Apparently it’s still illegal for black people to read in America, especially a black student, in a university library.
Check out this video…
According to the “Black With No Chaser” Facebook Page, where I first saw this video, they say…
“…yesterday at Barnard College A black Columbia University student was entering the library when he was racially profiled by police (interestingly referred to as “public safety” officers). But “safe” to who? They took his ID. CONFIRMED he was a student. Refused to give it back. Said they were going to see if he was “an active student”. Attempted to get them to “come outside and talk to them”. In America – perhaps being black and interested in books at the university you attend is a hostile act? Additionally, They pinned him down.”
‘Black With No Chaser’ Facebook Page
So I went researching for more information on this story and I discovered an article written by Marianna Najman-Franks and Karen Xia of the Columbian Spectator (columbiaspectator.com) titled “Black Columbia student physically restrained on countertop by Barnard Public Safety requesting to see CUID“.
In the article they explain how Alexander McNab was apparently at the school library after hours, at a time where security should check I.D’s, but McNab refused because he noticed white students would not have to submit identification in order to gain entrance to the library. Essentially, in my opinion, what happened was McNab figured ‘if they don’t have to follow those rules then neither do I.’ Well the security felt that although many white students enter the library after hours without I.D., it was necessary to not only demand identification from the black student but to physically restrain him around his peers in a library.
“Barnard Public Safety officers pinned Alexander McNab, CC ’19, against a counter after he declined to show his Columbia ID inside the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning on Thursday night…..According to McNab, who is black, officers first began to follow him into the Milstein Center when he declined to show his Columbia ID at Barnard’s main gates despite entering after 11 p.m., when students are required to show their IDs to Public Safety in order to enter campus. In an interview with Spectator, McNab said he was aware of the rule mandating students show their IDs, but expressed his frustration with what he cited as inconsistent enforcement of the rule, as he had noticed that white students were often not asked……According to McNab’s account, after he entered the gates, an officer followed him into the Milstein Center, continuing to request his ID, and when McNab declined, more officers were called to the scene. Multiple videos taken by witnesses show that, after trying to compel McNab to leave the building, two officers physically pinned him down to the counter at Peet’s Coffee, after which he handed them his ID.”
Marianna Najman-Franks and Karen Xia (www.columbiaspectator.com)
You see, this is the subtle but damaging aspect of racism. No one even addresses the white students who “broke the rule” of not showing an I.D. when entering the school library after hours. Their names aren’t even known, unless you’re somebody currently on the campus who recognizes them personally. Their “crime” is invisible, non-threatening. The black man, Alexander McNab recognized this pattern of behavior and decided that he WILL be treated like the other students. That he is a student just like them, and if that particular rule is not enforced upon them then it should not be enforced upon him. Unfortunately, his ambition for justice was differed and yet again another black person is afflicted for being black on a so-called institution of higher learning.
