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MCC Daily Tribune

Faculty, Staff Members Discuss Racism on WXXI Radio

In the wake of the fatal shootings of six Asians in Georgia last week, WXXI News radio interviewed Dr. Natasha Chen Christensen, associate professor of sociology, and Christina Lee, coordinator for Global Education & International Services (GEIS), about hate crimes and the surge of racist incidents against Asian and Pacific Islander communities across the U.S. within the past year.

“What is happening to the Asian Americans is just an extension of what happens to Black Americans, Latinx Americans, Muslim Americans. We need to realize that this is all the same struggle and that we need to all work on this together.” -- Dr. Christensen said in a March 18 news broadcast ("Trying to counter hate against Asian Americans").

On March 19, Dr. Christensen and Christina were among the guests on "Connections with Evan Dawson" to give a preview of the upcoming virtual discussion "Asian Matters: Standing with Rochester’s Asian American Communities”  and how fellow Americans can come together to support Asians in the U.S. 

-- "Having international conversations and making sure our education is connected to racial justice and social justice -- I hope this isn't just a trend. It is imperative for all of us as citizens of this country to continue to shed light on much of this." -- Christina Lee

-- "Asian Americans have always been a convenient scapegoat for these types of issues. We find that throughout American history, the federal government has wielded policies to bring groups over to work for America and at the same time set them apart and highlight them as part of our society's social problems. So it was the association in the press and from the federal government that instigated a lot of the hostility right now. ... The entire nation needs to work together to dismantle this system." -- Dr. Christensen

MCC’s GEIS Department is a co-sponsor of "Asian Matters” a virtual discussion series hosted in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester’s Levine Center to End Hate that explores the history of racism and xenophobia aimed at Asian and Asian American communities in the U.S. The first of this three-session series, titled “Asian in Rochester,” was held Sunday, March 21. Panelists included Dr. Natasha Chen Christensen, Christina Lee, and SUNY Brockport Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Pilipa Esara Carroll. Other discussions in the series are scheduled for April 11 and May 2. There is no cost to attend (register/learn more)

Hency Yuen-Eng
Government and Community Relations
03/22/2021