Was racial profiling involved in the UCLA library incident?

[pnwmom]

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1163740674.shtml

An excellent article about the incident in the UCLA library appears in -- of all places -- some blog called "The Moderate Voice." Interesting that this self-described moderate seems a lot more concerned than some DU'ers about the police action on Wednesday.

I hardly know where to clip -- I highly recommend reading the whole thing. If this is a typical reaction for a "moderate" then maybe there is some hope for our country yet.



"The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
First impression: it sounds like a Muslim student. So what happened next?
SNIP


"Question that will come up: were they checking other students as well? If not, why? If they just checked him, why? Will some say it was racial profiling? And people will argue both ways as to whether, if it is, it was justified.

SNIP
"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
So was he tasered because he was trying to get others to back him up — as lesson to others? Or what? MORE:
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.

SNIP

"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."

SNIP
"Tabatabainejad was also stunned with the Taser when he was already handcuffed, said Carlos Zaragoza, a third-year English and history student who witnessed the incident.

"(He was) no possible danger to any of the police," Zaragoza said. "(He was) getting shocked and Tasered as he was handcuffed."
Police officials counter that they have no way of knowing if someone is going to be a danger or not.

SNIP
"Neither the video footage nor eyewitness accounts of the events confirmed that Tabatabainejad encouraged resistance, and he repeatedly told the officers he was not fighting and would leave."

[951-Riverside]

1. "Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance,"

...Hmmmm, all that for an ID check.

Anyway one of the officers in the video appeared to be black.

[pnwmom]

6. That doesn't mean he didn't profile a student who appeared Muslim.

[Karenina]

82. In any case, everyone can rest assured

that NO post-pubescent, recalcitrant, clearly identifiable as WHITE, student in identical circumstances would EVER have been so handled. Now where did I recently read that 9 students at UCSB occupied a building, went limp and NO TASERS were involved? Things that make ya go hmmmmm...

[readmoreoften]

14. Black cops can profile too.

Just like female bosses are hard on women, gays can have internalized homophobia that causes them to lash out at other gays. Being Black doesn't mean that he is sympathetic to Middle Easterners.

[Garbo 2004]

20. UCLA paper said the tape & eyewitness accounts did not confirm that he

encouraged patrons to join in. http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38960

[majorjohn]

25. Some airports hire minority...

to perform the extra security random checks. Go figure!

[pnwmom]

55. "Islamic leaders want answers" according to AP story.

http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_320104928.html

Islamic Leaders want Answers in Stun Gun Incident

AP) LOS ANGELES Southern California Islamic leaders are calling for an independent investigation into Tuesday night's incident at the UCLA library where campus police apparently stunned a student with a "Taser" gun.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged "state and national authorities, including the FBI" to investigate the
incident involving the 23-year-old Mostafa Tabatabainejad.

A camera phone captured Tabatabainejad being stunned after he allegedly refused repeated requests to show his student I.D. and would not leave a campus library.

Campus officials were investigating the incident, but the American-Islamic relations group said an outside probe was
needed to make sure the case's "civil rights aspects" are taken seriously.

[screembloodymurder]

65. So what ?

I was appalled that no one came to his defense.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. may I be the first to say...

DUH!

"Here's your Patriot Act!"


:(

[medeak]

3. you beat me to it!

ditto!

[Cleita]

10. No kidding! n/t

[readmoreoften]

17. So long as you don't mention it around cops. Apparently they'll taser you if you do. /nt

[pnwmom]

21. Did you hear the cop in the video tell the other students

they might get tased, too?

[readmoreoften]

24. Oh yeah. That's what you get if you ask for a badge #-- shut up or get tased. /nt

[majorjohn]

29. not really

he didn't say they might get tased, he said they will get tased - if they didn't move. It's a much bolder statement or rather threat in that situation.

