Police chiefs to publicize burglaries targeting Asian Americans Jan. 16

Presenter: Last month, Haleigh Kochanski of the Register-Guard reported that burglars are targeting Asian Americans, right here in Eugene. Jensina Hawkins:

Jensina Hawkins (Churchill Area Neighbors): The Register-Guard mentioned that EPD said that seven Asian households in Eugene have been hit by this burglary ring, and that’s actually a huge percentage when you consider the makeup of our demographic population.

[00:00:20] Presenter: Jenny Jonak:

[00:00:21] Jenny Jonak (Asian American Council of Oregon): I sit on the board of the Asian American Council of Oregon. And several of us had read the article in the Register-Guard about the crimes in the area that had been targeting Asian Americans. I had read news articles about that happening in other states. I didn’t realize it was happening in Oregon, and I definitely didn’t realize it was essentially in our backyard. So there was consternation, surprise, that none of us had been told about this issue because I think it’s something that our community would definitely want to be aware of.

[00:00:53] Presenter: Jensina Hawkins:

[00:00:54] Jensina Hawkins: Yeah, EPD had done several press releases leading up to this about a burglary ring, but they haven’t mentioned anything about targeting Asian homes or residences of Asian business owners. And for some of us who happen to be Asian business owners in the area, it was certainly alarming to not have the notification to be more prepared.

[00:01:18] And then, of course, finding the information out from the Register-Guard instead of from the law enforcement agencies that we would expect to be more proactive and that we believe we have an excellent working relationship with, was disappointing.

[00:01:30] One of the burglaries happened actually in my neighborhood very close to our home. And so we spent all of Christmas break going out and buying and installing more Ring cameras around our house.

[00:01:42] Presenter: Jenny and Jensina are working with the NAACP to host a public information meeting Thursday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Trauma Healing Project. The police chiefs from Eugene and Springfield will be there to answer questions. Jenny Jonak:

[00:01:58] Jenny Jonak: It will be this Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. It’s at the Trauma Healing Project offices, and shout-out to NAACP because they helped us coordinate this space and set it up and the sound system and everything else. So they’ve been, you know, just hugely helpful in collaborating on this.

[00:02:17] Presenter: How can the community support this effort? Jenny Jonak.

[00:02:20] Jenny Jonak: I think showing up, first and foremost, would be great, just to know that you stand with our Asian American community, that this is a priority for the community. And both safety and doing what we each can to combat stereotypes and some of the implicit bias that we see affecting our Asian American community. And so, you know, getting the word out there also is helpful.

[00:02:45] Presenter: Jensina Hawkins:

[00:02:46] Jensina Hawkins: And involvement from the neighborhood associations is also fantastic. Sending the word out to the residents of those associations, and then as well doing whatever folks can to help create, it can be an informal kind of Neighborhood Watch, which doesn’t have to be necessarily fully organized or anything like that, so that the folks who may feel that they are more prone to be a target of this burglary ring, know that there are resources available and that law enforcement, while always the first call that we make, we need to know also that there are other folks that can help us, that can help keep an eye out, and maybe help us feel a little bit safer.

[00:03:27] Part of what we hope to discover at the forum on Thursday evening is possibly what these criminals are looking for, what their perception of an Asian or Pacific Islander, Desi home may be, what they think we have or what they think that we may not have in terms of security or ability to protect ourselves.

[00:03:48] In some of the articles, one of the burglary rings said they specifically targeted Asians because they thought that Asians were weaker and less likely to defend themselves. And that’s certainly a stereotype that we want to push back on and make folks very aware that we actually are quite capable of defending ourselves, and we have the resources behind us to make a very large stand on this.

[00:04:10] Presenter: For the Asian American Council of Oregon, Jenny Jonak.

[00:04:13] Jenny Jonak: We’d like for the community, the Asian American community, to be aware of this. We would also like them to feel supported by our wider community.

[00:04:21] And I think going forward, we’d like to see more proactive collaboration between our Asian American community and local law enforcement, to work together to try to achieve mutual goals elevating this and creating more awareness, in terms of updates, information, and things that specifically affect our community.

[00:04:41] To me, even if people don’t wind up attending the event, but they have the information so they don’t feel isolated or alienated or unable to get help, that’s really important.

[00:04:51] Presenter: Jensina Hawkins:

[00:04:52] Jensina Hawkins: The Register-Guard is planning to attend the event. I’m hoping that there will be some follow-up so that the greater community knows that yes, we are actually collaborative and we do have the support of law enforcement and that we are all working together to make this a safer place, not just for folks of AAPI descent, but for our community overall.

[00:05:13] We want to make sure that everybody is aware of the opportunities that will hopefully be provided.

[00:05:19] Presenter: The Eugene and Springfield police chiefs will share information about burglaries targeting Asian Americans this Thursday, Jan. 16 at the Trauma Healing Project, 631 E. 19th, Building B, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.