hi, there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called getting answers. thanks for tuning back in after a glitch yesterday and some challenges. so thankful you stuck with me. today, we're going to ask questions of experts, things, every day we'll talk about at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time, which you can ask on facebook live. we'll talk about reopening of schools with the president of the teachers union in san francisco. we'll also get to the impeachment trial. what did we learn from the fir y what happens next? first, violent robberies and attacks are on the rise in san francisco and oakland. many have been on members of the asian american community. today, a coalition has come together to demand that bay area leaders make investments that will safeguard the community.

joining us now to talk about this call to action are sarah on your right, executive director of chinatown youth center of san francisco, and russell of stop aapi hate. russell and sarah, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be here, kristen. >> thank you for having us. >> russell, we have seen some of these shocking attacks on video, but you at stop aapi hate have been tracking violence against asian americans for the past year. what do your numbers show? is it truly an increase or does it just feel that way? >> there's clearly an increase in the racism directed towards asian americans. last year, we received over 2,800 reports of racism, of harrowing cases of being physically assaulted, having racial epithets flung at us, and our elderly have been disproportionately affected as well. people are targeting vulnerable populations, and our cases,

elderly get more physically assaulted than the general population. so we have seen that clear trend. and it's nationwide, not just the bay area. >> can i ask you to take a little more closely, you mentioned the elderly, so age is a factor in terms of who is being chosen as victims. but how are they attacked? is it mostly physical, mostly verbal, and for what reasons? there are usually racial epithets or crimes of opportunity, the perception they have money? what do you think? >> so 70% are mostly verbal harassments. there are civil rights violations because they're getting harassed so much, they can't shop, they can't get access to goods and services. and actually, rather than calling those hate crimes, those are hate incidents, where they should per sue civil rights enforcement from california agencies or from civil rights ag. phys ass t cases, and those are

considered hate crimes. especially if a person expressed racial bias. like go back to china, or use slurs. but the hate -- but the crimes we're seeing recently against our elderly, we don't know what the mote vagueivation is behind crimes. >> we saw the first big wave after the pandemic. it's been sustained and recently, we have seen more physical assaults in terms of robberies. sarah, you're on the ground in chinatown in san francisco. what's been the impact on the community financially, emotionally, mentally? >> i think it's definitely a huge impact. as you can see, a lot of our senior population do not feel safe in the community. and most of the families with young children do not feel safe at the same time. we really want to raise awareness and get help and call for all the major stakeholders like a mayor and our board supervisor to help support efforts to help insure that not

only do the victim and survivor get the services they need, but how do we do prevention and intervention programs. >> as part of that, today, cyc is one of six groups that joined together this morning, held this news conference to really call for not necessarily more policing, but as you said, other forms of investments in the community to prevent these attacks. maybe give us a little more examples of the three, you know, approaches that you're talking about, and examples for each. >> right. since last year, with the escalation of violence, there's a new coalition called coalition on community safety and justice, and we are a committee rich team that will go out to commercial corridor hot spots that will hope to communicate with merchants, residents, in their language, because we definitely see a huge lack of language and cultural competency services from anywhere. and we hope to be there to reach out to them when they need help. the second piece is really

victim support. that's why today we're also announcing a building or creation of a new victim and survivor response fund. a lot of times the victim of crime when they receive support, maybe from district attorneys' office, they have tight restrictions and they might have other needs that cannot be addressed. with this, we hope to provide the flexibility and also create assets to the victims of crime to meet their needs. the other piece is also very important to restore justice. we want to create space across culture healing that address the underlying causes and create ways for everyone to thrive. we believe the community, we cannot have a safe one just by ourselves. we have to work with other communities together. >> russell, do you see that in terms of national efforts to coordinate efforts with other underrepresented minority groups to speak as one and work together to solve some of these systemic issues?