[pnwmom]

34. Thanks for the correction, majorjohn. You're right.

[sam sarrha]

35. i agree entirely with you, it was sickening, But... NEVER F*CK WITH THE COPS.!. if they tell you to

get up and leave, you get up and leave.. sort it out later

if they say ON THE F*CKING GROUND, SPREAD'm.. get on the F'n ground.. or they will shoot you.. if they are yelling at you, you are in danger.. do what they say... dont sign any confessions but do it and sort it out later, they dont want to debate a situation with you, when you are secured they will talk to you. right or wrong they felt threatened by someone trying to create a disturbance, they should have picked him up and carried him out quickly.. a lot of the bullshit like what happened is their training, bad training.

my brother was a police captain and i was a parole officer..

Rule #1... they dont take any shit form anyone right or wrong, it can get them killed. you secure the situation 'then' sort it out. if someone is not doing what you tell them it can precipitate quickly into a dangerous situation. especially with a mob around you, especially when they are yelling at you..

the tazer shit is totally out to hand and was torture in the situation at the library..

i have been in a situation where i was totally in the right, but when told to get down, i didn't debate it, i got on the ground yelled i had a bad back and i am cooporating..got cuffed and put in a car.. i was released and it was explained a person 6'6" same clothes, beard and boots, just robed a 7/11 3 blocks away with a gun.. they apologized and let me go. you dont always know what is going on and they are not going to explain it till things get secure.

my brother went through over $800 worth of uniforms in a year, tearing them up wrestling with assholes just F'n with the cops.

[readmoreoften]

41. Does ow Please no, please no, I'll leave I'll leave count?

Because that's what this kid said.

[sam sarrha]

61. it looked like he was not leaving tho.. the Rodney king video showed to a professional a man who

violently resisting arrest.. what he was doing was called the Folsom Roll.. where a person resists arrest and roll in a way as to lure a policeman or guard into a position to kick or trip him down in order to them attack him, biting ears, nose, gouging eyes or hitting.

King was a known drug dealer and pedophile.. the pedophile part is what got the shit kicked out of him.

the kid was not moving along, or he would have been out of the building before he got tased.. i feel he was part of the problem too.. but the police were competing for the Tasar Award.. that is Blatantly obvious

[sam sarrha]

63. NO.. not if he wasn't leaving.. i have seen perps yelling trying to get a case against the cops for

brutality so the can get their drug bust or wife beating case dropped.. in the video it definitely looked like he wasn't moving out.. or he would have been out before the tased him the first time...

the Tasing was not necessary.. they were competing for the Tasar Award hat pin. every campus cop wants one.. i have been a security guard.. i have seen pin collectors

[pnwmom]

69. What is that, Sam? Do they get one every time they Tase someone?

Or are there some special circumstances involved?

[sam sarrha]

72. yea.. that is what it looks like did you read about the Tasar Awards from the manufactor.?

[crispini]

87. But considering how tasing somebody can paralyse them temporarily..

how on EARTH is it OK for them to continually insist for him to stand up and walk after they have tased him? He very well might not be able to stand. That whole video is cruel and inhuman and I hope they lose their jobs and that UCLA gets their ass sued off.

[pnwmom]

45. Very helpful post, Sam. Thanks.

I'm going to make sure my teenage sons read it.

:hi:

[MADem]

50. These were "campus police"= UCLA cops, not LA Police. I think they've got training issues at a

minimum. I think UCLA is gonna pay that kid a LOT of money. That's excessive force. It was a real Rodney King moment, with SOUND. And a shitload of witnesses.

[sam sarrha]

59. no.. training is a problem, they were competing for a 'Tasar Award'... how F'n stupid

probably a hat pin or something

[blondeatlast]

67. Yeah, let's hurt people to protect their clothing.

I respect cops but shesh that's weak. BTW, these were campus security, not trained cops.

Fellow students.

[Horse with no Name]

4. I have no doubt it was profiling. n/t

[pnwmom]

31. But the police say it was a "random check."

yeah, right.

Also, the police threatened to tase a female student when she asked for a badge number.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38958

At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check.

SNIP

As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.

