A 75-year-old grandmother from China said she will donate nearly $1 million raised for her on GoFundMe to charity. Last week, Xiao Zhen Xie was assaulted on the streets of San Francisco but fought back against her attacker.
She picked up a board and started hitting the man, identified as Steven Jenkins, with it. Jenkins was taken away from the scene on a stretcher as Xie continued to go after him. He was taken into custody and charged with two counts of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of elder abuse. Police said he attacked another Asian man moments before he assaulted Xie.
Xie suffered two black eyes in the attack and has been recovering from her injuries.
Video of the incident went viral, and a GoFundMe page was created to raise money for Xie's medical expenses. Within days, the page surpassed its goal of $50,000 and is now approaching $1 million. While Xie is appreciative of the support she has received, her grandson said that she will not keep the money. Instead, she will donate it to causes that help combat racism against Asian Americans.
"She said we must not summit [SIC] 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," Xie's grandson, John Chen, wrote in an update on the GoFundMe page. "She insists on making this decision saying this issue is bigger than Her. This is my grandma, grandpa, and our family's decision. We hope everyone can understand our decision."
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