A video, initially posted on X, went viral nationwide with claims that the California Democratic establishment tricked Chinese-speaking immigrants in San Francisco into voting for Proposition 50, the consequential state redistricting measure.
The monolingual seniors depicted in the video, however, tell Mission Local that it’s bogus. And they’re mad.
More than 60 percent of the Californians who voted in the state’s Nov. 4 special election cast their ballots in favor of Prop. 50, a high-profile measure to gerrymander California’s congressional map to add more seats for Democrats.
It’s direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s demand to gerrymander Democrats out of Congressional office in Republican-led states.
The story behind the video began last Friday, when 50 Chinese senior citizens gathered at San Francisco City Hall to cast votes in favor of the measure. Joining them were San Francisco’s two state assembly members, Catherine Stefani and Matt Haney.
In the X video, Bess Byers, a digital-media specialist for the libertarian magazine Reason, walks past the group of seniors without talking to them, and follows Stefani towards City Hall, asking them repeatedly whether they would support Prop. 50 if Republicans were in favor of it.
“We would love for Republicans to push for Prop 50,” says Stefani. “But they’re not. So your question makes no sense.”
At this, Byers changes the subject, “I have the footage of you guys leading a bunch of Asian Americans to the voting poll,” Byers says. “I speak Chinese. None of them know what they’re voting for. You don’t think that’s weird? Is that even legal?”
“That’s ridiculous,” said Siu On Lau, 75, in a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin. Lau remembers Byers, and does not remember her saying anything in Chinese to the group of seniors except for one sentence in Mandarin: “Do you speak English?”
Frankie Falzon, Stefani’s district director, said that, aside from the one sentence in Mandarin, Byers kept asking the seniors questions like, “Do you know what you are voting for?” in English.
That account was confirmed by another attendee, Chi Koo Lam, 73, as well as Leon Chow, who organized the event for the San Francisco Democratic Party.
Weijiang Huang, a Sing Tao Daily reporter who covered the event, said that, at one point, he shouted out loud to the crowd in Cantonese, “Does anyone here know what Prop. 50 is about?”
They did: “They told me that they believe Democrats are more supportive of grassroots interests, so supporting Democrats means supporting their own interests.”
Huang described Byers as “aggressive,” and said she “kept questioning the seniors in English the whole time. The seniors didn’t understand English and didn’t respond at all.”
“They are even more afraid when people ask questions in English, because if it gets published in English, they have no way to refute,” added Huang.
Once posted, the video was quickly picked up by other conservative influencers. By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the tweet had gained over 15,000 likes, 8,000 retweets, and nearly half a million views.
Byers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stefani responded with a statement that “What we are seeing online is racism, plain and simple,” adding that, contrary to the claim that lack of English proficiency prevents understanding of ballot measures, San Francisco ballots are printed in multiple languages, including Chinese.
Huang, who has covered and supported local Chinese seniors for years, said it is self-evident that these seniors have their own political views, especially when the issue affects their lives.
Before returning their ballots, the group was filmed chanting in English, “50 ballots, 50 yes, we will take the Congress back,” and a similar slogan in Chinese.
Lau, one of the seniors present on Friday, said he was at City Hall because “Stefani shared our views, so we supported her.”
As for why the seniors didn’t talk back to Byers, Lau had an answer for that too: “She didn’t respect us. So, of course, we ignored her.”
I’m not on X. Someone should post there that this woman who claims she speaks Chinese is speaking Mandarin, while most of these ladies speak Cantonese or Toishan. Can’t believe she doesn’t know that. I’ve met so many people who studied a few courses or have worked in another country for a short time then claim to be an expert on the language. Prop 50 is known and discussed widely in the Chinese community by both the pros and cons sides, and cover in the Chinese language media, including a debate. It’s racist for her to say that these people don’t speak any English so they don’t know what they are voting for. She’s denying their constitution rights to vote.
Most of these seniors speak primarily Cantonese and understand or speak basic Mandarin, but Cantonese is their native tongue. I wish articles would include this information. First, absolutely agree that the claim in the video is racist. But when people like Bess Byers say they speak Chinese, more often than not they mean Mandarin (and often poorly) — and all of those factors can also explain why some of these seniors may not be able to communicate with her.
Many of the journalists in SF media outlets these days speak primarily Mandarin and say that the people they interview gave a statement in Mandarin, often leaving out that Cantonese is their primary tongue. This paints a different picture of the population generally, undermining resources in other areas that can serve this population.
Great coverage, but I wish this information would be included.
“The seniors didn’t understand English and didn’t respond at all.”
There you have it. A bunch of people who don’t understand English are being led to the ballot box by white liberals. You never reached out to me for comment. This is nothing more than a crisis PR piece put together by the San Francisco Democratic Party.
Ma’am —
You were asked for comment, did not respond and are now weighing in in the comments section. You spoke in Mandarin to Cantonese-speaking people who would agree that, yes, they cannot speak English. But ballot materials are printed in multiple languages and bilingual people were present.
You seem intent on portraying Chinese seniors as moronic rubes. But they were smart enough to recognize a bad-faith troll.
Yours,
JE
Obviously, anybody against Prop 50 is a Republican, and obviously Republicans have zero credibility.
That’s not true at all. I don’t support 50 because I don’t support gerrymandering even if it is temporary or “because Texas” – I think those are BS reasons to do anything, and I think the Republicans will lose regardless in the midterms because they’ve finally displayed their callous disregard for truth, the Constitution, due process, and all American people who are not Billionaires.
I think prop 50 gives a false vindication of an un-Democratic tactic, fundamentally unfair no matter who does it, and sets a precedent of abusing same in the future under similar pretexts. Why should we also jump off the bridge, as mom used to say, just because Texas did? It encourages more red state retaliation and they can say “well, CA did it too, so..” and boom, moral high ground lost and in fact wasted.
It’s a strategic choice Newsom made that paid off for his futures in politics, but accomplishes little in actuality at the cost of hundreds of millions. If it becomes a norm in America, well, the experiment is already on vapors. I’m not a Republican if you can’t tell yet, but I don’t agree with all things the DCCC cooks up at all. That’s not Democracy.