Democrat California DA Pamela Price is roasted by American Asians over plans to hold press conference to ‘announce her Chinese name’

A controversial prosecutor has 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 at noon Tuesday announcing the bizarre event at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

But it was called off the next morning after she was mocked online by Asian locals who called it pandering after being accused of racism by former staff.

They also thought it was an odd thing to do in general, since Price, who is black, has no Chinese ancestry.

‘Someone messaged me asking if this was an April Fool’s joke. I then sent this person the press release that came from the Public Prosecution Service!’ wrote local TV reporter Dion Lim.

Another Twitter user replied, “She’s trying to cheat and lie to the Asians, especially the Chinese community, so that the nice and friendly communities won’t vote her out in November.

“If she is not removed from office, she will take revenge on the community and the ethnicities who helped vote her out.”

Price has been using a Chinese name since at least April last year, when she placed a full-page advertisement in the Chinese-language American newspaper World Journal.

The characters translate to ‘goon’ (government official) ‘seen’ (nice or good) ‘zing’ (pure or virginity) in Cantonese, and caused similar disdain at the time.

‘It’s actually quite stupid to call yourself that. The three characters together mean ‘a nice virgin bureaucrat,'” a Cantonese speaker noted at the time.

San Francisco Standard reporter Han Li said the name sounded more like something out of a Korean drama.

Another Chinese resident wrote: ‘I’m furious because Pamela Price has a Chinese name, which affects our language and culture! Bad person!’

A second wrote: ‘Like all the other racists before us, she thinks she can benefit the community with a few Chinese characters.’

Price would announce her Chinese name in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, in recognition of Alameda County’s diverse population.

She was to be joined at the now-cancelled event by Elaine Peng, founder of the Mental Health Association of Chinese Communities.

Price has had a strained relationship with the local Asian community following several allegations of racism over the past year.

Patti Lee, who worked as Price’s spokeswoman for about six months last year until firing her, said the district attorney “constantly and openly” made derogatory comments about Asian Americans.

In a legal claim – a precursor to a lawsuit – she claimed she was fired for anti-Asian discrimination, and after complaining about dereliction of duty in the office.

She is seeking a $1.5 million settlement for emotional distress resulting from retaliation, discrimination, wrongful termination and failure to pay wages.

Lee said Price often made the discriminatory comments “under her breath,” while also accusing the former spokesperson of leaking information to the press.

The fired spokeswoman “often heard derogatory comments about her race from supervisory employees, including District Attorney Pamela Price herself,” the claim says.

“Ms. Price continually and openly made derogatory comments toward Asian Americans.”

The charges come as Price faces a recall election just a year into her tenure as the county’s first Black woman to hold the position of district attorney.

Recall campaigners have submitted more than 123,000 petition signatures to the province’s voter registry. The organization has ten days to decide whether the petition contains at least 73,000 valid signatures to put the question to a vote.

Lee also claims the district attorney’s office violated the First Amendment by banning the law Berkeley Scanner founder Emilie Raguso during a press conference in November.

According to Lee, the agency repeatedly removed the reporter from their press list without notice earlier in 2023.

According to the scanner, the district attorney’s office initially claimed Raguso was turned away for security reasons, but later admitted it was a “mistake.”

In a Feb. 26 letter to the district attorney’s office from Lee’s attorneys, the fired spokeswoman described what happened at the news conference as a “substantive restriction of reporting” and a “cartoonish violation of the First Amendment.”

‘Mrs. 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 pretexts,” the letter said.

Lee’s letter adds that Raguso’s exclusion came “at the express request of District Attorney Pamela Price.”

She says Price’s office repeatedly tried to delete, alter and conceal public records when the Scanner and other news sources in the Bay Area began inquiring about the decision to expel Raguso.

The journalists being kicked out of the press conferences came after the Berkley Scanner published scathing memos about relaxed sentences.

The memo called probation the “presumptive offer” during settlement negotiations, and said low prison sentences should be offered in cases that do not qualify for probation — even though almost every crime in the California penal code is eligible for probation.

The policy allows exceptions in “extraordinary” circumstances, including human trafficking, hate crimes, child or elder abuse, and crimes that cause “extensive” bodily harm.

Price said: “This guidance reduces the reliance on sentencing enhancements and charges as an effort to rebalance sentencing and reduce recidivism.”

The directive became especially controversial because Price refused to confirm that she would support sentence enhancements for three gang members charged with the murder of two-year-old Jasper Wu, who was killed by a stray bullet.

This upset the Asian community, which frustrated Price so much that she wrote another memo with the subject line “to the Chinese communities.”

The National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association, which received the email, said it was not clear who she was referring to.

However, it said the message complained about “vocal members of the local Chinese community and media” whom it accused of spreading “misinformation” about the case.