"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.

As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.

Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.

Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.

"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."

SNIP

[Horse with no Name]

66. I believe I posted this when it happened

if I didn't, I meant to.
My daughter's High School band went to New Yorka couple of years ago.
At DFW AND LaGuardia, the only student that was hassled and searched was a kid of Mideastern descent.
That was a "random" check too.

[Kutjara]

5. Very telling statement:

"Police officials counter that they have no way of knowing if someone is going to be a danger or not." Does this therefore mean that the police taser everyone? If they have 'no way of knowing' if a suspect is dangerous or not, they must taser every six-year-old girl, 80-year-old grandmother and wheelchair-bound paraplegic, just to be sure.

Since they don't do this (at least I hope they dont), they clearly felt that a handcuffed and immobilized student was a danger to a mob of armed officers. Just how feeble are these police officers? Maybe they should take up a profession more in line with their fragility. Librarian, perhaps?

[majorjohn]

8. good points made - n/t

[readmoreoften]

I have read about older women and children being tased.

I'm too tired to look it up, but give it a google and see what you get. That's where we're at these days. Everyone is taserable until proven innocent. And if you're Middle Eastern, you're even more taserable.

[entanglement]

12. "Taserable until proven innocent" - chilling and insightful

thanks

[pnwmom]

15. You might be interested in my post below, #13.

Something that happened near me.

[pnwmom]

13. Lately, they ARE tasering everybody.

In my area, they tasered a woman who rear-ended another driver. She was slumped over the wheel. They told her to exit her vehicle, and she didn't. So they broke the glass and tasered her through the opening. Then they dragged her out of the car, assuming all along that they had a drunk driver on their hands. (As if it's okay to tase someone because she is passed out drunk.)

When the Fire Dept. showed up, they immediately recognized that the reason she hadn't complied was that she was in DIABETIC SHOCK-- blood tests confirmed no alcohol in her system.

And the worst part of all: they tased this poor, diabetic woman in her abdomen -- next to her transplanted kidney. Good job.

That city's looking at a big fat lawsuit, as it should.

[readmoreoften]

16. Good fucking lord. /nt

[blondeatlast]

68. I have diabetes and had a similar incident (not nearly as bad as being tasered).

The cops insisted I go to the station for a sobriety test even though my very injured friend and the paramedics insisted that I go to the ER, even explaining to the cops that they could check my blood alcohol level (I hadn't been drinking) at the ER.

The cops hauled me off anyway and I had a major insulin reaction at the station. I also saw a little settlement and a big apology from it.

I always wear my Medic-Alert so there was no question about them being able to see the ER was where I needed to go.

[pnwmom]

70. So you showed them the Medic Alert and yet they still hauled you in?

I'm glad you sued them. They deserved it and it's the only way they'll learn.

[blondeatlast]

76. Had they allowed me to go to the ER, I wouldn't have considered

any fuss whatsoever.

[pnwmom]

77. Of course. I can't believe they ignored the medic alert though.

That's pretty scary. I'm so glad you were okay, because I know how dangerous that could have been to you.

:hi:

[AX10]

80. I am no fan of law enforcement.

Whenever there is a doubt of who's at fault, I will always take the side of the civilian. Innocent until proven guilty in all cases.

[annabanana]

85. Hey! Librarians are tough!

They stand up to FBI trying to dig into computer files without authorization. These guys should not be in a position where they are expected to be "nuanced" in their responses.

[Cleita]

7. No. UCLA's faculty, students and workers are all very

ethnically and racially diverse. Although, when I was last on the campus it seems the administrators and deans were predominantly white and male. However, I have lost touch over the last fifteen years so I don't know for sure. I should email a few old friends there and ask.

[readmoreoften]

11. Well, deans and administrators are usually white and male.

And secretaries are often working class and female, in NYC, usually black/latina.

[pnwmom]

18. The population is diverse, but that doesn't prove anything

about whether racial profiling was involved. The question the blogger asked is whether ALL students are asked for ID when they're working on a computer late at night, or only Muslim appearing students?

