by Akemi Tamanaha, Associate Editor
This past weekend Asian Americans joined marches throughout the country ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Demonstrators were not just protesting Trump. They also called for an end to “billionaire agendas” and rallied behind working-class people.
In San Francisco, a march was held on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On Saturday over 1,000 people gathered in the Mission, a traditionally Latine neighborhood, for the Day of Resistance March. Marchers carried signs advocating for a number of issues they fear will worsen under the Trump administration, but the focus of the demonstration was to support the immigrant community.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu spoke at the beginning of the march to assure folks that he would stand up against Trump’s plan to target sanctuary cities like San Francisco.
“He said what we were doing was illegal,” Chiu told marchers. “It is not. I tell you that as your city attorney because no human being is illegal.”
On Sunday, several thousand people gathered at the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco for the “We Fight Back” march. The demonstration was held to protest not just the far-right agenda of the Trump administration but also other “billionaire agendas.” Marchers and speakers advocated for a number of progressive issues, criticizing both the Republican and Democratic parties.
“We Fight Back” was endorsed by close to 200 organizations, many of which identified as socialist. Actions were held over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in over 80 cities, including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York City, Atlanta, Houston and more.
Asian American speakers at the march in San Francisco called for an end to U.S. imperialism. Shin, an organizer with Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, expressed their concern about U.S. imperialism under Trump.
“…as Donald Trump rises to reclaim power, both the Republicans and the Democrats remain united in their common goal, to escalate the arc of U.S. imperialism, to continue to wage forever war and to deepen the suffering of the masses all across the world, all to line the pockets of the billionaires that they serve at our expense,” Shin said.
Nodutdol, a national non-profit, has launched the “U.S. Out of Korea,” movement, calling for. Its organizers from chapters in Los Angeles, New York and the Bay Area attended “We Fight Back” marches throughout the country.
At the San Francisco march, Shin also expressed solidarity with Palestinians.
“As Koreans, we take seriously the call from our Palestinian comrades to fight, not just for ceasefire, but for full liberation,” Shin said.
Sheila Xiao, an organizer with Pivot to Peace and a California Community College research analyst, echoed Shin’s sentiments about U.S. imperialism and a free Palestine. In her remarks, she criticized billionaires and politicians for weaponizing the fears of the Asian American community to bolster police forces and destroy progressive policies.
“And let me be clear, the billionaires that push this agenda have no real concern or regard for the Asian American community. They don’t care about us. What they do, what they did is they use us to take down progressive politics in this city,” Xiao said.
She also reminded the crowd that racism and violence against Asian Americans did not just begin during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We remember this so vividly from COVID-19, but we know that this was a culmination of a decades-long campaign to demonize China and Chinese people as a whole,” Xiao said.
On Monday, several thousand people gathered for the Martin Luther King Jr. march in San Francisco. San Francisco City Attorney Chiu also attended this march as well as several other city politicians like new mayor Daniel Lurie.
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