Police refuse to charge Columbia professor with hate crime after alleged attack on co-worker

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On Monday, New York City police arrested Lionel McIntyre, 59, an architecture professor at Columbia University, for punching a woman in the face, and slapping another man. The alleged attack took place the previous Friday night at Toast bar in Harlem.

The woman, Camille Davis, who also works at Columbia University was left with a heavily bruised face, after taking what witnesses described as a closed-fisted punch in the face from McIntyre.

Bar employee Richie Velez told the New York Post: "The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise. I was on my way over when he punched Camille and she fell on top of me."

Waiter, Rob Dalton said: "It was a real sucker punch. Camille's a great lady, always nice to everybody, and doesn't deserve anything like this."

McIntyre, who is black was having an angry discussion about racial issues and in particular about so-called “white privilege,” with both of his alleged victims, who are white.

The man who McIntyre allegedly attacked, only wishes to be identified by his first name, Shannon, told the Post: "He knocked the glasses right off my face. The punch came out of nowhere. Mac was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it -- apparently I wasn't doing enough."

McIntyre reportedly had an argument with Davis a few weeks earlier over race. He has been charged with assault and was released without bail.

McIntyre told the Post that it was “a very unfortunate event."

The following is an excerpt from McIntyre’s bio on Columbia University’s website:

“From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Professor McIntyre worked in civil rights and labor organizing in the deep South. His international experience began with travel abroad in 1972 as co-liaison for the first "People to People Friendship Delegation" to the People's Republic of China and conducted a subsequent study tour in 1979. Other experiences in the international community have included planning studios in Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and South Africa. He also served as director of planning for the Harlem Urban Development Corporation from 1989 to 1994 and advisor to the president of Columbia University on community development and the Empowerment Zone. He created the organizational structure for the preparation of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (EZ) application and co-authored the strategic plan for Harlem's EZ.”

*Reporter’s note: This case seems to represent yet another example of the double-standard being applied across the country in relation to so-called hate crimes. By all accounts, McIntyre’s alleged assault was a completely unprovoked attack, brought on by his own stated anger against white people.

Is it such a leap to think that if the race of the attacker and victims were reversed, that law enforcement would at least be considering hate crimes charges?

While I do not personally agree with so-called hate crimes laws, if they are to be applied, then they should be applied equally.

 

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