Asian Americans proved themselves to be a critical voting bloc this week as San Francisco overwhelmingly voted to remove three school board members from office.
Why it matters: The recall effort was largely driven by Asian American parents who were discontent with the board's delay in reopening schools, accused board members of unfairly prioritizing efforts to rename schools and were upset about plans to install a lottery admissions system at a prestigious local high school.
- The controversy spiraled further out of control after one board member's 2016 tweets resurfaced. Commissioner Alison Collins had used racist tropes to accuse Asian Americans of indulging in "white supremacist thinking" while discussing anti-Blackness in Asian communities.
- The comments led to an immediate backlash in the city, which experienced a 567% spike in anti-AAPI hate crimes last year.
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