In the heat of summer 2018, Oumou Kanoute—a rising sophomore at Smith College and a teaching assistant in STEM outreach—sat quietly in a keycard-locked dorm lounge.
She was eating a sandwich and reading. Without a word, a campus employee called the police, claiming Kanoute “seemed out of place.”
The responding officer quickly confirmed she was a student, and deemed there was no threat.
“All clear,” he reported, according to CBS News, and The Washington Post. But the emotional fallout was anything but harmless. Kanoute later revealed the impact in her own words: “I have to check my closet at night… I’m terrified in my own room… I can’t sleep or eat… All I did was be Black.”
Smith College swiftly responded.
President Kathleen McCartney issued an apology and launched an external investigation by the Sanghavi Law Office. She also mandated anti-bias training and diversity workshops, and promised broader inclusionary reforms.
By October 2018, the independent investigation cleared the staff of policy violations, citing plausible non-discriminatory reasons for the call—leaving some divided over whether implicit bias had been adequately addressed..
The ACLU, representing Kanoute, noted that the college’s policies were “abysmal” when it came to addressing racial profiling, even if no specific rule had been broken.
The ACLU’s advocacy led to sweeping institutional reforms: new protocols for when campus staff should call the police, emphasis on respectful dialogue, and bias-informed training for dispatchers and officers.
Meanwhile, the college launched an Inclusion and Diversity Conference, sought to foster restorative justice dialogues, and formed “White Accountability” groups to reflect on structural bias, though not without criticism over the emotional toll these trainings placed on service workers.
The repercussions reached far beyond Oumou herself.
The janitor and cafeteria worker involved were thrust into public scrutiny—one was placed on leave, another reassigned—reducing their private lives to a public controversy. Dozens of Black intellectuals later called for Smith to apologize and compensate the workers who were collateral damage in this racial reckoning.
Looking Back
For Black and Brown women across U.S. campuses, Kanoute’s experience is far from singular—it resonates deeply. While policy changes at Smith signal progress, the emotional burden of “Living While Black” lingers.
There’s a sobering reality that, even today, implicit bias can eclipse credentials, silence voices, and shake foundational beliefs about belonging.
This story is for you, who know that belonging shouldn’t be a privilege, not at school, not anywhere. And though nearly seven years have passed since Kanoute’s lunch became national news, her courage still speaks to the work still undone.
