Why San Francisco needs a Bruce Lee statue now more than ever
Jasmine Garnett
July 1, 2020
On June 18th, a city work crew quietly took down a statue of Christopher Columbus from near Coit Tower. It was a preemptive move from Mayor London Breed, who was responding to rumors that protesters would deface or topple the statue the next day. Statues of Junipero Serra, Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant were all felled in Golden Gate Park in the following days.
With empty plinths now strewn across the city, the discussion has turned to which historical figures SF residents think deserve to have their likeness memorialized instead. Movie star Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco in 1940, is one of them.
Jeff Chinn, a Bruce Lee memorabilia collector, helped create a commemorative plaque to mark Lee's birthplace in Chinatown's Chinese Hospital in 1998. "Quite a few statues have been forcefully taken down because of their racist history, and in my opinion, no one's going to touch and take down a Bruce Lee statue because Bruce Lee brought people together of all races," he said.
Chinn recently contributed to the ESPN documentary Be Water - the first Bruce Lee documentary directed by an Asian American - that focuses on Bruce Lee's struggle against racism throughout his life. He said the documentary is helping people understand "that Bruce Lee was not just some two-bit Kung Fu star, but he was ahead of his time in more ways than one."
On and off the screen, Lee fought to break stereotypes. "What Bruce Lee wanted to do was to create a heroic Asian male character," author of "Bruce Lee: A Life," Matthew Polly told NPR. "But it simply didn't exist. There were only two types of roles - Fu Manchu, the villain, and Charlie Chan, the model minority." San Francisco resident Matt Tolosa, who recently called for a Bruce Lee statue on Facebook, has been looking for the martial artist to get more recognition in the city for a long time. He explained that, along with the release of Be Water and what would have been Lee's 80th birthday in November, "It seemed more relevant now, with the discussion of who should get statues versus who shouldn't, and what a statue represents."
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
On and off the screen, Lee fought to break stereotypes. "What Bruce Lee wanted to do was to create a heroic Asian male character," author of "Bruce Lee: A Life," Matthew Polly told NPR. "But it simply didn't exist. There were only two types of roles — Fu Manchu, the villain, and Charlie Chan, the model minority.”
San Francisco resident Matt Tolosa, who recently called for a Bruce Lee statue on Facebook, has been looking for the martial artist to get more recognition in the city for a long time. He explained that, along with the release of Be Water and what would have been Lee’s 80th birthday in November, “It seemed more relevant now, with the discussion of who should get statues versus who shouldn’t, and what a statue represents.”
While the story that Wong Jack Man fought Bruce Lee in Oakland for teaching non-Chinese students Kung Fu might be more legend than history, in terms of race and gender, Lee's early classes were indeed "groundbreaking" for how diverse they were. "He represents, I think, anti-racism," said Bruce Lee historian and collector Steve Palmer. "He truly didn't care what race or ethnicity you were if you wanted to learn how to better yourself, how to improve yourself." His struggle against Asian stereotypes in Hollywood is especially relevant now, with the coronavirus' characterization as a "Chinese Virus" stoking anti-Asian xenophobia. When Buzz Patterson (a Republican running for a House seat in California) recently asked, "If Kung Flu is racist, does that make Bruce Lee and 'kung fu' movies racist?" Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter responded by saying, "My father fought against racism in his movies. Like, literally." For all of Bruce Lee's accomplishments, it's not commonly known that the icon was born in San Francisco. "Chinatown needs to get a statue, because he was born in San Francisco, and to tell you the truth, I would safely say half of the people who lived in Chinatown don't even know Bruce was born in San Francisco," Chinn said.
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
While the story that Wong Jack Man fought Bruce Lee in Oakland for teaching non-Chinese students Kung Fu might be more legend than history, in terms of race and gender, Lee’s early classes were indeed “groundbreaking” for how diverse they were. “He represents, I think, anti-racism,” said Bruce Lee historian and collector Steve Palmer. “He truly didn't care what race or ethnicity you were if you wanted to learn how to better yourself, how to improve yourself.”
His struggle against Asian stereotypes in Hollywood is especially relevant now, with the coronavirus’ characterization as a “Chinese Virus” stoking anti-Asian xenophobia. When Buzz Patterson (a Republican running for a House seat in California) recently asked, “If Kung Flu is racist, does that make Bruce Lee and ‘kung fu’ movies racist?” Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter responded by saying, “My father fought against racism in his movies. Like, literally.”
For all of Bruce Lee’s accomplishments, it’s not commonly known that the icon was born in San Francisco. “Chinatown needs to get a statue, because he was born in San Francisco, and to tell you the truth, I would safely say half of the people who lived in Chinatown don't even know Bruce was born in San Francisco,” Chinn said.
The SF Art Commission, which is responsible for many of the city's statues, said until now it's been rare to represent an individual in San Francisco. "We're going to find out," Acting Information Officer Rachelle Axel said. "There have been very, very, very few depictions of particular individuals in our public art collection other than the Maya Angelou that we're currently working on, and the City Hall busts." Since the Columbus statue was taken down, the Arts Commission has received more than 250 emails advocating for various individuals to replace him - from AP Giannini to Nany Pelosi to an Ohlone leader, to yes, Bruce Lee, Axel said. But this is an entirely new situation the organization is facing, and they're still at the point where they're gathering information from around the city. "If I've gotten 200 emails, there's 210 opinions about what it should be." Despite the challenges, many believe that the city where Bruce Lee was born should have a bigger monument to his legacy. "If you google 'Bruce Lee Statue' in San Francisco, a lot of people assume there's one there and there's not," said Palmer. "Bruce has statues in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and even Mosar, Bosnia but nothing in the city of his birth." Jasmine Garnett is a freelance writer from the Bay Area.
Getty Images
The SF Art Commission, which is responsible for many of the city’s statues, said until now it’s been rare to represent an individual in San Francisco. “We’re going to find out,” Acting Information Officer Rachelle Axel said. “There have been very, very, very few depictions of particular individuals in our public art collection other than the Maya Angelou that we’re currently working on, and the City Hall busts.”
Since the Columbus statue was taken down, the Arts Commission has received more than 250 emails advocating for various individuals to replace him – from AP Giannini to Nany Pelosi to an Ohlone leader, to yes, Bruce Lee, Axel said. But this is an entirely new situation the organization is facing, and they’re still at the point where they’re gathering information from around the city. “If I've gotten 200 emails, there's 210 opinions about what it should be.”
Despite the challenges, many believe that the city where Bruce Lee was born should have a bigger monument to his legacy. “If you google ‘Bruce Lee Statue’ in San Francisco, a lot of people assume there's one there and there's not,” said Palmer. “Bruce has statues in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and even Mosar, Bosnia but nothing in the city of his birth.”
Jasmine Garnett is a freelance writer from the Bay Area.
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