[readmoreoften]

23. And if all students are asked for ID, are they all tased if they can't produce one? /nt

[Cleita]

30. So many muslim appearing students and so little time to I.D. them.

UCLA is a city within a city with a population that is more than 250,000. Between the Medical Center and the Academic institutions of the campus, there are professors and students from all over the world. Many of the professors that teach there are world famous. Being muslim has never been a problem there. Considering that about 50% of the students are Asian either American Asian or from other Asian countries, being Muslim has never been a problem there.

I worked in the Post Office there for awhile that was mostly African American and Persian (Iranian Muslims) in makeup. Our office was across the road from the campus police headquarters. I think if being Muslim were a problem they would have been arresting all those Persians then. Oh, this was back when Iranians weren't really liked because of the hostage situation.

So what is your race problem? If you aren't ragging on immigrants, you now are ragging on this?

[pnwmom]

37. I'm ragging on the police who tasered a student today

over and over again, because he went limp and didn't stand up. I'm ragging on the police because they used a weapon on him that is specifically designed to lock up his muscles and immobilize him -- and then demanded that he stand up. I'm questioning whether the random check was random at all, or whether it was based on his Middle Eastern appearance.

I would have thought this was something we could agree on. Apparently not.

[Cleita]

39. I don't know why you bring these things up as racial issues.

I am familiar with the culture of UCLA and this has nothing to do with race and a lot to do with lack of training on the part of the campus police who are mostly minorities themselves.

I agree about the tasers. When I worked at UCLA they could use batons and handcuffs. I don't know what stupid Republican administrator authorized the use of tasers for them although I have a very good idea.

[pnwmom]

44. I ran into the blog when I was googling about the incident

and thought he raised a valid QUESTION. It's just a question, but I think it deserves to be investigated. Just how DO the campus police decide who to do their "random checks" on? Are they truly random? Is a blonde female sitting at the computer (as this young man was) as likely to be checked as a dark skinned male with black hair?

[Cleita]

48. Let me tell you about my experiences in the UCLA computer

lab when I was trying to learn about all of this. Yes, the blond cheerleader lady types certainly got all the attention from the smelly nerds before I did. They always do. It's life. However, I found if I hit the lab when those ladies weren't around, I was given the attention I needed. However, I never argued with the gendarmes when they wanted to close things and honestly unless it's Jenna or Barbara Bush who wanted to keep the lab open, I doubt if any of the cheerleader ladies would have gotten special treatment.

[pnwmom]

51. But from what I understand they weren't trying to close the library.

All they were doing was going around and "randomly" checking I.D.'s. And when he couldn't produce his, he was ordered to leave.

Did you hear something different?

[Cleita]

53. You are probably right.

I read that he wouldn't leave when the library was closing. If they were looking for ID's randomly, I hadn't seen that. Since I have dial-up, downloading videos is a losing battle with me.

I know that you have to have special permission or faculty status to be able to go into the stacks of the main library. UCLA has libraries in every department but the main library is the mother lode. To be able to go into the stacks is a real privilege. If this was the case, I think tasering someone who wanted to read, even if it was against the rules, is a bit violent. You didn't say if the students who passed muster were white or otherwise. I'm sure many were Asian.

[pnwmom]

54. The article in the Bruin didn't talk about who else

may have been ID'd. I assume it will come out in the investigation.

The video was very hard to view, with the camera only catching glimpses of the "action." Mostly it is a very shaky picture with lots of views of people's backs. Then, between people's legs, or between a couple of people standing around, you suddenly catch a glimpse of someone lying on the floor. And you hear the police saying STAND UP over and over again, and intermittant screams when they taser the kid because he doesn't stand up.

And then, when he finally does start to rise, they taser him AGAIN. You know, for good measure. It is truly a sickening video.

[we can do it]

58. It Didn't say Anything About the Library Closing, It Was Random Checks

...done after 11pm. See the Bruin article.

