building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc 7 news >> hello and welcome to the daily program, getting answers and asking experts your questions every day to get answers in real time. today we show you a powerful psa to fight anti-asian hay and talk to the san francisco filmmaker behind it. we also introduce you to a bay area martial arts instructor who is organizing free self- defense classes in the wake of recent attacks. we begin with widespread on the san francisco school board member to resign, after the discovery of past tweets that discuss an anti-asian bias. now, joining us is a software engineer, lowe's high school alumni now on the board, vice

president of friends little foundation. thank you for joining us . >> thank you kristin for having me . >> absolutely. you are one of the ones that discovered allison collins old tweets that caused such an uproar and calls for her to resign from san francisco mayor to kristin pelosi, so, i'm ju going to share this with people. this is one of them calling on the resignation of allison collins tweets that you pulled up a couple of the things that she wrote, i grew up in mostly asian-american schools and know the experience all too well, many asian americans believe they benefit from the model minority bs i in fact, many asian americans t, s and p.

promote these myths and use white supremacists thinking to assimilate and get ahead . >> my eyes are getting bad, i need glasses to read this off the monitor what you think she meant by this and why is it offensive to so many people? >> i think that she was saying that we are buying into white supremacy by having these high standards for our kids and, i think it's very harmful because it sort of like when children do really well in school and then they are teased for being too white. i don't think we should see doing well in school as white supremacy. we shouldn't equate those things . >> why did you start going through her old social media posts? what motivated you to do that? >> i had been following along at the board meetings, because

she and the board wanted to get rid of merit-based admissions at lowell high school. and i just saw that there seem to be she seemed to cut off parents who didn't agree with her, there was a hot mic moment where she said she was listening to a bunch of racists. i just wanted to see what i could find in social media, issued ever expressed similar sentiments. i also heard from a parent who she thought she heard during a board meeting allison collins ain't something like there are just too many asians at lowell, that's why i was looking . >> you also found another tweet that uses the n-word. what was that suggesting? >> it seemed that she was calling asians house and words because she felt

weren't politically active enough pushing back against the things that she disagrees with and, also, she seemed to be attributing asian success to cozying up to white supremacy, and, not giving asians the credit for their own work, just basically implying that the only reason that asians do well is because whites have decided to toss them a bone . >> first i want to let our viewers know that my colleague, leanne melendez and i have both reached out to board member, allison collins to try to get her side of the story and her reaction and her statement, and she has not responded yet, but we hope to have her on the show . but i will point out that she did to eat that the tweets were taken out of context. both of the specific moment and the nuance of the conversation that took place. i acknowledge that right now in this moment my words were taken out of context, can be causing more pain for those already suffering and for the pain, my

words may have caused it, i'm sorry and i apologize unreservedly. why not just accept your apology, i assume that you're saying that's not enough . >> it doesn't sound like an apology. it read just the very end. and i believe she spent three force of her medium article talking about trump and how his words are hurtful, and she never once takes responsibility for what she chose to say. she doesn't admit that she's done anything wrong, her apology sounds like she is saying well, i'm sorry i offended you. >> is there anything that she could do to make it right, short of resigning? which is what the mayor and a lot of people in the school district are asking for? >> i don't believe so . >> i think that her words and

the bias that she has shown probably could say they would see resentment between different races and it's just not appropriate for anyone who represents the voters of san francisco and the parents and students of san francisco to be saying things about the people they represent. so no, i don't think that she has the best interest of the students in mind when i think all that's left is for her to step down . >> allison collins aside, do you think that this particular san francisco school board acknowledges and here's the perspective of asian americans, students, parents in the community? >> i'm not seeing that. i have been logging into the board meetings and i hear that they are working together with different parent groups, but i

haven't seen that asian- american parent groups or asian- american groups in the community have had that same seat at the table, or the same chance to speak and give their perspective . >> asian americans make up what percentage of public schools? >> i believe it's 35% . >> and the board has how many members? one being asian ? >> yes. one. that's right . >> so i understand that tomorrow lowell alumni are holding a press conference, what are you going to be asking for? what is the point that you're trying to make? >> i think were gonna have to drive home the fact that her tweets just represent something that can't be stood for here, especially given the climate, especially given the recent attacks on asians everywhere, throughout the country. we

