Thread by @KfangKaren

Hi everyone thank you for all your support and empathy in the past few days.
To minimize further injuries, the original voicemail with the intended subject's name has been removed, but I am reposting here with name obscured: soundcloud.com/user-251012259… (thanks for tech help!)

I am also reposting my entire Twitter message regarding this incident, with other important ideas I forgot to include:

four days ago my work phone got a rambling but confrontational 3.5 min voicemail from someone questioning my legitimacy to teach based on my presumed #citizenship and #ethnic identity. You can hear the actual message here: soundcloud.com/user-251012259…

the caller seems to have found the name of an #Asian #faculty person w/ a degree from Shanghai, so questions that faculty's authority to teach based on #citizenship and "#loyalty to the #US"

this kind of ignorance and suspicion RE #ethnic #Chinese professionals is typical of #antiAsian #racism, and a disturbing indicator of today's civic climate

would the caller raise the same "concerns" about #white #faculty, or someone from western Europe? (such as Einstein, Fermi, Nabokov, or Hannah Arendt?)

depressingly ridiculous is also the fact that the message's presumed subject is not me . #everydayracism

while every #AsianAmerican is used to being confused with other random #Asian people, the larger issue here is not uninformed sloppiness but the fact that some people think an international degree means non-citizenship--or that #citizenship is required to #teach

I believe that our #society will make more #progress through #dialogue & #empathy than #hysteria and #suspicion, so I don't want to make more of the voice message than necessary #againsthate #ThisIsNotUs

(new point): #American #universities excel precisely because we gather the world's #best

(new point): these #leaders join our #faculty because they believe in #progress, #democracy, and #freedom from #persecution

(new point): #America flourishes when our institutions of higher learning #uphold these #ideals

so it's sad that me and other similar colleagues feel #less #welcome & #less #safe at a place where we are devoted to positive change #againsthate #ThisIsNotUs

it's unfair & annoying that #minorities have to spend time & mental energy registering these kind of baseless confrontations

& it's a bleak future indeed if "concerned citizens" failing to perform #DueDiligence feel themselves qualified to override the #PeerReview that brought any #faculty member to their hard-won & deeply valuable appointment