San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan is under fire for comments she reportedly made about the city’s Black mayor in a Chinese language newspaper.
Mayor London Breed “is not only incompetent but also lazy, which has made San Francisco fall into the current situation,” Chan said in an interview with the Sing Tao Daily. She added that she was glad Supervisor Aaron Peskin is challenging Breed’s re-election, “so we don't have to clean up the mayor's mess anymore."
Former Breed staffer Conor Johnston confronted Chan about her remarks at a press conference Friday. The word “lazy,” he pointed out, is a common trope used by racists to describe Black people.
Chan tried flipping the script.
“Wow, you are assuming all Black people are lazy. Wow, that’s what you just said.”
Chan was there to rally for more police officers and street ambassadors in her district. It’s a reversal for the progressive supervisor, who advocated for dismantling the police department four years ago.
At the presser, Chan accused Mayor Breed of ignoring safety issues in the Richmond District and rebuffing her call for more patrols.
“Where is the mayor? Where has the mayor been? We don't know where the mayor has been.”
The clash between Chan and Breed underscores the potency of public safety concerns in San Francisco politics. It’s also representative of a larger divide between Breed foes and allies, and progressives vs. centrists.
Chan is facing her own re-election battle against Marjan Philhour, a former adviser to the mayor. Philhour has accused Chan and her allies of being too soft on drugs and crime.