Racism has no place at Notre Dame
Anna Barbour
Get a Life
Before I begin my article, let me just send out a big "Happy Birthday" to a good friend of mine who turns 22 today. Just like Bobby Brown, as a Notre Dame Observer Viewpoint writer, it's my "prerogative" when I choose to take the reader down twisty written pathways of the mind. I extend her this notice to have a happy birthday because even though the birthday week should be one of the better weeks in one's year, I know that hers began rather poorly.
It began most inconspicuously on Saturday — the day of the Tennessee game. She awoke with a yawn and a stretch to a bright, sunny, cloudless day. She got her game day clothes on and met some friends with whom to begin preparing for the game in the way only people over 21 years really can. Perhaps she prepared too too much, after all, who knew how the game would turn out? Maybe just the bookies.
Well, one thing led to another. That afternoon, near the library, she wound up being surrounded by five Notre Dame security officers: two officers in a car, two upon bikes and one on a motorcycle. The story as told by an eyewitness is that she was intoxicated and shouting an obscenity.
The officer on the motorcycle proceeded to grab her while still on his motorcycle, causing his motorcycle to tip over. He forced her to the ground, pinning her there as the other four officers rushed to his aid. Her head was scraped and bled due to this rough handling. The officers are said to have claimed that she was belligerent and displaying violent tendencies.
Being an American myself, hearing wild stories about police officers acting brutally or somewhat unlawfully, for example, in Los Angeles or in New York, I believe that my reaction to five cops swarming upon my unsober self would have also caused me a moment or two of panic and defensive action.
Incidentally, aside from her two fists of fury, she carried nothing but a pack of cigarettes so I am unsure what violent harm she would have caused to five male cops all her size or bigger. She was made to cry. She was made to believe she was going to jail. She was, upon reflection, treated in a manner not equal to the situation. Why was she forced to the ground? Surely, she was not the first intoxicated person the Notre Dame Security/Police have ever run across.
I am greatly angered and offended for her, not only because her birthday week will not be the same, but also because this is Notre Dame, not simply a downtown street in some inner city. We are a family. If a member of my family is treated this way, I cannot sit idly by.
We live in dorms; we eat the same foods; we take the same classes; we go to the same parties; we see the same people. The only difference is that she is black and I am white. I do not know, but I wonder if the only difference between us was also noticed by those five security officers? But perhaps this was just the routine Notre Dame security treatment. In either case, though, whether racist or overly militant, this is not Notre Dame treatment.
This event occurred on the Notre Dame campus. If it happened once, could it not happen again?
Notre Dame is a big family; there are a lot of different people in it but the best part about it must remain the fairness with which it treats all its members. Notre Dame is the kind of place that you can ride a bike down its pathways on bright, sunny, cloudless days and hum, "My future is so bright, I have to wear sunglasses at night." Not all the time, but sometimes. I cannot believe this incident occurred at Notre Dame, but it did. Hopefully it will never happen again, and my friend will still have a good birthday today because she deserves to.
Anna Barbour is finally a senior pre-medical and theology student. She can be reached at barbour.1@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, November 6, 2001
