Department Spotlight
Our department would like to give a special shout out to one of our majors, Felix Dong, for publishing his opinion piece This Can’t Keep Happening: Anti-Asian Incidents in the The Bottom Line (March 3, 2022), UCSB's student-run newspaper.
In his article, Felix discusses how traumatic the rise in anti-Asian incidents have been on the Asian American community in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. He goes on to describe anti-Asian hate crimes in recent history, both in the US and on the UCSB campus. For these reasons, Felix argues, "[w]e cannot keep hearing these names on the news, sending our prayers, and continuing this cycle." He encourages his readers to take action, from calling their representatives to volunteering with community organizations. Most importantly, he argues, we must "spread awareness and talk about what is happening...We must talk about racism and address it, however uncomfortable it may be. These uncomfortable conversations mean addressing our own internal bias, vulnerabilities, and trauma but are also an opportunity for us to come together as a community."
Thank you, Felix, for your illuminating article! We hope it drives more community members to have difficult conversations and take action against anti-Asian hate.
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