SFSU Public Affairs Press Release Child Health Month Experts at San Francisco State University

#046

Contact: Public Affairs
phone: (415) 338-1665
e-mail: pubcom@sfsu.edu

WHAT:

A panel of experts will discuss the challenges unique to a democracy during this unprecedented period of fear, insecurity and doubt in America. Presenters with a wide variety of expertise will give their perspectives on this critical moment in time and what America must keep in mind as it struggles to protect its democracy as it takes on a war effort against terrorism around the world.

WHEN: 2 -3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 9.

WHO:

• Victor Hwang, attorney with the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans. Hwang served as an Amicus attorney during the Wen Ho Lee case, and is currently advising Arab American organizations to help them fight against backlash following the Sept. 11 attacks against America.
  

  "Racial profiling is just sloppy law enforcement," says Hwang. "History has shown us that it doesn't work, and it only serves to victimize entire communities.
  

• Sanjoy Banerjee, San Francisco State, professor of international relations, has closely followed the conflicts in Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban. Banjeree, who teaches courses on South and Southeast Asia, is also an expert on foreign relations between the United States and other countries such as Pakistan and India.
  

  "What we're seeing is the result of a radical new form of intolerance in some parts of the world," says Banerjee. "Osama's notions of religious purity against the rest of the world and its impurity are not restricted to Islam. Equivalent ideas exist in many parts of the world in many other religions - and democracy is always the best antidote."
  

• Christopher Waldrep, San Francisco State, professor of history, with an emphasis on hate crimes in the United States. Waldrep, who teaches a course on the history of American violence, has written extensively on the political forces behind vigilante violence in the United States.

"Hate crimes and vigilante justice increase whenever the U.S. wages a patriotic war with a lot of fervor," says Waldrep. "These crimes, of course, are mainly directed against people who share the same ethnic background as the people are waging war against."

WHERE: Cesar Chavez Student Center, Room T-143, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco.

SFSU, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132
Last modified October 9, 2001, by Office of Public Affairs