White woman calls cops on black student trying to use the library because she didn't like his tone
In the video below, a white woman from The Catholic University called the cops on a black student because she did not appreciate his tone.
Pabló Gonźalez is a Black student at the Catholic University of America. He claims he has been unable to swipe his student ID at the university’s law library and as a result needed to be buzzed in to gain entry.
He regularly studies at the library. On October 10th, 2018, Gonźalez noticed the door to the library was open, so he walked straight in.
THE INCIDENT:
He showed his ID at the front desk and informed the librarian, Brittany McNurlin, that he was there to study. She told him that the library was only for law students and he assured her that he had permission from the faculty to use the facility.
Gonźalez is a Master of Library and Information Sciences student and was correctly informed that he had access to the library. However, the librarian was reluctant and after a lengthy debate eventually gave in and allowed him to study.
But the entire exchange left a bitter taste in Gonźalez's mouth, and he went back to ask her for her supervisor's card. That's when things took an ugly turn. McNurlin attempted to refuse but begrudgingly handed over the information.
When he began questioning her about why she refused, she became frustrated and decided to call the police. She claimed he was argumentative. He started filming the exchange when she decided to call the campus police.
Several police officers arrived on the scene and forced him to leave the library. Gonźalez decided to take the matter up with the human resource department at Catholic University.
However, he alleges that they attempted to dismiss the story until he produced the video evidence. They then informed him that McNurlin had been instructed to undergo more training.
Gonźalez says this is not the first time he has experienced racism at the school and this time he is not letting it go. The incident sparked the use of #studyingwhileblack which began trending on Twitter.
OTHER INCIDENTS:
The hashtag brought light to many other similar incidences. People from Universities across America used the oppurtunity to tell their stories.
Similar instances included a story where a white woman called police on a fellow graduate student At Yale University. The black girl fell asleep in a common area of their Yale University campus dormitory. The white girl had claimed the girl was "an unauthorized person in the common room."
The hashtag has brought attention to the racial profiling many people experience daily. Besides while studying, black people often face some situations where the police are called on them without a justified reason.
One such incident is the case of Corey Lewis. He was babysitting two kids when a white woman called police on him. He was forced to explain to officers that he is the kids babysitter and the children had to corroborate his story as well only because the woman found him suspicious for having the two white children in his car.
While narrating his story he said exasperatedly, “It’s crazy … It’s 2018 and this is what I’ve got to deal with."