Students see incident as racist

On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 25, a group of graduate social work students were sitting in the Taqueria when we noticed a heated discussion taking place at a nearby table between an Asian woman and an African American man. They were arguing over the ownership of a laptop computer on the table.

The man and the woman were arguing when the manager of the dining hall joined the conversation. Within two to three minutes, the police arrived and both parties were on their feet being questioned by a white officer. Then another white officer arrived. The police split up the man and woman , one talking to the woman and her friend, the other questioning the man. When the first officer finished with the woman, he then joined in questioning the man ,who appeared to be trying to prove ownership of the computer at his table by pulling up information on it. One of the officers asked for the man's ID. After he gave it to the officer, the man walked into the Cesar Chavez Student Center lobby. One of the officers began to follow him, but hesitated and decided not to pursue him. A few moments later, the man returned with three friends and was describing what was happening into a small tape recorder. At this point, it appeared that a decision was made by the security officers and the woman that the computer belonged to the man and that he deserved an apology.

The woman apologized for hurting the man's feelings and the man replied: "You didn't hurt my feelings. You insulted me. You publicly insulted me."

We feel this incident reeked of racism.

Why was the woman so quick to accuse an African American man of stealing? Why did the two security officers appear so quickly? Why was the burden of proof put immediately on the African American man, rather than on the woman who accused him? Why did the African American man have to show his ID and the woman did not? Why didn't the police apologize to the African American man when it was clear that the woman was wrong? Why did so many of us sitting nearby initially assume the African American man did something wrong? Despite his innocence, sadly, many people will only remember and label the man as a thief.

The apology the woman gave was inadequate. Her response to the incident trivialized the man's experience. The issue was not his feelings, but the racial assumptions behind her accusation.

We all need to examine our assumptions around race. We must look past our fear, apathy and guilt to find the courage to take a stand for justice and compassion in every situation we encounter in our lives.

We would like to extend our support to the accused man: though we learned valuable lessons from the incident, it unfortunately came through his experience.

[ Golden Gater Online October 31, 1995 ]

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