The first Korean American elected official in San Francisco, Supervisor Jane Kim, is calling for the removal of a rap music video she calls “anti-Asian American” from social media.
Kim has accused “Meet the Flockers,” a song by Compton-based rapper YG, of detailing a how-to on burglary and says it promotes Chinese Americans as easy targets.
“The lyricism and imagery of this video is deeply offensive to Chinese Americans, and dismantles community-based efforts that seek to build positive race relations among African Americans and Asian Americans,” Kim, who is running for election to the State Senate, said in a press release Tuesday night.
Kim asks that Vimeo and YouTube remove the video “in compliance with hate speech guidelines for online content.”
“First, you find a house and scope it out,” the song starts. “Find a Chinese neighborhood ’cause they don’t believe in bank accounts.”
These two lines have struck a chord within the Chinese American community, and as Fox 11 reports, have many Chinese American business owners concerned for fear of being singled out. The controversy follows a home invasion that occurred earlier this month in Georgia, in which a Chinese American household was targeted.
While the video is already two years old, the recent attention is getting a reaction from the Asian American community as well as the Chinese community overseas.
BLACK LIVES MATTER BUT CHINESE LIVES MATTER TOO. @YG NOT A REAL RAPPER. https://t.co/7ueYXllGOB
— Edward Yan (@happylittlenerd) September 24, 2016
Meet The Flockers by YG #np on #SoundCloud now I think I need a gun to protect myself in USA #meettheflockers https://t.co/Z5lCVAauLG
— Jason Chen (@iamjasonchen3) September 25, 2016
A petition to ban the song from social media has been launched, and has over 40,000 signatures. It will need to reach its goal of 100,000 signatures by Oct. 21 if the White House is to respond with action.
