White Columbia University student goes on racist rant against Black students in viral video
A white Columbia University sophomore felt empowered enough to go a racist tirade on camera while he harassed and belittled Black students and told them they should be grateful for the white man.
–Dallas mom calls for the firing of school employee who called her son a monkey–
The Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper identified the student as sophomore Julian von Abele. He can be seen in the viral video going off the rails. He yells to Black students that they should be indebted to white folks for inventing “the modern world.”
The boy obviously needs a history lesson about Black inventors.
“We invented science and industry, and you want to tell us to stop because, ‘Oh my God, we’re so bad!’” he shouted. “We saved billions of people from starvation, we built modern civilization! White people are the best thing that ever happened to the world!”
The students begin to shout back at the student as he ranted.
“F*ck yeah, white men!” he yells. “We’re white men — we did everything!”
Disappointed, but not surprised. Twitter, do your thing@Columbia @CC_Columbia #ColumbiaWhiteExcellence pic.twitter.com/UCcyv4aII5
— Aala (@aalanasir) December 9, 2018
This is the reality of Donald Trump’s influence over people who are emboldened to harass people of color at will.
Just this week in NYC, a man went on a racist tirade on a subway train in New York City, spitting on passengers and hurling racial slurs before exiting, the NY Daily News reports.
The mad man made his way onto the No. 1 train in Manhattan at 9:25 a.m. Nov. 30, cops report. The hateful suspect even spit at a Black woman in a vitriolic rage.
“You’re all n—–s. You bitch. You look like a mess. I hate your hair,” the man yelled, according to police.
—NYPD officers captured on video violently tugging baby while his mother screams on the floor—
Columbia University has denounced the “racially charged incident” after the video went viral.
University officials released a statement Sunday, calling the footage “alarming” and said it featured “painful language” being used against minority students. The school says it is investigating the incident, which took place on campus early Sunday morning.
Dear Undergraduate Students,
We write to you to unequivocally denounce a deeply disturbing racially charged incident involving Columbia undergraduates that took place in front of Butler Library and JJ’s Place early this morning.
Many of you have heard about or seen the alarming footage online, which includes painful language directed toward students of color in our community. Although we cannot comment on the proceedings, this incident is already under investigation by the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, and we want to assure you that it will be investigated thoroughly, beginning with interviews of witnesses.
We are alarmed at the rise of incidents of racism and hate speech in our world today. It is more important than ever that we continually demonstrate our core values and restate our commitment to a diverse, inclusive community on campus. At Columbia, we stand firmly against white supremacist language and violence. As we said last week, our community will not waver in its support for those of any faith, race, gender, sexual orientation, background or identity.
We understand this may be a difficult time for you and your classmates. Members of our on-call team began to provide individual support as soon as we learned of the incident. If you need support this evening, please reach out to your RA, who will connect you to additional resources as necessary.
All undergraduate students are invited to an open reflection space tomorrow night, Monday, December 10, 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Lerner Hall 505, hosted by Multicultural Affairs, for students to be in community with each other. Additional areas of support will be announced as we are able to plan.
Our collective work toward peace, respect and understanding must continue, both within our community and society at large.
According to the Columbia Daily Spector, Dean of Multicultural Affairs Melinda Aquino said that the University is working to address the matter and taking student concerns seriously.
Dominguez also reportedly received an email from a group of anonymous Columbia students calling itself “Justice for Julian.” In the email, the group stated its support for von Abele, claiming that the statements he made were neither racist nor a threat to students of color.
Kwolanne Felix, CC ’22, who was a part of the group harassed by von Abele, told the Columbia Daily Spector that he advocated for the University to respond effectively to the incident.
“I really hope that Columbia takes further action. They should definitely try to talk to the students that were affected by that and ensure everyone’s okay because that’s really hard to internalize,” Felix said.