>> i see nationwide, especially in urban centers, a lot of cross racial efforts. a lot of movements for racial justice. for example, asian americans are the racial group most supportive of black lives matter. and they have really gone out to those rallies. and in the same way, i think, a lot of communities of color have supported asian american ethnic enclaves as they stand up against racism we're experiencing. it's a nationwide cross racial effort to dismantle the racism we're all experiencing. >> sarah, in san francisco, at least, you know of any talk to perhaps form a community benefit district in chinatown like there is in japantown, union square, where property owners and business owners can get together, say we want this, and essentially work with the city as a partner to fund some extra services, which could include policing or if not policing, you know, patrols, security? so what do you think? is there talk of that? >> i think many groups are eager

to take actions to tackle all this violence, so currently, there's many groups talking in chinatown from merchant associations, community partners and might not necessarily have to call community benefit district, but we are constantly having meetings and people are united than ever. they want to come together to really tackle this issue that in chinatown, in japantown, in the tenderloin, in any area in san francisco, because we know this is not only chinatown in san francisco that has this violence incident, but city wide. we're over 30% of the population in san francisco. >> sarah, you and the other groups together today are calling for a day of action coming up this saturday, february 13th. tell us about that and how can the public get involved? >> so on february 13th, that will be an event in oakland, and we want to continue that action movement so that event in san francisco will be february 13th. it will be held at civic center

plaza, the time around noon, but more details will come out on social media, but thank you for bringing that up. >> absolutely. yeah, and russell, what would you advise we as individuals, no matter where we live, in the suburbs or the city, what color we are, what state we're from, what can we each do to really try to make the situation better? protect our elders and also try to prevent hate crimes from happening? >> well, if you do see an incident or if you experience one yourself, we're really encourage people to report to stop aapi hate. we can really make precise interventions and policy recommendations. if you see it happening via an intervener and stop the harassment or the crime from happening, and donate your money to these funds for victims and for community ambassador programs, community outreach programs. >> absolutely.

and our reporter wayne freedman has more on this today at 4:00. so sarah, executive director of the community youth center of san francisco, based in chunatown, and russell of stop aapi hate, thank you both for your insight. take good care. oh, and happy lunar new year in advance. just a few days ahead. >> all right, coming up next, folks, we'll talk reopening schools in san francisco with the president of the san francisco teachers union. and later, the impeachment trial breakdown. we'll take a short break

>> welcome back. we're turning our attention now to reopening schools. as the san francisco unified school district reached a tentative agreement with the

teachers union known as the united educators of san francisco this past weekend. it's expected to be ratified by the board of education. i think they're starting the board meeting now, but joining us is the president of the united educators of san francisco and former teacher in the school district, susan solomon. susan, welcome. >> thank you so much, kristen. good to be here. >> thank you. you know the city just announced today it's expanding vaccine eligibility to teachers, along with child care workers, food and grocery workers, and emergency workers like police. it will start in two weeks. what is your reaction to that news? >> that is very promising news because as you know, our tentative agreement includes having vaccines for school workers and schools that will be opening. and having a timeline for that to make sure they happen soon is really important to getting our kids back in school. >> yeah, let me just explain to our viewers, i think the agreement, and correct me if i'm wrong, is that you can go back for in-person teaching if the

city and county, if it's in red, plus everyone gets the vaccine, or when we are in orange and no vaccine required. i want to dive a little deeper into that because we may be in the red tier if things go well by next week. certainly in two weeks. but vaccination, mayor breed says she's concerned that all staff would take too long. would the school year kind of -- we have, i gerguess, less than months to go. are you worried given the way the supply has been short that kids may not get back this year? >> i would only be worried if we can't get the vaccines, and that's where we reliar greatly on mayor breed and the city of san francisco to make sure that the vaccinations we so much need for school employees come to us. >> but why the need for red tier if you have already been vaxed? >> because it looks like -- i'm

not sure about what the question means there. >> because one of the questions is we would go back if we're in the red tier and we have been vaccinated. the staff and teachers at the school. but if they have been vaccinated, what difference tuz it make in your opinion if it's in purple or, you know, whatever tier we're in? >> that's partly, actually, for the community and the students. because students won't be vaccinated, and clearly, we're not requiring that, so we wanted to make sure it's safe for everybody and getting from deep purple to purple to red will make it safer for everybody. >> i see. okay. just to let people know, san francisco's plan, again, correct me if i'm wrong, it's in waves, right? the reopening. i think the first group, there are 12 schools. we have a graphic we're going to show you of some of the schools. they include six elementary schools. susan, i don't know if you're able to see, and i'm sure you probably memorized it, what are some of the schools in the first wave, and why in particular those schools? >> so i'll speak to the why.