simply cannot have an elected official who shows this level of bias against a large portion of the people she represents . >> are you thinking there is a connection between the message that alison collins has tweeted and the type of hate we see against asian americans right now? >> i don't get the stretch because, she likes to attribute harm to words from trump but i think that the things that she has said are much more blatantly biased, she uses racial slurs against asians and, see that breeding resentment between communities because she is a community leader and she does have the ear of many communities of color. >> at a time when the community leader should be fostering

solidarity . >> that's right . >> dianne yap, thank you for your time and we will follow up with the news conference tomorrow. and in the meantime, an open invitation for board member, alison collins to join us here on abc 7 any time. ink you so much . >> thank you very much . coming up, local filmmaker joins us with his stop the hate public serv

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welcome back, sup the hate is a movement calling for the end of violence and harassment against asian americans. it's all over social media, a san francisco filmmaker is doing his part with the new public service announcement known as a psa joining us now is the

filmmaker in the psa. kerwin and and the, good to see you both >> kerwin, you are half asian, japanese-american on your mom side and a white father, you grew up in san francisco. who are newspaper reporter for a long time before becoming a filmmaker, why did you decide to make this psa called stop the hate? >> well, i think that well, the last administration really created an atmosphere of hate and this allowed racism to flourish i think after charlottesville, it became an acceptable behavior to do these sorts of things and, when covid hit it focused squarely on asian-american community. so, it has just gotten so bad over the last few weeks and i think

that it just pushed this into motion . >> all right. well, you poured all of that emotion into the psa, we are going to show you kerwin's psa, all two minutes in its entirety. but first we do want to warn you that, while we did leap out certain words that would get us in trouble with the fcc, we made a conscious decision to leave in some slurs against chinese americans and, we did so because we do want you to hear what many asian americans here all the time and feel the ugly betrayal that many asian americans feel all the time. so, here it is, kerwin burke's psa, stop the hate.

i'm not good with names . >> i serve every day for the rest of my life . >> i don't like the red hot chili peppers . >> hate . >> i don't want or netflix . >> i don't like you . >> i hate you people can't go back where you belong. >> i'm not a designated hero . >> i didn't get a haircut during the pandemic . >> i am not a virus . >> i am not a virus. >> i am not a virus . >> i am not a virus . >> call your neighbor . >> i am your neighbor . >> i am your neighbor . >> go back to whatever [ bleep ] asian country you belonging .

>> we are americans . >> blue, asian. back i will fight back . >> please stop the hate. >> [ bleep ] go back to asia . >> stop the hate . >> oh my god . >> stop the hate. >> enough is enough. >> stopped the hate . >> enough is enough. >> stop the hate. >> what are you saying, what are you doing? >> enough is enough . >> stop the hate . >> enough is enough . >> stop the hate. >>

this is not your home. we do not want you here. >> all right. ann, i'm gonna come to you because you are a chinese filipina you live in the bay area where there have been a lot of attacks recently, what have you experienced in your life recently that made you feel like you wanted to be a part of this messaging? you were the last person there in the psa that we heard from. tell us about what you have experienced. >> well, and thank you for having us on, it's wonderful for you to us on this platform . >>, i think that the testing especially more recently is that people feel like it's okay to call out slurs or to speak

out against, recently, i was just called a stupid [ null ] nip i had to look up with the slur met because i didn't know what it meant, unprovoked. it's not okay for folks to not feel like they are not safe in their own neighborhoods, to be looking over their shoulder and, that's a big reason why i participated in this psa . >> being called a nap. i assume you've heard the word [ null ] as well, because i say it because even though it's a slur, it was regularly used on tv through the 70s and for some reason, while we all recognize that the n-word is not okay, this word is also a slur and is still out there. >> you know, ann, how is this affected your daily life and how you go about your daily

life? >> i have a dog i don't walk my dog alone anymore. my has been and i also always walk them together i'm always looking over my shoulder. , i feel much more like i need to be very aware of my surroundings and, to be honest, a lot of us in the asian- american community has been texting each other for support. if you live in a less than ideal neighborhood and you feel unsafe, i can't just go for a walk without feeling nervous about it . >> so, tell me about what you hope to achieve by interspersing these real-life anecdotes not like i hate pickles, i'm a cat person, with such graphic violence that has happened to asian americans. >> i think we are all just trying to get through our lives one day at a time, and we all

