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Santa Clara University security just harassed me and my brother and forced me (a faculty member) to show my campus ID to prove I live in the house WHERE I OPENED THE DOOR. A thread. (1/n)
My brother strictly quarantined for 14 days to come and see me and my children after eight months apart. I woke up early and happy this morning, for the first time in a long time. (2/n)
He had a work meeting at 8:30am and so he went to campus to sit outside with his books and computer. SCU is beautiful -- it& #39;s specifically designed so that students, faculty, and staff have the opportunity to work outside, take pictures, and have the scene as a backdrop (3/n)
Campus security came up to my brother in the midst of his meeting and told him to move along. He& #39;s been Black his whole life so he said ok. They followed him (4/n)
He moved toward the street which he thought was no longer on campus. They told him to leave. By this point there were four campus security cars (5/n)
One officer followed him to my house. I opened the door and my brother said, "I& #39;m so sorry about this. They& #39;re demanding you come out and vouch for me." I, of course, knew exactly who "they" were. (6/n)
When I came out, the officer very aggressively demanded to see my campus ID "to prove you are who he says you are and that you actually live here." I went back inside to get my ID and get my husband. Probably important to note that my husband is white. (7/n)
We both came out and he kept creeping toward us all. We asked that he socially distance and he finally stopped after we moved back quite a bit. He asked to see my ID, and my husband said that I wasn& #39;t obligated to show it. The guy called his supervisor. (8/n)
I asked what the issue was and he said my brother was "in the bushes" and it was "suspicious" and they thought he may have been homeless. I asked why I needed to show ID at my own home. He said "Well, it& #39;s not your home. The University owns it." (9/n)
I told them that I was one of 7 Black faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences and that our student body population is 2% Black. I told them that the anti-Blackness they espouse and practice is part of the reason why. (10/n)
I also told them that white students have been running around -- maskless -- banging on the houses on this street at midnight and smoking weed from apples on campus and this is apparently "just what happens." But my brother is a threat. (11/n)
My husband told them that this was anti-Black and despicable. He told them that they don& #39;t harass anyone white on campus, ever. He told them they only harass Black students and faculty, and that following him to a second and third location was punitive. (12/n)
Our neighbor came out at this point to walk his dog. My husband asked if they wanted to check our neighbor& #39;s ID and they said "No, of course not." He said, "That& #39;s exactly the point." (13/n)
Our neighbor then came over when I shouted "Hey, can you vouch for the fact that I live here?" He did, and then he waited outside, closely, and watched the entire time. (14/n)
My husband asked why they brought four cars. They said for safety. He asked for whose safety. They said "the officers& #39;s safety." He told them that he didn& #39;t care about their safety and was concerned for his brother-in-law& #39;s safety. (15/n)
At this point, they told us they didn& #39;t have any guns on them, so my brother wasn& #39;t in danger. I was aghast that they explained he wasn& #39;t in danger because they weren& #39;t armed, not because he wasn& #39;t a threat or because they wouldn& #39;t hurt him, but because they COULDN& #39;T. (16/n)
At this point I told them that their stance and responses were exactly why we need to abolish the police and immediately divest from the city police department on campus (17/n).
My husband asked what, to their mind, we should do to not be harassed and followed. They said "Stay in open spaces." That answer is unclear and insufficient, and I am concerned now to go back to campus AND to live in this house. (18/n)
I am so angry. Academia proves over and over that it doesn& #39;t love me. I don& #39;t think I love it back anymore. (19/n)
I am grateful for my friends who immediately reminded me to take photos, to chronicle, to report. And for all the neighbors who stood outside as witness which 100% defused the officers& #39;s attitudes toward us. (20/n)
I have been looking forward to today for so long. And now this. It& #39;s absolutely too much and I& #39;m not okay. (21/n)
Thank you all so much for your kind words and support. I want to let you all know that the president of SCU as well as my dean and other administrators have personally reached out to me. I am awaiting information on next steps.
