Chinese Professor at University of Houston Targeted With Racist Voicemail Questioning Her Loyalty to America
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![Chinese Professor at University of Houston Targeted With Racist Voicemail Questioning Her Loyalty to America](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/professor-e1529601868815.jpg?width=1536&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
![Carl Samson](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CARLSAMSON_NEXTSHARK.jpg?width=128&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
By Carl Samson
An English professor at the University of Houston has spoken out after being the unlikely recipient of a racist rant intended for a political science professor at the same university.
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According to Karen Fang, she received a three-minute voicemail questioning her loyalty to the United States of America.
But she realized that the message was for another Asian professor, Ling Zhu, who teaches political science.
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The caller assumed that Zhu, who received her master’s degrees from Purdue University and Fudan University in Shanghai, and a doctorate degree from Texas A&M University, was not an American citizen.
Consequently, the caller believed that Zhu lacks loyalty to the U.S. and questioned whether she “should be a permanent fixture of a public institution.”
Fang responded to the “crazy” voicemail in a series of tweets, noting that such “ignorance and suspicion” regarding ethnic Chinese professionals is “typical of anti-Asian racism.”
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She also said it was “depressingly ridiculous” that the voicemail was not for her, but pointed that the bigger issue is the assumption that “international degree means non-citizenship” or that “citizenship is required to teach.”
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Twitter users chimed in to condemn the unidentified caller, with some suggesting to identify and report the caller.
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