I just wanted to tell Mayor Lee something.. pic.twitter.com/e5aCjtSqLq
— Equipto (@EQUIPTO) October 7, 2015
Local hip-hop artist Equipto confronted Mayor Ed Lee in a San Francisco coffeeshop earlier this week, telling him things like "you're kicking the people who built this city out of here," and "you're a disgrace to Asians." And cell phone video of the incident has been making the rounds on Twitter, and was picked up by SF Weekly.
Saying some incendiary things that may or may not be accurate, Equipto rails against Lee, echoing the anger of many people who see the Mayor as being in the pocket of big-money developers, as he stands there listening, and as a friend of Equipto chimes in saying, "We were born and raised here."
He also alludes to the Mayor's alleged but unproven links to accused Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow.
"You have no heart, man," Equipto says. "The people that built this city, you’re getting them all kicked out of here, man. That’s some cold shit. You’re a part of it, and I know you are. I know you’re linked to mobsters and things like that. You need to have some heart."
Calling the Mayor a "disgrace to Asians" is of course problematic for a lot of reasons, though at this point it's a sentiment that Rose Pak might agree with.
SF Weekly describes Equipto as a "25-year veteran of the Bay Area’s hyphy scene and collaborator of Andre Nickatina."
Yesterday, in response to the attention the video had gotten, Equipto tweeted, "It's not trying to be a revolutionary. Or a activist. Or political. It's about using our voice for what's right. Justice. That's all."