PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jennifer MacKenzie, Lecturer at Lehman College, on CUNY's Response to Antisemitism and Discrimination
4:57:51
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126 sec
Jennifer MacKenzie, a lecturer at Lehman College, shared her experiences and perspectives on antisemitism and discrimination at CUNY. She emphasized that while antisemitism exists at CUNY, as it does in America, the most common form of discrimination she observes is anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry, which she attributes to ignorance rather than hate.
- MacKenzie has witnessed only one instance of blatant antisemitism in her classroom over 11 years at Lehman College.
- She highlighted the historical context of discrimination, referencing the Spanish Triangle and its impact on white supremacy in America.
- MacKenzie does not support the adoption of any of the three definitions of antisemitism proposed in the Lippman report, agreeing with Judge Lippman that it's not the court's role to impose one.
Jennifer MacKenzie
4:57:51
Hi.
4:57:52
Thank you so much to the council members for giving me the opportunity to speak about my work.
4:57:57
Teaching has been a great gift to my life.
4:58:00
I've spent, most of the last 20 years teaching college level writing, and this is my 11th year at Lehman College, which is a Hispanic serving institution.
4:58:10
I'm a lecturer there, so, for the English and journalism department.
4:58:13
So I teach 24 credits per year, meaning I serve 70 to a 100 students per semester.
4:58:20
In that time, I have seen one instance of blatant antisemitism in my classroom about 7 years ago.
4:58:27
I start there to say that, of course, there is antisemitism at CUNY because there's antisemitism in America.
4:58:34
It has gotten worse since the first Trump administration, and to address the roots of that, I sometimes teach in my media classes Ed Morales' excellent book called Latinx, the first chapter of which is called the Spanish Triangle, and it explains how the logic of the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain, was then racialized and exported to the Americas, and became part of the white supremacy that we live with today.
4:59:01
I put that there because for me, in my time at CUNY, the most common form of discrimination I see among both my students and my colleagues is anti Muslim and anti Arab bigotry.
4:59:13
It isn't hate.
4:59:14
I wanna be clear about that.
4:59:16
It's ignorance.
4:59:16
It's a conflation of of terms, and it's prejudices that have been inflated and propagated by the war on terror, which our students were now born into.
4:59:26
Our students are not hateful.
4:59:28
They are brilliant, empathetic, curious.
4:59:30
They're also scared to offend one another, in my experience, and they're afraid to jeopardize their future and the risks that they've taken to be at CUNY.
4:59:39
So regarding the Littmann report, I do not support the adoption of any one of the three definitions of antisemitism.
4:59:48
I agree with judge Littmann that it's not the role of the court to impose 1.
4:59:53
I do advocate for,
Christopher Marte
4:59:55
Your time has expired.
4:59:56
Thank you.
