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Alexander McNab was hungry.
It was 11:30 pm Thursday, and Columbia University's superior had just left his Afro-Beats night dance practice. He had his work cut out and his anthropology thesis was looming on the horizon. The 23-year-old released his phone to a Facebook page where students can post and find the most universally reliable basic product on US college campuses: free food.
Other students had just left group remains in the nearby library at Barnard College, where Columbia students are welcome. McNab moved in that direction.
By the end of the night, he would find himself the last subject of another viral video – one that rekindles the tense conversations that communities across the country have about the use of force by the police, racial profiling and the risks associated with being a person of color the United States.
In his quest for free food, McNab met with the police, which resulted in a disagreement about his student card, which resulted in officers pinching him against a counter. The incident, filmed by two witnesses, inspired a weekend of agitation on the campuses of New York City, during which directors issued statements and held listening sessions. . The students drew attention to what some consider to be a chronic problem within the public safety department.
Barnard issued two statements and hired an independent investigator.
The agents involved were put on paid administrative leave.
McNab, who said that all he wanted to do was work and study this weekend, instead spent the last three days preparing for interviews, answering e-mails and explaining what it's all about. to be black.
"There is never a better time for this to happen," McNab told the Washington Post. "But this weekend, I had all these things to do."
The night of the meeting, McNab said, he headed for the free food, crossed the street that divided the Columbia and Barnard campuses, and passed a public security van Barnard waiting to turn left. McNab says that he accelerated as he crossed to catch the light before she turned around.
He crossed the official gate leading to Barnard's campus, where he heard someone yell, "Hello, sir! Hello sir!"
He did not look back – not this time.
McNab thought of two other occasions when he was arrested by Barnard officers and asked to show his identity card. According to him, these encounters resulted from racial profiling. They once asked to see his identity card while he was leaving for a two hour dance practice. Another time, he left the practice of dancing to go barefoot to the bathroom. He was arrested again because the police had assumed that he was homeless.
The campus policy is to request student identification after 11 pm, a rule that McNab then said, to his knowledge, but that he did not take into account in the moment. At that time, he said, he thought the agents were only preventing him because of the color of his skin.
McNab continued walking in the library and towards the food. The students greeted him, offered him a plate and told him to take whatever he wanted. He picked up lamb and rice. Then the officers came in.
They were two, then four, then more. They asked to see his student card, McNab and witnesses. The police seized McNab's arms and pushed him against the coffee counter located on the first floor of the library. They forced him on the back.
That's when Caroline Cutlip, a Barnard junior who had written about food, started filming.
"The moment I saw him back on the table, it was so reminiscent of the police brutality I saw online," said Cutlip, the only white student who watched the scene, about her decision. She said that she thought, "I need to say something. I feel that I am someone who can use my privilege to say something here. "
"But I did not know what to say," said Cutlip. "Then I started filming."
In the first of two videos she recorded, McNab is surrounded by at least five public security officers.
"Take your hands off me!" McNab shrieks as the officers immobilize him.
They asked to see his student ID card. An officer, who seemed to be leading the rest, peeked over his shoulder at Barnard's student table where Cutlip was filming. The officer looked at McNab and then at Cutlip's camera. He released his grip.
"OK, let's go outside," the officer said.
Hands free, McNab pulled his wallet out of the front pocket of his pants.
"Do you want to see my identity card?" He said, handing them his card. "I am a student of Columbia University. That's me. This is the third time that Barnard Public Safety is chasing me.
The chief officer took McNab's ID card and started walking outside, Commander McNab to follow. McNab refused and later explained to the Post that he wanted to stay near the witnesses. He was concerned that leaving the building compromised his safety.
In the video, McNab is seen waiting by Barnard students. He whispers an apology, and a student responds firmly: "No, do not be sorry."
The officer says he will confirm that McNab is an "active student" and will eventually return with his ID. Cutlip began filming a second video, this time capturing agents telling McNab that he had run into the building without showing his ID card. McNab says that he walked, not ran, and Barnard students back him up.
"I made it run in the yard," says the chief officer.
At the same time, a second officer began arguing with Barnard's students, claiming that McNab had appeared in front of his van. McNab and the other students refute the story again, and the second officer raises the voice to a black student.
"Do you have a gauge that you can measure how fast he was running?", Asks him the officer.
"Is it important?" She replies.
"Were you there?" He asks, coming closer, pointing his finger at the end and telling him to "relax."
In unison, Barnard's other students repeat the word "relax" with exasperation.
"I'm relaxed," she says.
"Yes, well I do not see that," the officer said. "Right away, you take a …"
"Please, stop talking to me," she said.
The officer is going away. The video is cut off.
Still alone in the library, McNab and Barnard's students were left to present themselves properly and recap what happened.
Many of Barnard's students were crying.
"It showed me that it was not just something I experienced," McNab told The Post. "They have been there too."
McNab said another student suggested that the incident was worthy of a complaint addressed to the titleholder Barnard IX. She connected to a computer and sent one.
McNab left after midnight but did not fall asleep until 4am. By the time he woke up and headed for his sailing course on the Hudson River, an online video was beginning to catch the eye. McNab left his phone ashore at 10am. When he came out of the water at 2 pm, he was inundated with messages.
Cutlip, a student government representative, had met with the Title IX officer during the morning and had worked with her as well as with other members of the student government to prepare an official statement. In the afternoon, Cutlip put his videos online.
Friday afternoon, Sian Leah Beilock, president of Barnard College, issued a statement to students and staff about the "unfortunate incident" at the library, but did not provide details.
"We deeply regret that this incident has occurred and we are conducting a thorough review of the actions of our public safety officers and will look at our processes and procedures and how they are applied," reads the report. communicated.
Beilock announced a Friday night listening session with public security officials and members of the Barnard Administration.
McNab attended, he said, but did not speak to the end. He watched his peers scrutinize the language used by Barnard officials to talk about "the incident," listening to them call him "the student," and became disappointed when the administration, at its eyes, could not cope with the racial elements of his experience.
In the end, McNab said that a close friend had cried explaining to school officials that he was a kind person who did not deserve this type of treatment. She called for a thorough investigation, support for women of color at Barnard, and appropriate mental health services for anyone who has been a victim of racism on campus.
As the students snapped their fingers and applauded, McNab picked up the microphone.
"I'm calling Alexander Cecil McNab," he said. "You other men, you may know me as being" the student. "I am a senior from Columbia University, this is my identity, you can verify it, it's true. "
McNab pulled out his ID card and thanked the administrators for the free pizza that they had provided.
"It's fine," he said. "But I would also appreciate an apology."
Once again, the students applauded. Several directors repeated the wording of the e-mail – that they regretted the incident – and used the phrase "we apologize".
"Why can not you call it racism?" Asked a student.
What McNab said he was looking for, however, came from Natalie J. Friedman, vice-dean of the college and dean of studies, who welcomed him on campus and thanked him for his speech.
"I also apologize on behalf of the college," she said, "for the racist incident that occurred."
McNab approached and shook his hand.
"For me, it was the most beautiful thing she could do," he said later.
Colombian administrators have since issued their own statements, and several McNab anthropology professors have lent their support. A woman with whom he dances in Brooklyn, who works for the NAACP, also sent him a text message. The student newspaper, for which he contributes occasionally, allows him to write a personal essay on what happened.
"I tried to find the right vocabulary to use," McNab said Sunday morning as he was preparing his to-do list for the third day.
He had his job as tutor, paper for a class and two articles for student publications.
And there was a protest, stimulated by his experience on Thursday night. He wanted to go, he said, but "I had to finish my thesis this weekend."
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