first of all, one of the critical elements is it's not just early education centers that are opening. five of those and actually six elementary schools, but those six elementary schools have classrooms for students who have moderate to severe disabilities. and they are a priority group. >> i see. i see. so that is the priority, to get them back in the classroom because distance learning is harder for that population, is that right? >> in many cases, not in all cases. it depends on the disability, but yes, we want to make sure we prioritize the students with the highest needs. >> got it. those teachers and staff at those schools vet vaccinated first. what about if somebody doesn't want to be vaccinated, for example, let's say one of your colleagues at a school. can their colleagues go back if they have been vaccinated or does it require that every single person at a school? >> it does not require that everybody be vaccinated. it's not a mandatory vaccine. we do hope that people will take advantage of it. we know that there are some

people who may have medical reasons they can't, but part of the agreement we have with the district is we're jointly going to do educational program about the vaccine and the value of having it. and it's something a lot of educators have been looking forward to, by the way. having that vaccine. >> okay. and the cdc has said data suggests that there's very little transmission that's happening within the schools, and many private schools in the city have gone back. they have been back for a few months. i wonder if their experiences offer you some reassurances that this, too, could be done safely in san francisco. you know, hopefully with a vaccine, but perhaps even without. >> so one of the differences between private schools and public schools, especially in a large urban district like san francisco, is availability of resources. and that was true pre-pandemic as well. our schools have been underfunded for a very long time. so being able to have the resources, which often translates into funding for the things that we need, because in addition to vaccines, we need

ppe and masks for students, and the adults. we have to have the socially distanced classrooms and work spaces so making space for that. health screenings, some of the schools, many need ventilation upgrades and are getting them, and then having a clear covid cleaning protocol, and then contact tracing. so i don't know if you remember, kristen, but back in the summer, when we were first looking at this, the district found out by doing an inventory that they didn't have enough soap. that's not the district's fault. that's our resources fault. we should never be talking about public education and saying there's not enough soap. >> absolutely. >> and that's an equity issue. that's an equity issue, so that's a difference. >> yeah. okay. i mean, no doubt all the parents are hoping all those pieces will be in place so that they and you as teachers can go back safely. have your members reported successes or failures of distance learning during this past year that you think would be important to highlight?

>> i think so. we have seen successes. i love hearing these stories, actually, about how they have engaged those students online. it's been -- i want to make it clear, nobody chose distance learning. we actually call it crisis distance learning because we never would have adopted it if not for the pandemic. but one of the things i also love hearing about is how teachers and other educators are supporting each other and sharing best practices with each other. here's how you do this background, here's how you use, you know, google classroom. >> and some of those things may even carry into the next school year. i don't mean full distance learning, but best practices. so give us your best guesstimate, and i mean guesstimate, as to when the majority of kids in the city and the teachers might go back into the classroom. >> so, i really hesitate to do that because when dates have been put out there in the past, other things have gotten in the way, including a covid surge.

i'm really hoping we're not trending in that direction. i'm really hoping the rumors about super bowl parties are not true, and we won't see a surge, but we do have what's really great is we have a clear sequence in place. we know that list of things that i just listed as safety standards, all of that is happening, being put in place in schools. vaccines will roll out, and then of course, if we get into the orange tier, which would be great news, we won't have to wait for vaccines. >> right, absolutely. let's hope it happens sooner rather than later. i know everybody will be excited when they see their teachers, you know, with their sleeves rolled up getting their shots. susan solomon, thank you so much for joining me for this conversation. really great talking with you. >> great time with you, too. hope to talk to you again. >> all right. coming up next -- thanks, susan. we'll be diving into the impeachment trial. today, obviously, first day in the senate. the big takeaways and