[Cleita]

33. Since the campus police are mostly minorities themselves,

I would say that had nothing to do with it. I know. I used to work across the road from them in a predominantly African American and Persian dominated department know as the UCLA post office.

I would say that they were badly trained and did something stupid. UCLA has a lot of problems with rape and beatings and drugs because of it's size and the fact it is very accessible from many places.

[pnwmom]

38. I saw some very white officers in the video,

though I couldn't get a good look at the officers doing the tasering.

But even if they were all minority, that wouldn't mean their random checks didn't "favor" Middle Eastern looking students.

[Cleita]

42. They aren't all minority. UCLA still honors

affirmative action the last I heard.

[pnwmom]

60. Update: the student himself is alleging racial profiling.

He is suing for Federal civil rights violations and police brutality. He says he felt he was selected because of his Middle Eastern appearance.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla17nov17,1,1813095.story

"Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest. The lawyer also provided the first public account of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library from the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior.

"He said that Tabatabainejad, when asked for his ID after 11 p.m. Tuesday, declined because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Yagman said Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.

"The lawyer said Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library but when an officer refused the student's request to take his hand off him, the student fell limp to the floor, again to avoid participating in what he considered a case of racial profiling. After police started firing the Taser, Tabatabainejad tried to "get the beating, the use of brutal force, to stop by shouting and causing people to watch. Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of witnesses."

"He said Tabatabainejad was hit by the Taser five times and suffered "moderate to severe contusions" on his right side."

[Cleita]

73. Okay, then perhaps it's ME profiling.

It happened back during the hostage crisis. I know because my fellow Persian co-workers ran around in fear at that time, although they too were victims of the Ayatollah, since many of them were of the Ba'hai faith.

[pnwmom]

79. Whether or not it actually was profiling,

I can understand why the student involved thought it MIGHT be. How random is a "random check"? Were they actually going to every 5th student or something? Or does random mean -- anybody the campus cop wants to check?

[entanglement]

9. I wouldn't be surprised. UCLA has promised to investigate

but it will likely be a cover-up / whitewash and let the jackbooted thugs off.

[readmoreoften]

19. I have to say that I am more profoundly disturbed by that video than any I've seen all year.

And as a prof of media, I screen a lot of videos. I keep thinking, what if this was one of my students.

[ellisonz]

81. I had Iranian and Syrian friends in high school in Pasadena, CA...

I can't stop help asking myself, what if it's one of my friends next?

The idiot who gave them tasers should be fired, oh, and the campus policemen too.

[MADem]

22. Could it possibly be this kid was from one of the families that fled Iran in the

seventies? US born and raised? The name sounds Persian to me.

[readmoreoften]

26. Yes, it sounds like a Persian name. And I'd bet money that if the kid is Persian

his parents fled the Pahlavi Regime (the Shah). LA has a large Persian community from what I understand.

[pnwmom]

28. Yes they do. And some of them are quite well off.

I hope they have enough money to hire the best attorneys to sue the heck out of those officers.

[MADem]

43. Yep, it's Teheran West, LA is. And likely his family isn't poor. NT

[pnwmom]

27. And then wouldn't he be feeling betrayed.

I'm sure he is, though, no matter where he's from.

Just as most of US are, I hope. This isn't what our country is supposed to stand for.

[MADem]

47. Well, my response had to do with the 'racial profiling' question that was posed.

I frankly don't care where he's from, it's not terribly germane except in terms of speculating about the racism aspect, and of course the behavior of the campus toycops was egregious. The name is Persian, but the kid, near as I could tell from the video, was hollering in unaccented English. That led me to speculate that his parents fled Khomeini's revolution, when things got rough in Iran in the late 70's. If he's a college kid, unless he's a perpetual student in his mid to late twenties or more, he'd likely be US born.

I don't see 'betrayal' in an 'immigrant' sense as the issue (most of those who left with the Shah left for either economic reasons--the mullahs would take their property--or because the Khomeini regime would murder them due to their association with the regime of the Shah)...this was the actions of a bunch of asshole security guards, quite possibly racist, with too few brains and too much authority.

