An Asian-American woman who fought off a man who attacked her in the street is donating the money raised by the public to charity.
According to The Daily Mail, 76-year-old grandmother Xiao Zhen Xie was attacked by an assailant in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 17.
A police report states that the septuagenarian concentration camp survivor managed to fight off her attacker with a large stick after he punched her in the face.
In the wake of the incident, Xiao Zhen Xie's family launched a GoFundMe for her to help raise funds for her medical fees. Donations from the public soon flooded in, and the fundraiser has now surpassed $970,000.
The Mail reports that Xiao Zhen Xie has asked for the money raised to be donated to charity to combat racism and prejudice against ethnic minorities in the United States.
A member of the woman's family wrote on the GoFundMe page that: "[Xiao Zhen Xie] is now starting to feel optimistic again and is in better spirits.
"She said we must not submit to racism and we must fight to the death if necessary.
"She also stated multiple times to donate all the funds generated in this GoFundMe back to the Asian American community to combat racism. She insists on making this decision saying this issue is bigger than her."
The instigator of the violence, 39-year-old Steven Jenkins, was apprehended by a nearby security guard following his unprovoked attack on Xiao Zhen Xie.
Police subsequently arrested Jenkins, took him to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, and charged him with assault likely to produce great bodily injury and elder abuse, with his bond set at $50,000.
NBC News reports that the number of recorded hate crimes against Asian-American people in the United States has increased sharply over the last year.
According to a report from the organization Stop AAPI Hate, approximately anti-Asian 3,800 incidents were reported in the US between February 2020 and March 2021 - around 1,200 more hate incidents than the previous year.
Commenting on the data, a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University Russell Yeung told NBC: "There is an intersectional dynamic going on that others may perceive both Asians and women and Asian women as easier targets."