>> and we're back. we're wrapping up day one of the impeachment trial for former president trump on the charge of inciting the insurrection at the capitol on january 6th. just before our show, the senate voted along largely party lines on the constitutionality of holding the trial. it passed, so joining us now is lahnee chen, a stanford hoover institution fellow, and he's served as a senior adviser on policy to the national republican senatorial committee. good to see you again. >> hi, kristen. >> let's start with that vote that was just taken in the trial. 56-44. on the question of whether it's constitutional to hold this trial, explain that. >> yeah, i mean, so the question, you know, essentially is this, once a president has left office, can you have a trial to assess these charges that were brought against him in the impeachment proceedings in the house, now in the senate. can you essentially have a remedy against a former president once that president has left office? because the remedy provided for

in the constitution for the impeachment is removal from office, but trump is already gone. so the question was essentially, can you do this or not. and as you noted, the senate ended up voting to say yes, you can have this trial. yes, you can assess whether in fact there was guilt as against the impeachment charges and as you said the vote was largely along party lines. a few more republicans did come over. >> i was going to ask who were the six. >> to vote that the trial could go forward. susan collins of maine, lisa murkowski, ben sasse, mitt romney, pat toomey of pennsylvania. so a few republicans did end up voting with the democrats, in addition to what we saw with the previous impeachment trial in january. >> okay, so i wonder about the argument, though, mitch mcconnell, who is no longer majority leader, but when he was, he didn't want to have the trial while president trump was

still president. he decided to wait, now president trump is former and no longer president, and he says the trial should no longer be held because he's no longer president, is that circular in terms of the argument? >> there is this sort of political dance that has to happen, you know, as in particular for a number of republicans who are encountering these questions now who said forcefully after january 6th, look, what the president did was wrong. they called out the president personally. now that a few weeks have passed, obviously, the question is are they still in the same place or have they come over to support the president? by and large, more republicans have come back to support the president. and i think that is some indication of how president trump, the former president, how he still has a significant amount of sway with republican voters, with republicans around the country, and as a result, you have republican senators responsive to trying to help or at least to defend the former president. >> yeah.

all right, so let's talk about the two sides. the democratic prosecutors and former president trump's defense attorneys each made their case today. talk about what you think each side did well today, where they scored points. >> well, look, the democratic prosecutors, the impeachment managers from the house, they told a story today. they really took us back to that awful day, january 6th. they walked through in an emotional visual way what happened, and they tried to pin responsibility for that directly on former president trump. the argument from trump's lawyers, from those defending president trump, was much more dispassionate. it was much more about, here's a statement of why there are constitutional jurisdictional, legal concerns with what the house impeachment managers are trying to do. very different approaches. it wasn't -- the approach from trump's lawyers wasn't particularly confrontational. if you think back to the impeachment proceedings in twenty 2020, that was direct

confrontati confrontation. that was one side going after the other side. very mean, very nasty. this was nasty. this is about the democratic managers trying to express in an emotional way why the president should bear responsibility, why donald trump should bear responsibility, and why on the other hand, from trump's lawyers, that responsibility isn't the issue. it's about the legal and constitutional question. very different approaches. >> so we have one minute, but i want to ask you, so what's the next step? and what is the timeline? >> well, this trial is going to go on for a few more days this week. i think the idea is to try and finish it out this week. i don't think either side wants it to drag on. i think both sides are interested in trying to get this done. we're going to continue over the next few days to hear the various issues at play. this should be a relatively short proceeding compared to one last year. >> all right, real quickly, because i'm told i have 30 seconds more, which is today's vote was 56-44.

do you expect that's going to be the way it's going to go and that president trump will be acquitted? or do you think there's some things that can happen in the trial that can change additional minds and get democrats to the 66 votes they need? >> no, i don't think there is. i think that this vote count is going to remain roughly where it is. this trial and everything about it is a predestined kind of outcome. i fully expect that the president, the former president, will be acquitted. >> all right, lahnee chen, hoover institution, always great to talk to you. if you join

>> all right, thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show, getting answers. today, we talked to leaders demanding action for violent crimes against asian americans.

we talked with the president of the san francisco teachers union about reopening anot theliff of tonight, the historic second impeachment trial of former president trump. and the vote playing out just a short time ago. six republicans joining the democrats in voting the trial is constitutional. it will move forward. the former president charges with incitement of insurrection. house managers presenting a graphic 13-minute video of the january 6th riot. the president's own words before the siege. what trump supporters were saying as they stormed the capitol. quote, we are listening to trump, and hang mike pence. house manager democrat jamie raskin breaking down as he recounted bringing members of his own family to work that day, the day after burying his son, describing how his family hid under a desk, afraid they were going to die. the former president's legal team denouncing the insurrection but insisting that former