Racial insult yelled at San Francisco mayoral candidate during election event
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A video posted on social media is stirring up a lot of tension in the San Francisco mayor's race.
In the video, a woman, who's holding a "London Breed for Mayor" poster, can be seen and heard yelling at a crowd saying, "we think y'all need to go home. Y'all need to go home!" The video was taken at an event for candidates Mark Leno and Jane Kim, which was held on Saturday in Supervisor London Breed's district. A man can also be heard on the cellphone video saying, "we don't want you all in our neighborhood." And causing the most consternation, is another man in the video, who yelled a racial insult at Kim.
MEET THE CANDIDATES: San Francisco mayoral race
Agonafer Shiferaw is a commercial property owner and has worked in the Fillmore District for decades. He hosted the Kim and Leno event at The Origin Club on Fillmore Street. "We knew that they were coming to disrupt ahead of time," said Shiferaw who says he tried to contact SFPD before the event and is upset that his attempt to discuss San Francisco policy, turned hostile. He says people were so disruptive, they had to end the event early. "It was a very sad, sad situation. It was very racist."
RELATED: San Francisco mayoral candidates form alliance in odd turn
"It was kind of like a spark hit a firecracker," said Hugh-e MC, describing the disruption at the event. Hugh-e is the executive director of New Community Leadership Foundation, a non-profit based in the Fillmore District. Hugh-e's organization has not endorsed a mayoral candidate, but on Friday, NCLF did call for a peaceful gathering at Saturday's event, to voice concerns about Leno and Kim. Hugh-e can be seen and heard in the video, holding a microphone and trying to calm the crowd. He says the agitators are not members of NCLF and that Breed was not involved in the rally. "I did my best to contact Jane Kim and I contacted some of her supporters to kind of express our regret and sadness that that happened at that event." When asked about the man and women telling people to go home, he said, "those were angry, frustrated community members."
RELATED: Bay Area counties offering new features to help voters
ABC7 spoke to both Kim and Breed Sunday about the event and cellphone video.
"This is the time that things start to get heated," said Kim about the mayor's race, which ends on election day June 5. "While slurs and ethnic based slurs are never okay, we also have to acknowledge that there has been a divide in our city and across the country," she added.
"I don't tolerate racism of any kind," Breed said. She also explained that she does not know the people who disrupted the event, including the man who yelled a racial slur. "There's a lot of supporters, people that support me, that support other candidates, that unfortunately things like this have happened throughout the campaign trail. I've been in a similar situation unfortunately."
Click here for more stories related to the San Francisco mayoral race.
