PrintNovember 13, 2009
Race, Violence, and the Columbia Professor
Columbia University architecture professor Lionel McIntyre was arrested for assaulting university employee Camille Davis during a heated debate in a Harlem bar, according to an article in the New York Post. Reportedly, the professor grew increasingly animated during a "fiery exchange" that culminated when he punched his female acquaintance in the face without warning, "so loud the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise." A man was also attacked after he exclaimed, "You don't hit a woman!" The newsworthiness of the story beyond a notation on the police blotter is questionable until the racial component is added. The black male professor struck a white female school employee in this particular incident.The alleged motivation for the attack? The second victim was quoted as saying "The punch came out of nowhere. Mac [the professor] was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it -- apparently I wasn't...(Read Full Article)
