VIDEO:
Black Student Becomes Enraged In Evolution Class, Threatens To Kill
Professor...
March 20,
2012
Associate Professor Stephen M. Kajiura was reviewing
with his evolution class in GS 120 for a midterm when FAU student Jonatha Carr interrupted him: “How does evolution kill
black people?” she asked. Kajiura attempted to
explain that evolution doesn’t kill anyone.
And
then, Carr became violent.
A
fellow classmate, Rachel Bustamante, was sitting behind Carr prior to her
outburst and noticed she had been avoiding looking at the professor until 11:35
a.m. — that’s when she snapped. The classmate reported that Kajiura
was discussing attraction between peacocks when Carr raised her hand to ask her
question about evolution. She asked it four times, and became increasingly
upset each time Kajiura’s answer failed to satisfy
her.
A
video taken by Bustamante shows Carr ranting and threatening to kill the
professor and several students. At this point, the witness who contacted the
police claimed, “No one was comfortable in the room. I realized the situation
was escalating and went out to call the police.” Seconds later, Carr walked
down an aisle of the classroom and slammed the palm of her hand into the
forehead of a male student.
Kajiura stayed in the room, trying to keep the
class calm, while a few students stepped out to call police. “She became
increasingly belligerent,” he said. “It was at this point, a highly emotionally
charged individual who was no longer capable of responding rationally. She was
threatening to kill both me and the students in the class.”
Then
Carr made her way to the back of the classroom. “Some [FAU technician] came in
and ordered her to get out,” Kajiura said. “He
ordered her to leave the room, and they got into a physical altercation.
Several other individuals jumped in and tried to help him.”
Kajiura said he didn’t recognize Carr prior to
her outburst, but after looking through his records, he found that she emailed
him right after Spring Break. “She had sent me a very nice email asking about
one of the lab problems,” he said.
The
professor mentioned the entire ordeal took no more than 10 minutes, and he went
back to lecturing, although only half the class remained. “No one could
concentrate,” Bustamante said. “Everyone gave up and started texting.”
Bustamante
gave the professor a copy of the fight, which she recorded on her cell phone
and posted on Facebook and YouTube. Kaijura went on to praise his students, claiming they were
“Absolutely fantastic. They acted responsibly.”
Check
back at upressonline.com for more updates. If you have any information on the
incident involving Jonatha Carr and professor Kajiura, please email [email protected]
Correction: The UP initially reported that Jothana Carr
assaulted and was removed from Stephen M. Kajiura’s
class by a FAU technician. The UP has since learned that she assaulted Justin White,
director of the Spanish language program, and that White was one of the men in
the video seen escorting Carr from the evolution class.