They gather almost every night at San Francisco's Dragon Gate, the ornately decorated entrance to the nation's oldest Chinatown. Armed with only whistles and pamphlets, the volunteer neighbourhood patrol roams the streets, checking out ATMs and mum-and-pop shops in areas where Asian residents have experienced attacks that have left this neighbourhood on edge.
Some volunteers drive more than an hour to walk these blocks - largely deserted by a combination of fear and pandemic lockdown - to hand out bilingual fliers that explain how to report a crime to police. Similar patrols have sprouted in Asian neighbourhoods in Oakland, California, Los Angeles and New York City, a response to what these communities say is a wave of racist violence and harassment since headlines about a virus from China began appearing in US media a year ago.