Session 1 – Countering Xenophobia & Anti-Asian Racism

Not only are communities having shift to a new normal to respond to COVID-19, but Asian Minnesotans’ also now indicate that their safety is compromised because of increasing xenophobic and racist behaviors. Stories are emerging about harassment, discrimination, and bias that’s making community members feel targeted. This webinar will feature Dr. Erika Lee, one of the nation’s leading immigration and Asian American historians and Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero. Learn more about our history, what measures are in place to protect communities, and consider what we might do more of to ensure everyone is safe.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Rebecca Lucero, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Rights. She was appointed Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on January 3, 2019 by Governor Tim Walz. Lucero, who was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has extensive policy, legal, and nonprofit leadership experience, including her work as Public Policy Director at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and as Senior Community Representative for then Representative Keith Ellison. Rebecca is a licensed attorney. As an attorney, she has worked as an administrative law judge for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, at the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, and in private practice as a plaintiff-side employment lawyer. Rebecca earned her Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College, and her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School, with a focus in employment law.

Dr. Erika Lee is one of the nation’s leading immigration and Asian American historians, Erika Lee teaches American history at the University of Minnesota, where she is a Regents Professor, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History, and the Director of the Immigration History Research Center. The granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Lee grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, attended Tufts University, and received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. She was recently awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, (also known as the nation’s “brainy award,”) and was named Incoming Vice President of the Organization of American Historians. Lee is the author of three award-winning books in U.S. immigration and Asian American history: At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 (University of North Carolina Press, 2003), Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (co-authored with Judy Yung, Oxford University Press, 2010), and The Making of Asian America: A History (Simon & Schuster, 2015, 2nd ed., 2016, Chinese version, 2019). Lee’s new book, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States was recently published. It is a finalist for the 2020 Minnesota Book Awards.