California college professor's 'racist' rant captured in viral video

Long Beach is seen in a file photo. A couple says they were confronted by a racist college professor in the California city. Long Beach is seen in a file photo. A couple says they were confronted by a racist college professor in the California city. Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close California college professor's 'racist' rant captured in viral video 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

Footage of a California college professor telling a couple to "go back to your home country" went viral last week, prompting the college to distance itself from its employee's comments.

Tony Kao said he and his wife were walking with their baby in their Long Beach neighborhood when they "encountered a bigot and a racist."

"A caucasian female walked past us completely unprovoked and said to us very nonchalantly, 'go back to your country!' and continued walking," Kao wrote in a Facebook post.

Kao's wife started filming, and the woman repeated her earlier alleged comments.

"You need to go back to your home country," she said.

Kao can be heard in the video saying he and his wife were born in the United States.

Facebook commenters identified the woman in the video as Tarin Olson, a professor and career counselor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.

In a statement to CBS LA, Olson said she felt her "perspective will be twisted if discussing the skewed video which cut out part of the incident."

"If you would like to have a full normal interview about the displacement of European-Americans then I gladly am available to enlighten the public," the statement continued.

Golden West, a community college in the Coast Community College District, wrote on its Facebook page that it does not "condone or support" the faculty member's comments. "Golden West College believes in an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students," the statement said. The college could not be reached for comment.

Kao, who did not respond to SFGATE's request for comment, said in a follow-up Facebook post that he had "no intention of seeking out or besmirching the offender's personal life or career."

"It is our hope the offender is aware and apologetic for what she has said to us," he wrote.

"Although my post was about something negative," he continued, "the message we want to convey is POSITIVE and that is to be respectful to one another no matter of what race, creed, or color."

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.