San Francisco park where grandma Yik Oi Huang was beaten to death to be renamed after her
- A ceremony to officially usher in the newly named Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship Park in Visitacion Valley will also feature lion dancing
The San Francisco park where a grandmother was beaten and then later died from her injuries will now bear her name.
Family and friends will gather on Saturday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially usher in the newly named Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship Park.
The park, formerly Visitacion Valley Playground, will be a “visible tribute to an Asian immigrant working-class woman,” according to a memorial website maintained by Huang’s granddaughter, Sasanna Yee.
The event will feature Chinese lion dancing, West African drumming and other “cultural healing festivities.”
Huang, then 88, was on her usual morning walk in the city’s Visitacion Valley neighbourhood on January 8, 2019 when she was attacked. She suffered a broken skull, arms and neck. Her home was burglarised minutes afterward.
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Huang went on to receive long-term care at a hospital but died in January 2020 at age 89. While her assault preceded the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, it nevertheless rattled the city’s Asian community.