[Cleita]

36. I worked with many of them in the UCLA post office.

You may be right.

[MADem]

52. I used to live there.

Iran, not LA...though I lived on the west coast a few years and breezed through LA every so often.

[athena]

57. He was almost certainly born and raised in the U.S.

Listen to the way he says, "Get off me!" There is no trace of a foreign accent. In fact, his whole reaction to the incident is very American. A student who just arrived from Iran would probably not have had the nerve to argue with the guards.

[MADem]

71. Yep, he was yelling in unaccented American English. So he was at a minimum raised here or he's a

tremendous mimic. He's also gonna be rich--I heard today that he IS suing!

[Karenina]

78. Most accounts I've read refer to Mostafa as

a U.S. born "resident." Have the rules changed or does the place of his birth confer CITIZENSHIP on him??? Hmmm...

Anyway he's hired !!!Steve Yagman!!!, a SERIOUS HEAVY-HITTER, to represent him. I'm MORE than certain all questions shall be answered in full.

[MADem]

86. A US born resident IS a citizen. Sounds like that line was written by, say, Pat Buchanan!!!

Who'd LOVE to deny 'anchor babies' citizenship!

I'm guessing his family is not poor, and they're about to become wealthy beyond their near-term expectations.

[LoZoccolo]

32. Why wouldn't moderates be concerned about police brutality?

That's insulting.

[pnwmom]

40. My reaction was less about moderates

and more about the so-called DU "progressives" who have been trying to justify the police "work" today. I was afraid that if progressives could be as authoritarian as some of the responses I saw on threads here, that we were really in trouble. Now I know that even people who consider themselves "moderate" are as disturbed as I was. The DU'ers who think otherwise are hopefully a small minority.

[Cleita]

46. My last word.

What the UCLA campus police did was dispicable, but to reduce it to racial differences I think is wrong until there is a hearing and the truth comes out. UCLA just doesn't have a huge white population. It's really diverse. So I really believe it wasn't racial. I could be wrong, but until there is a hearing and the truth comes out, it's not really productive to put a racial slant on this.

[pnwmom]

49. I hope you're right, Cleita.

I've been reading other threads today where DU'ers were arguing that tasers "only" caused pain, that the student brought this on himself, that the student was "lucky" the police didn't beat him. Those posts upset me greatly. I don't know how anyone can watch that video and not be sick. Have you looked at it?

When, in following up, I ran across a blog that suggested that racial profiling MIGHT be involved, I thought this was a point worth considering. Thank you for your information about the UCLA culture. As I said, hopefully you're right.

[Jed Dilligan]

56. I think the "races" involved were

police officers and "scumbags," which is what they call the rest of us when we are not docile and submissive to them.

[pnwmom]

62. Update: Now the student's attorney is alleging racial profiling.

And violation of Federal civil rights, and police brutality. This should be interesting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla17nov17,1,1813095.story

[Cleita]

74. Then the truth will have to come out in any hearings and court

proceedings. Be advised though that most lawyers who represent minorities in this type of legal action will accuse the offender of racism, even if it wasn't. It's called the throw everything up there and see what sticks strategy. So it will be interesting to see how this ends up.

[screembloodymurder]

64. It's the most disturbing video I've ever seen.

If that were my kid, there would be one **** cop in LA.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

75. Same here... very disturbing. I cried while watching it last night.

So many cops have God complexes. They think they can treat everyone like shit.

Call them out on it.

I know there are good cops too, but there are SOOOO many bad ones on power trips.

[pnwmom]

83. Interview with student's attorney on Countdown

The most interesting new information, to me, was the attorney's statement that the student who was asked for his ID was surrounded by young white men who were not.

So it apparently wasn't a sweep of everyone in the computer lab, as some people here assumed.

[Karenina]

84. WHY is this no surprise???

:popcorn: