Moved by security camera videos of older Asians being viciously attacked in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jacob Azevedo, a young Latino man, offered in an Instagram post to escort anyone in Oakland’s Chinatown who felt unsafe. Others saw the message and wanted to help him: Compassion in Oakland launched in February and has grown from hundreds to more than 2,000 orange-vested volunteers and is working to take the initiative to cities across the country.
“This [violence] is the worst we have ever seen, but it’s the best response I’ve ever seen myself, because when the worst came, we are seeing the best of humanity,” says Carl Chan, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1970s.
Moved by security camera videos of older Asians being viciously attacked in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jacob Azevedo, a young Latino man, offered in an Instagram post to escort anyone in Oakland’s Chinatown who felt unsafe. Others saw the message and wanted to help him: Compassion in Oakland launched in February and has seen volunteer applications grow from hundreds to more than 2,000, and the organization is working to take the initiative to cities across the country.
“This [violence] is the worst we have ever seen, but it’s the best response I’ve ever seen myself, because when the worst came, we are seeing the best of humanity,” says Carl Chan, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1970s.