Friday, October 28, 2005

black studies professor arrested

Once I met a professor (older African-American man) from Stanford who was complaining that people who saw him on campus would often assume that he was a bus driver. He even joked around about getting t-shirts made which said across the front "I am not the bus driver". I guess some folks have a hard time imagining a Black person in an academic position.


Other folks have a REALLY hard time: Black Studies Professor Arrested (for the full story)

San Francisco State professor Antwi Akom was arrested last night and placed in county jail for going into his campus office. He was released earlier this evening.

While in jail, he spoke with numerous friends and colleagues in the Ethnic Studies Department to tell them what happened. Among them was Shenoda, his teaching assistant Ashley Moore, and Dean of Ethnic Studies Kenneth Monteiro. According to these friends, Akom came to campus around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening to pick up a book he needed for teaching his class.

When he arrived in the front of the Ethnic Studies building (which is where his office is located), he was approached by a security guard who asked him what he was doing here. Akom reportedly told the security guard he was a professor and he was simply going into his office. He then proceeded to go inside.

“When he came out, there was a white cop to meet him and told him to put his hands behind his back,” said Shenoda. [...]

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