“It’s outrageous that some people question my being at Smith College, and my existence overall as a women of color,” Kanoute wrote Tuesday in a Facebook post, which includes video of her exchange with the officer. “I did nothing wrong, I wasn’t making any noise or bothering anyone. All I did was be black.”
Kanoute, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, said in her post that the incident made her nervous, and while the responding officer apologized, she had a “meltdown” after the incident. She called for the Smith administration to identify the employee who called police so the person can “confront and acknowledge the harm done to me as (a) student.”
Kanoute: " She called for the Smith administration to identify the employee who called police so the person can “confront and acknowledge the harm done to me as (a) student.”
Kanoute, guess what? The employee didn’t know you were a student and actually did their job in keeping ALL the students safe no matter their color. Not everything is about you or race no matter how you try to spin it.
"All I did was be black.” — No, you were laying on a couch in a front lobby which since it probably isn’t customary to lay down there you called attention to yourself as “being out of place.”
It happened to be you–could have been someone passed out, a homeless person etc.
It’s very good to learn how your actions may look to outsiders.
I am sure they do. This happened in a residence hall. An employee likely would not be lounging there. But maybe they do. I am not defending this person. I wasn’t there. Sometimes we have to look at the whole story. Maybe the caller is a blatant racist…maybe they thought a male looked out of place in a residence hall.
The Confrontation Clause of the 6th Amendment gives us the right to face our accusers, so no, she is not being “over the top” in this desire.
The problem is, it will become a spectacle, with likely death threats on both sides, since this has gotten so much coverage. A private meeting would be better, like the one that Obama held between the Cambridge policeman who arrested a black professor who was trying to unlock his own front door. Smith should try to facilitate that, and try to have a good outcome. Quite a tightrope to walk, but it could be done.
The main problem is that a student of color should not feel “out of place” or look “out of place” to anyone else.
A “meltdown” after being asked a few questions by a campus police officer, who was called after a report that apparently had nothing to do with race. A little grace on the part of the “victim” would have gone a long way.
Just another invented incident. A small scale race hoax designed to get a response from virtue signalers.
“The Confrontation Clause of the 6th Amendment gives us the right to face our accusers, so no, she is not being “over the top” in this desire.”
She wasn’t accused of anything. In fact, from the phone transcript it was clear that the caller just thought her actions were “out of place”. and thought maybe someone could check out why she was there. No accusations involved. Nor race inferences.
And what if it had been a person who had just overdosed on heroin and everyone ignored her? Small towns and elite college campuses are not immune to the heroin epidemic.
The caller said nothing about being concerned that this student had OD’d, nor that they were concerned about her well being in general.
I honestly don’t get how lounging on a couch in a college residence hall seemed suspicious. In my dorm, students were often seen sleeping on furniture.
It is not just a residence hall, it is an empty residence hall according to the reporters phone call… I think that is what makes it suspicious or better “out of place”.
I hear, more times per day than I can count “If you see something, say something”. I think this is a case of that, the reporting party saw something, said something, and it was looked into. Are we supposed to only say something if we are sure it will not offend or hurt someone’s feelings?
@Nrdsb4 From other reports it was believed that the building was thought to be empty except for some office staff. As I said before, if you see somebody you don’t recognize in a building you thought was empty, in the middle of summer break (many fewer students than normal), I would find that suspicious too. As I mentioned, we don’t even know the race of the caller. Why is this student’s FIRST action to go jumping on social media saying she was a victim of racism? Why does she assume the caller was another race? “My only crime was being black” - and you know that how?? Racism definitely exists in our country and I will never understand how it feels. I do have friends and colleagues of all races and heard about the things they have faced - even from within their own ethnic communities. The point is we have now gotten into this vicious race-baiting cycle in which the news media and the far-left is making it easy to scream racism in order to get attention and make a statement. Frankly, I think this student has fallen into this race-baiting trap and the media is only too happy to use her.
I have no idea if race was a motivating factor here. But I find calling the police on someone lounging on a couch to be overkill, no matter her race. JMO.
As a person of color, I’m tired of calling the cops to be the “go to option”. Why couldn’t the caller just ask the girl ? While some of you may think it’s no big deal, these “innocuous “ interactions with cops are a big deal to us.
Also has the caller never seen a woman of color with short natural hair, so that she thought it was a Man? If so, the caller needs to get out of his/her bubble.