A fight between two women on a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus earlier this month has prompted a discussion among community leaders about how to reduce tensions between the city’s Asian and African American communities.
Today, community leaders are hosting a panel discussion and media roundtable to examine the underlying issues that contributed to the incident and to begin “a plan for reconciliation and healing.”
A video of the fight, recorded by another passenger, was posted on YouTube and quickly went “viral,” attracting hundreds of thousands of views.
Kevin Weston, director of new media for New American Media, one of the participants in today’s meeting, said the video highlights existing problems between the communities.
“We just want to have a very honest and clear dialogue about what the problems are,” Weston said. He said groups are considering forming a permanent working group to address the issues.
Weston said the existing tensions have arisen, in part, from an influx of Asian immigrants into traditionally African American neighborhoods in Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley, and of African Americans into Chinatown.
The fight occurred aboard a Chinatown bus.
