Asian Grandma Who Battered Attacker With Stick is Donating Her $1M GoFundMe to Combat Racism

The GoFundMe for Xiao Zhen Xie has almost hit $1million — and she is giving it all away.

In an update on her fundraiser page, John Chen said his 76-year-old grandmother has insisted on donating all the money to combatting racism.

"When we visited our grandma yesterday and today her overall mental and physical health has improved," he said. "Her eye is no longer swelled to the point of not being able to open it. She is now starting to feel optimistic again and is in better spirits."

"She said we must not [submit] 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. She insists on making this decision saying this issue is bigger than Her."

He added: "This is my grandma, grandpa, and our family’s decision. We hope everyone can understand our decision."

In an earlier update thanking everyone for their donations, Chen lamented how hate crimes towards Asians was nothing new, and had been a fact since Asians first came to America.

"But during the pandemic, hate crimes towards the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community have accelerated in an alarming rate," he said. "Just the thought of leaving your house and being killed or seriously injured for being Asian is an extremely disturbing thought."

"The AAPI community is bleeding from this violence and hatred. We as a community cannot stay silent nor be silenced anymore."

The alleged attacker, 39-year-old Steven Jenkins, faces two charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury, and two charges of elder abuse. His bond was set at $50,000.

One elderly lady has had enough of attacks on Asians.

A 76-year-old woman who claimed she was randomly punched on the streets of San Francisco sent her attacker to the hospital after she pummeled him with a stick.

Xiao Zhen Xie told KPIX5 she was waiting to cross at a traffic light on Wednesday morning when a man approached her and punched her in the eye.

Speaking through her interpreting daughter Dong-Mei Li, the grandmother said she instinctively grabbed a nearby plank of wood to defend herself, and clocked the stranger in the face.

KPIX Sports Director Dennis O'Donnell happened upon the scene during his morning run, posting video of the aftermath to Twitter.

It shows the sobbing-but-still-standing Xie, clutching bloodied tissue to her face with one hand and brandishing her weapon with the other.

Meanwhile the suspect is carted off handcuffed to a stretcher, blood dripping from his face, wearing an expression that looked like he was worried about another hammering.

"You bum, why did you hit me?" she roars at him in Chinese. "This bum, he hit me."

"There was a guy on a stretcher and a frustrated angry woman with a stick in her hand," O'Donnell recalled.

"The woman said that she was hit. She attacked back. From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back."

Police said the 39-year-old suspect is also being investigated for a second attack on an 83-year-old Asian man earlier that morning; they are investigating if the assaults are hate crimes.

Meanwhile Xie's family say she cannot see out of one of her eyes, and hasn't been able to eat.

"Very traumatized, very scared and this eye is still bleeding," Li said. "The right eye still cannot see anything and still bleeding and we have something to absorb the bleeding."

"As you can see she is extremely terrified," her grandson John Chen added. "She's terrified to even step out."

A GoFundMe set up by her family to raise money for medical expenses has already surpassed $200k, as thousands of donors brand her a hero for standing up for herself.