An embattled district attorney canceled an event to announce her Chinese name months after she was accused of making “hateful comments” about Asians.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price sent out a press release announcing the strange event at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center at 12 p.m. Tuesday.
But the next morning it was canceled after Asian locals mocked her online and called her pandering after a former staff accused her of racism.
They also thought it was strange in general, since Price, who is black, has no Chinese heritage.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price sent out a press release announcing the strange event at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center at 12 p.m. Tuesday.
‘Someone messaged me to ask if this was an April Fool’s Day prank. Then I sent this person the press release that came from the DA’s office!’ Local television reporter Dion Lim wrote.
Another Twitter user responded: ‘She is trying to deceive and lie to Asians, especially the Chinese community, so that the nice and friendly communities don’t kick her out in November.
“If she is not removed from office, she will take revenge on the community and ethnic groups that helped oust her.”
Price has been using a Chinese name since at least last April, when he took out a full-page ad in the Chinese-language American newspaper World Journal.
The characters translate as ‘thug’ (government official) ‘seen’ (kind or good) ‘zing’ (pure or virginity) in Cantonese, and provoked similar disdain at the time.
‘Actually, it’s quite silly to call yourself that. The three characters together mean “a nice virgin bureaucrat,” one Cantonese speaker noted at the time.
Price has been using a Chinese name since at least last April, when he took out a full-page ad in the Chinese-language American newspaper World Journal.
The characters translate as ‘thug’ (government official) ‘seen’ (kind or good) ‘zing’ (pure or virginity) in Cantonese, and provoked similar disdain at the time.
San Francisco Standard reporter Han Li said the name sounded more like something out of a Korean drama.
Another Chinese local wrote: ‘I’m furious that Pamela Price has a Chinese name, contaminating our language and culture! Bad person!’
A second wrote: “Like all the other racists before us, she thinks she can please the community with some Chinese characters.”
Price was to announce her Chinese name in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in recognition of Alameda County’s diverse population.
She would be joined by Elaine Peng, founder of the Chinese Community Mental Health Association, at the now-cancelled event.
Price has a strained relationship with the local Asian community after several allegations of racism over the past year.
Patti Lee, who worked as Price’s spokeswoman for about six months last year until she fired her, said the district attorney “constantly and openly” made derogatory comments about Asian Americans.
In a lawsuit, a precursor to a lawsuit, she claimed she was fired for discrimination against Asians and after complaining about breaches of office duties.
She is seeking a $1.5 million settlement for emotional distress stemming from retaliation, discrimination, wrongful termination and nonpayment of wages.
Lee said Price often made discriminatory comments “under his breath,” while accusing the former spokesman of leaking information to the press.
Price has a strained relationship with the local Asian community after several allegations of racism over the past year.
The fired spokeswoman “frequently heard derogatory comments about her race made by supervisory employees, including District Attorney Pamela Price herself,” the claim said.
“In fact, Ms. Price constantly and openly made derogatory comments against Asian Americans.”
The allegations come as Price faces a recall effort just a year into her tenure as the county’s first Black woman to serve as district attorney.
Recall advocates submitted more than 123,000 petition signatures to the county Registrar of Voters. The organization has 10 days to decide if the petition includes at least 73,000 valid signatures to put the issue to a vote.
Lee also claims that the district attorney’s office violated the First Amendment by banning the Berkeley Scanner founder Emilie Raguso at a press conference in November.
The bureau repeatedly banned the reporter from its press roster without notice in early 2023, according to Lee.
According to the scanner, the district attorney’s office originally claimed Raguso was turned away for security reasons, but later admitted it was an “oversight.”
In a Feb. 26 letter sent by Lee’s attorneys to the district attorney’s office, the fired spokeswoman described what happened at the news conference as a “content-based restriction of information” and a “cartoonish violation of the First Amendment.”
‘EM. Lee was aware of the pre-existing animosity and knew that the reasons for denying Ms. Raguso access to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office press conference were pretextual,’ the letter states.
Price stated, “This directive reduces reliance on sentencing and charging enhancements in an effort to restore balance in sentencing and reduce recidivism.”
Lee’s letter adds that Raguso’s exclusion came “at the specific urging of District Attorney Pamela Price.”
She says Price’s office repeatedly attempted to delete, change and hide public records when the Scanner and other Bay Area news outlets began asking about the decision to exclude Raguso.
The journalists being kicked out of press conferences came after Berkley Scanner published damning memos she sent about relaxed sentences.
The memo made parole the “presumptive offer” during plea negotiations, and said low prison sentences should be offered in cases not eligible for parole, even though nearly all crimes in the code California criminals are eligible for parole.
The policy allows exceptions in “extraordinary” circumstances, including human trafficking, hate crimes, child or elder abuse, and crimes that cause “extensive” physical injury.
Price stated, “This directive reduces reliance on sentencing and charging enhancements in an effort to restore balance in sentencing and reduce recidivism.”
The directive became especially controversial as Price refused to confirm that he would support increasing the sentences imposed on three gang members accused of murdering two-year-old Jasper Wu, who was killed by a stray bullet.
This upset the Asian community, frustrating Price to the point that he wrote another memo with the subject line “to the Chinese communities.”
The National Association of Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors, which received the email, said it was unclear who it referred to.
Price meets with Asian constituent at recent event
However, he said the message complained about “vocal members of the local Chinese community and the media” whom he accused of spreading “misinformation” about the case.
“Based on earlier statements in the email, she was implying that she did not believe the Chinese community was aware of the basic principles of the American criminal justice system,” the association said.
The furor led veteran prosecutor Rebecca Warren, of Chinese descent, to resign and publish a scathing resignation letter.
“I can no longer tolerate this mistreatment of the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community by our office leaders,” he wrote.
Warren wrote that Price’s words in the email and public statements about the case were inappropriate “while discussing one of the most horrific and tragic murder cases of all time.”
“The AAPI community is not the only community angry and traumatized by the staggering number of innocent children killed by gun violence in our county,” he wrote.
“The entire community is affected.”
Warren also claimed that Price’s second-in-command told an Asian prosecutor that Samoans were prone to drinking and fighting.
