In a short chain of events that even by California political standards can safely be labeled bizarre, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price first announced, then canceled an event scheduled for May 28, 2024, in which she was planning to announce her “Chinese name” as part of celebrating AAPI month. Price is black.
The planned event was to take place at the Oakland (California) Asian Cultural Center. Although exact details of what the event might have entailed remain unknown, it was stated that Elaine Peng, founder and president of Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities, would be in attendance and presumably participating in some fashion. Peng is a vocal Price supporter.
“The violence in Oakland started before Price became DA,” said Elaine Peng, president of Asian Americans for Progressive Alameda. “It’s not just Oakland, it’s a nationwide trend due to the pandemic, school closures and more guns.”
Both the initial announcement and subsequent cancellation of the event were made by a San Francisco television news reporter whom Price labeled in March 2024 a “spreader of disinformation.”
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UPDATE: we’ve been informed the press conference announcing DA Price’s Chinese name has been cancelled today. #aapiheritagemonth https://t.co/Z4eUAaFjMB
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) May 28, 2024
Price was referring to the reporter’s coverage of how Price had angered much of the AAPI community in general and the Chinese community in particular via her refusal to add enhancements to charges against suspected gang members who allegedly opened fire on each other while driving on an Oakland freeway in November 2021. During the gunfire exchange, a car being driven by the parents of two-year-old Jasper Wu was struck, the toddler dying as a result of his injuries.
Setting aside the “Chinese name” oddity for a moment, in fairness’ interest, it warrants mention that Price has at least one area of her job in which she is remarkably immune to racial consideration. Price couldn't care less about the skin color of a crime victim, letting perpetrators of black-on-black crime slide as easily as all others.
MORE: Oakland Mother Blasts District Attorney for Going Easy on Her Son's Murderer
When you are a black elected official, and the local NAACP is calling you out for not doing your job, you are a special one indeed.
Back to the “Chinese name” curiosity. Price has previously unsuccessfully attempted this tack to pander to Alameda County’s Chinese population.
Price has been using a Chinese name since at least last April, when she took out a full-page ad in Chinese-language US newspaper World Journal.
The characters translate to 'goon' (government official) 'seen' (kind or good) 'zing' (pure or virginity) in Cantonese, and provoked similar scorn at the time.
'It's actually pretty dumb to call herself that. The three characters together mean 'a nice virgin bureaucrat',' one Cantonese speaker noted at the time.
A measure to recall Price is on the November 2024 ballot in Alameda County.
MORE: California ‘Soft on Crime’ District Attorney Pamela Price Faces Recall in November
Price and her supporters have leveled racism charges against those involved in the recall effort. This is in error. The only color Price’s detractors see is red, as in the blood shed by crime victims while crime perpetrators grow ever bolder, knowing that even if caught, their punishment under due process of law will be minimal, if any.
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