San Francisco rally commemorates first anniversary of Vicha Ratanapakdee mural
By Carl Samson
A rally commemorating the first-year anniversary of a mural created to honor Vicha Ratanapakdee was held in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Sunday.
Dozens reportedly attended the event to remember the 84-year-old Thai immigrant, who was fatally shoved while walking along Anza Vista and Fortuna Avenues on Jan. 28, 2021.
The unprovoked attack, which was caught on video, occurred at the height of pandemic-driven anti-Asian violence across the U.S. Antoine Watson, 19, has been charged with homicide but not a hate crime in connection with the incident.
The mural, created by Thitiwat Phromratanapongse and Sarah Siskin based on an illustration by Jonathan D. Chang, is located at Grant Avenue and California Street. It was unveiled last year in an event attended by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Ratanapakdee’s family and community members.
The attendees of Sunday’s rally helped clean the mural. There were also discussions on a street renaming project and an anti-Asian hate open forum, according to NBC Bay Area.
A similar but larger rally erupted in Columbus Avenue earlier this month. Around 200 reportedly marched to Chinatown in search of justice for the recent attacks on a 70-year-old Asian woman and former commissioner-at-large Greg Chew.
“These two events inspired us to organize this march,” said Charles Jung of the Asian Justice Movement, as per the San Francisco Chronicle. “But it takes place in the context of two-and-a-half years of attacks on Asians, and a whole lot of inaction.”
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