Remember Jasper Wu
What kind of country we have if a baby couldn’t survive a car ride in a major city?
At the beginning of this week, I had planned to write some big topics for this newsletter, such as foreign policy or lessons from last week's election. But on Monday, I came across this news about a little boy named Jasper Wu.
Last Saturday afternoon around 2 pm, Jasper traveled in a car with his mom and an aunt on southbound I-880, passing Oakland, CA. He was asleep. A stray bullet from gangs fighting in the opposite direction of the highway hit him. Jasper was rushed to the hospital, but he didn't make it. He was only 23-month-old.
Local news reported that Jasper was born in Fremont, California, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to his mom, Jasper was a "very good" boy who loved to dress up as a superman. Due to the travel restrictions, Jasper's dad was stuck in China for almost two years, so he had never met his son in person. He was going to come to the U.S. next month to help celebrate Jasper's two-year-old birthday. Now he is on his way to bury his son. For the first and last time he gets to hold his son, what will lay in his arm is his son's small, cold, and lifeless body.
As a mother who lost a son in a different circumstance, my heart is broken for Jasper's death, and I pray that God will bring peace and comfort to Jasper's family. If you like to help the family, here is a link to Jasper's GoFund me page. It is a legit account and has been verified by journalists.
I couldn't get Jasper's image out of my head. The more I think of his untimely death and the life he didn't get to live, the more my sadness turns into an outrage.
Jasper was murdered. His death was preventable. He was the victim of failed public policies driven by woke ideology.
Oakland is across the bay from San Francisco and only minutes away from one of the most woke colleges in the U.S., UC Berkeley. Since the 1960s, the Democrats have run the city to the ground. Oakland is known as one of the murder capitals in the United States. It has only gotten worse since last summer. The city's homicides increased 40% in 2020 from a year ago. This year, the number of homicides is on track to break 2020’s record since city police have already logged 110 homicides by October.
The city also has witnessed an increase of robberies and hate crimes against Asians, especially Asian elders, including:
· February 10, 2021, in broad daylight, two young men attacked a 71-year-old Asian lady by” knocking her to the ground before yanking her purse so hard the strap breaks off.” The old lady is bruised and still has body aches.
· March 9, 2021, a 75-year old Asian man, Pak Ho, was robbed and knocked to the ground by 26-year old Teaunte Bailey during Ho’s morning walk. Ho died two days later.
· April 1, 2021, robbers tied an Asian couple in front of their 7-year-old daughter and brutally beat the husband before stealing the couple’s life savings.
· April 2, 2021, four people robbed two Asian seniors in front of their house. Fortunately, the couples’ son was home, and he chased the robbers away by waving a machete.
Despite the rising crimes, the city established a task force last December to slash the city police's budget by 50 percent. This past summer, the city council voted to defund the police by more than $18 million. Since the passage of that measure, the city's homicide rate surged more than 314 percent.
Before Jasper's murder, 15-year old Shamara Young was fatally shot during a 'road rage incident. An Oakland father was shot while holding his five-week-old baby at home. Fortunately, both of them survived.
According to Oakland city police, various criminal gangs have grown in Oakland and increasingly brought their warfare onto the highways. They believe it is difficult for police to investigate when cars pass each other so quickly on highways. Last month, a 3-year-old boy was hit by a bullet while riding on Interstate 580 in Oakland with his father.
I recently had a business trip to California, and I drove by the same highway intersection where Jasper was murdered. Walking around Oakland, one word kept popping into my head -- depressing. Areas underneath bridges and around city parks have become tent cities. The city's streets are littered with trash and human feces. It smells like an open outhouse. People who had to walk outside seemed anxious. It was apparent to me that they didn't want to be out. They didn't feel safe to be out.
I walked into a Walgreens to get something. The shelves were shockingly bare (see the photo below). Store clerks told me that they were in the process of closing the shop due to rampant thefts. There's not another Walgreens or CVS within walking distance, which means residents nearby will have to travel quite a distance to reach another pharmacy.
The whole city of Oakland reminds me of Detroit, another once-great town run to the ground by the Democrats. Across the bay, San Francisco is in a similar depressing situation, plagued by rising crimes and the rapid deterioration of public hygiene. Come to think of it, almost all failed cities in America are run by Democrats.
The Detroitlization of Oakland and San Francisco is not the sole result of the defund police movement. For years, Democrats and their progressive allies have been decriminalizing various crimes based on the belief that people shouldn’t be held responsible for their behaviors. If something terrible happens, it is always the fault of either someone else’s (blaming the police) or external circumstances, such as poverty and systemic racism. They also naively assume if you treat lawbreakers gently, somehow, they will be less likely to commit another crime.
In 2014, Californian voters who bought these woke ideas passed Proposition 47, which reduces penalties for specific drug and property crimes such as drug possession, theft, and shoplifting. The Democrats in California marketed Prop 47 as a “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” But since Prop 47’s passing, neighborhoods and schools in California have become less safe. Car burglaries, shoplifting, other theft, and criminal activities have surged in the state.
The most outrageous part of this whole decriminalization at all cost movement is that the democrats and their progressive elites who advocated and voted for these ruinous public policies rarely have to live with the dire consequences of their policies. It is always the most vulnerable in society that ends up paying the price. Yet, the woke left has shown they would rather double down on failed policies than learning from the past. On the same day when the news of Jasper’s murder broke out, San Francisco Chronicles asked city residents to “tolerate burglaries as a part of city living and focus on barricading homes” instead.
Someone told me recently that politics and policies are downstream of culture. This is why we cannot shrink from fighting culture wars. Even if you don’t want to, the culture war won’t spare you. The woke left has already captured our corporations, education system, government, entertainment, media, legal system, and healthcare. Ask yourself what kind of country we have if a baby couldn’t survive a car ride in a major city?
It is time we all get into a crisis mode because we are in the process of losing this great nation. Step forward and speak up for the sake of your own family. Remember Jasper Wu.
Op-ed in Newsweek
Subjecting political leaders to public mockery is one of many ways citizens can channel dissatisfaction, almost like an instant job performance review of those in power. Public ridicule also reminds political leaders that they are not above the people they govern, and that their hold on power has limits. This is why the woke Left's meltdown over the "Let's go Brandon" slogan is misguided. Read more here.