Francisco's district attorney in a recall.

The results point to Asian Americans' sensitivity to the issue of crime and safety due to the uptick of anti-Asian hate during the height of the pandemic that many feel went unaddressed, experts say. From March 2020 to December 2021, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country reported nearly 11,000 hate incidents, including verbal and physical abuse, being coughed at or spat on, and facing discrimination in the workplace.

"And a lot of people say, 'Oh, we've moved on from that era.' I don't think Asian Americans have," said James Zarsadiaz, author of "Resisting Change in Suburbia," whose research focuses on Asian American conservatism. "This uptick in violence and the criticisms of Chinese people ... people have not forgotten that, and that's fueling a lot of this frustration."

Additionally, for the many Asian Americans and fellow residents who have had personal experiences with crime over the past few years, the issue has likely become a primary motivation to vote, said Russell Jeung, a sociology professor at San Francisco State University who co-founded the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate.

"If you are a victim of crime, and your family is a victim of crime, then that's probably the most visceral 'in your face' election issue to address, because you don't want your family in danger," Jeung, who lives in Oakland, said. "I hear kids, high schoolers, talk about it. And I hear elders talk about it."

Jeung said that Asian Americans in Alameda County are likely part of a larger shift rightward across the state, citing the votes on two recent statewide policies: California voters overwhelmingly favored Proposition 36, which heightens punishments for certain misdemeanors, and they rejected a ban on forced labor in any form, including prisons.

Data paints a mixed picture of safety in the Bay Area. Violent crime across Alameda increased sharply between 2022 and 2023 with Oakland, its largest city, experiencing a 17% jump. But it's been decreasing since, dropping by more than a third this year, according to the Oakland Police Department . It's still higher, however, than pre-pandemic levels of violen ce.

The recalls come over a year after Thao, 39, and Price, 67, both took office in January 2023. Thao, the first Hmong American mayor to lead a major American city, was criticized shortly after taking office for letting go of a police chief and taking months to replace him.

In May 2023, she was again in hot water after the city missed a deadline for a state retail theft prevention grant. And in what many consider the final blow to her mayoral career, Thao's home was raided by FBI agents in July. The FBI has not revealed what prompted the raid. Thao has not been charged with a crime and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Thao's office did not respond to NBC News' request for comment. In her concession speech on Friday night, she reflected on her term.

"It was my goal to make Oakland safer, cleaner, and more vibrant," Thao said in the statement. "And I am proud of what we accomplished together."

Price initially pledged to end mass incarceration and prosecute more police officers. But she was accused of mishandling a slew of cases, including the 2021 gang-related fatal shooting of 23-month-old Jasper Wu, in which Price lessened murder charges against three suspects.

Price's campaign spokesperson Venus Gist said that there were "no updates at the present time,"on the recall but did not elaborate further.

While safety has long been a concern of Asian American communities in the Bay Area, particularly among a significant number of small-business owners, Zarsadiaz said, the violence during the pandemic left an indelible mark on the community.

In San Francisco, for example, officials received 60 reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans in 2021, compared with the nine in 2020. All-volunteer citizen patrols in Oakland attempted to address safety-related anxieties themselves.

"It's just a feeling that they were left hanging out to dry," Zarsadiaz, an associate history professor at the University of San Francisco said. "It just so happens that Democrats have been in charge of city leadership in both Oakland and San Francisco."

The call for tougher policies among Asian Americans could also be a reflection of experiences they've had with stricter governments in their home countries, both Jeung and Zarsadiaz noted.

"There is something there of an expectation of the government ... to protect their citizenry, even if they, for example, had negative experiences with that in the homeland," Zarsadiaz said. "They're accustomed to having some type of firmer structure and response to whatever they see as 'bedlam.'"

Jeung said that while frustrations have been widely felt, there's still a range of opinions on how to tackle crime in the area. But for him, it goes back to the distrust with law enforcement among urban communities.

"The approach is now making the justice system more of a rehabilitative educational system, having the police learn to work better with the community and to become more trusted, and that might go a long way," he said.