have a certain sense of normalcy that is our life, and, the added weight that you carry when you are a person of color is that the just out of the blue you will be hit with a racial slur and, i've been called these things since i was five and i'm sure i will be called these things and i'm 75. so to juxtapose our lives is sort of the hate, and the vileness seems to be deliberating out there in the word seek to violence and if you watch the video you see them go into aggressive assaults it goes in a hard-core violence and then finally i think these things escalate, i really do. >> but, used to tell stories as

a journalist, but now you choose filmmaking, do you feel like the new approach gives you more freedom >> virtually every moment you get a point in your career where you hit a ceiling, if you're asian-american you get so far, were given a place at the table but we want the big promotion, we don't find the pot of gold . >> the bamboo ceiling hit the ceiling, or at least we suspect we had it. when i was a journalist i

started to feel undervalued and underutilized and i was [ inaudible ] to get a buyout. the other element to that was there was no creative fulfillment. when i left the paper it seemed to be a natural extension to going into film. >> please don't apologize, i wish the show was an hour so we could keep on talking, but i do feel like the psa is so powerful and we put this on our websites of people can see it and obviously the goal is to stop the hate. but thank you so much for joining us today, i appreciate your time. >> coming up next, local martial arts instructor offers free

it just when you think the world is full of hateful people, compassionate people are stepping up to say no more, no more attacks and no more hate and certainly no more staying silent or not fighting back. coming through social media we found a bay area martial arts instructor is putting together free self-defense classes in the wake of recent attacks on asian americans. joining us now is that instructor, rick ramose, clea rico, brother rico . >> thank you for having me >> a quick intro for the audience, you are filipino american, nato of san francisco, you teach filipino martial arts, tell us about where you teach and what you are offering . >> i teach out of south san francisco, there's a gym over there on grand avenue. it's called physique magna feet . if you want to combine or just get fed it's the place to go .

>> there been a lot of attacks and you are motivated to have people be able to protect themselves, what are you offering? >> here is what we are offering. what were trying to do because what i've seen in the news of late and all the trouble people of been having a we decided why not give out free classes to anybody who might be able to use it, and, here is the thing. i don't want people to get the wrong impression. i'm not going to teach you how to beat up everybody but what we are teaching is how to be more aware of your surroundings, how to not be a victim and, while we are going to do some physical stuff, it's all about release and run techniques, rather than sitting there trying to beat someone up , that makes us just as bad as the bad guys, so what were trying to do is get everybody to be aware of themselves and surroundings and how to just not get too confrontational. so it's a different thing and i hope people don't get the wrong impression that i'm gonna teach you to become some crazy person

. >> but, nonetheless, there are good techniques in the climate, how many friends and how many gyms are joining in the effort? >> it's amazing. it's a nice circle of martial artist, we have a couple from kaiser to and we have other forms of filipino martial arts, they are all over the bay area, some in pleasanton and saint carlos and some in vallejo, even all the way up to stockton. so, we've all come together saying this is something we should do, and they are all offering their services. you don't have to come to one location, we set up so you can go wherever you are closest to to make it easy for everybody . >> this is absolutely amazing, rick, i hope people all seize

this opportunity. how do people sign up? >> what they can do is reach me through either you guys or through facebook, i'm under rick ramos , or, through the webpage of the bladed mind. war, they could reach out to physique magna feet . >> as soon as we get people signing up we will try to put rings together for everybody. the sooner the better obviously. >>

>> thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show, getting answers. we will be here every week day at 3:00 on air and tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. a gunman opening fire at a grocery store. the images coming in now. reports of the gunman in the parking lot, then moving inside. opening fire at the store in boulder, colorado. >> the entire building is surrounded. you need to surrender. >> people down in the parking lot. thousands watching this youtube live stream as the events were unfolding. authorities say calls of an armed man with a long gun in the parking lot. the horrific scene inside the store tonight. police swarming the scene, surrounding the building. there are reports of multiple victims. police seen walking a man away in handcuffs. we have late reporting as we come on the air. what we know so far. the coronavirus in the u.s. and the state of emergency in miami. huge crowds violating an 8:00 p.m. sure few. packed streets, police firing pepper balls to disperse the