An Asian American woman warrior donates almost $1M to fight racism against AAPI

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Xiao Zhen Xie, right, explains to a police officer how she fought back against her attacker.

OPINION

I found a new badass Asian American hero. She comes in the form of Xiao Zhen Xie, the 75-year-old woman who was sucker-punched by a white man in San Francisco – and then fought back by smacking him with a wooden board. He had to be carried away on a stretcher.

The suspect, Steven Jenkins, a 36-year old white man, punched Xie minutes after he assaulted an 83-year-old Asian man. The suspect was being chased by a security guard when he decided to punch Xie.

Although shocked and injured, Xie instinctively grabbed a board and struck back.

I'm not an advocate of violence. I'd much rather anticipate and avoid a violent incident than wade into confrontation that would inevitably end up in a fight and one of us, perhaps both of us, would wind up injured.

But I can't help but cheer when I heard the news story of Xie fighting back on March 17 on Market Street, one of San Francisco's main streets, and delivering instant justice to a bully who made the grave error in assuming Xie would be an easy mark.

The security guard corralled the attacker until police arrived.

But fighting back is not what makes Xie a hero -- although, there was a bit of me that felt a sense of instant justice had occurred. It is what happened afterwards.

Her grandson, John Chen, started a GoFundMe page with a goal of $50,000 to help pay for his grandmother's medical expenses from the unprovoked attack. As of Sunday, March 28, the page has raised $985,000+ -- almost $1 million.

In an update post, Chen wrote that his grandmother is recovering well from the emotional trauma as well as the physical injuries that she suffered..

"She said we must not summit to racism and we must fight to the death if necessary, wrote Chen. 

"She also stated multiple times to donate all the funds generated in this GoFundMe back to the Asian American community to combat racism. She insists on making this decision saying this issue is bigger than her. This is my grandma, grandpa, and our family’s decision. We hope everyone can understand our decision."

Asian American elderly have been the victims of several violent, unprovoked attacks resulting in at least two deaths and countless injuries that required hospitalization.

The death of 84-year old Vichar Ratanapakdee, a Thai American grandfather who was on his morning walk in San Francisco when an attacker ran across the street and knocking the elder to the ground sparked a nationwide media campaign against the hate attacks against AAPI.

Word of Caution: The post is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to read multiple accounts to form their own opinion.