• March 28, 2024

U W-M Professors Claim Racism When Black Student Was Arrested for Committing 11 Crimes

graffiti

‘Seven hundred professors and students signed a petition claiming it is racism to arrest a black student who defaced 11 properties and threatened a witness with death if they told the police about him.  His mother says he has always been a nice polite boy, who always says please when he tells someone hand over their hard earned money.  The eleven buildings he defaced cost $4,000 to clean.

The professors made note of the fact that campus police arrested him as he sat in a class entitled, “Towards the Black Fantastic: Afro-futurism and Black Visual Culture.”  They say it was wrong to arrest him in class, even though campus police have been trying for two weeks to find him.  Taking him in class seemed to be the best way.  In the following video, you will see the arrest of the student, Denzel McDonald.  He was asked to step out of the classroom and he obliged them.  Once outside the classroom, he was arrested for vandalism.  His supporters later bailed him out of jail.

Dane County Sheriff mugshot, University of Wisconsin Police Department courtesy of Inside Higher Ed

He has been charged with 11 counts of vandalism and could be upgraded to 13 after police determine if he is also responsible for 2 more sites vandalized by graffiti.  He has also been charged with one count of disorderly conduct for threatening a bystander.

Johanna Almiron and several other professors wrote a letter of protest, which includes:

“On April 14th during UW Madison Professor, Dr. Johanna F. Almiron’s Afro-American Studies Class, Black Visual Culture, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department ambushed the classroom, and removed a young black male student from the class.   Upon confrontation, the student agreed to leave his seat and subsequently was detained and arrested outside of the classroom and taken to the Dane County Jail, where supporters later posted his bail.”

How many parents believe the tuition money they spend, may not go to the right objective, which is ostensibly learning.

 

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