VIDEO: Fed Up San Francisco Woman Confronts Neighbor Making Racist Rants About Asians
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – When Autumn Tillman recorded herself confronting her neighbor, David Rosner, she says she had had enough.
"Do you ever shut the (expletive) up? Ever shut the (expletive) up, in front of my door with your racist (expletive)?" she said in the video.
She says Rosner has been going on racist rants in the hallway of their mid-Market building for years, and recently started going after Asians.
In one video she shared with KPIX 5, he can be heard saying "Go live in Asia. Funny how it's a white country - 200 years of white supremacy."
At another point, Rosner says, "If you thought Asian lives matter, they don't matter to us one bit."
Tillman says Rosner paces up and down the hallway on a daily basis, while spewing racist commentary. She says most of her neighbors, especially children, are afraid of him, and try to stay out of his way.
"Nobody should ever have to hear that they have to go back to their own country or anything like that, I'm sorry," said Tillman. "My building is like 70 percent Asian families."
That's why Tillman, who is also a singer, said she decided to speak up and posted the video to her Instagram. She also grew up in San Francisco.
"Asian people have been there for the black community. They're always on the frontline with their signs, demanding justice for my community. They're always on social media, when you go to a lot of Asian people - like you go to their social media - you see the Black Lives Matter hashtags," said Tillman. "They're just as angry as the black community is."
The video has since racked up more than 120,000 views.
Tillman says she has received an outpouring of gratitude from the Asian community, thanking her for taking a stand on their behalf.
"I thank her for it, I mean no one really talks to him, but to always come out the side of his neck and saying comments like that, I don't know if he's wanting to pick a fight," said neighbor Edwin Gutierrez.
KPIX 5's Betty Yu met Rosner in the hallway of the building.
While much of what he said was nonsensical, Yu asked him whether he was a white supremacist.
"I would prefer everybody being white," he said. "I would prefer using Aryan genetics to make every person a white person and a male. We don't really see a need at this point for people of color."
The property manager, Zenaida Saenz says police have been called on a few occasions, but his behavior has not been cause for arrest.
"Physically he's not really a threat, but the way he talks sometimes, it's really no sense," she said.
As for Tillman, she's working on a website called Blacks for Asian Lives Matter to unite the communities.
"If someone's talking about someone's ethnicity, making fun of it, whatever, please stick up for them, because all it takes is just a voice," she said.
Meanwhile, Tillman is hoping to save enough money to move out of the building and has set up an online fundraiser to help gather enough to put a down payment on a house.
