US professor on leave for alleged racist comments to Chinese American couple

LOS ANGELES - A professor in the US state of California has been put on leave for the next two weeks for telling a Chinese American couple to "go back to your home country," awaiting a decision from the Coast Community College District.

Tarin Olson, a professor and counselor at Golden West College, has been identified as the one who made the alleged racist comment in video clips posted on Facebook by Tony Kao on March 1.

In the video, Olson was heard telling Kao, a Long Beach resident, "Go back to your home country," while Kao was taking a walk with his wife and daughter.

When Kao confronted Olson about the comments, she replied, "You need to go back to your country."

In less than one week, the video has gone viral. Over half a million people have viewed the two short clips.

"We are very aware the community has deep concerns, and we're not going to let this die," said Letitia Clark, a spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District.

"We're looking at past interactions with students and staff to see if it relates to the comments made on the video," Clark added.

Kao said he was born and raised in the United States.

"The comments of this professor have gone too far, and are discriminatory," Daniel Deng, a local attorney, told Xinhua. "America is a country of immigrants. Except for native Americans, everybody is an immigrant."

"Chinese Americans shall not tolerate racial discrimination, and shall fight for our rights and dignity," said Deng.

Golden West College is a community college in Huntington Beach, 40 miles (about 64 km) southwest of Los Angeles.