Kadiatou Diallo, whose 22-year-old son was shot and killed by four New York City police officers three years ago, spoke at the University last night about racial profiling in America.
Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from West Africa who came to the United States to pursue his education in computer science, was shot 41 times by four police officers Feb. 4, 1999.
The four police officers later were acquitted of charges of second-degree murder in a trial that then fueled heated protest from individuals across the nation.
Shortly after the verdict, Kadiatou Diallo began speaking publicly against racial profiling.
"At first, I wanted to give up, but I realized that I needed to do something positive," Kadiatou Diallo said. Speaking publicly "will help me grieve."
Kadiatou Diallo has spoken at 20 different universities in the past two years.
The University Programs Council, which arranged for Diallo to speak, chose her because of her ubiquitous topic.
"We wanted to humanize someone's account of racial profiling instead of just having people read about it in the newspaper," said David Yott, chair of the speakers committee of UPC. "We decided [to do a program] on racial profiling because it's been in the newspaper so much lately."
Kadiatou Diallo spoke for approximately an hour last night, recounting the story of her son's death and the ensuing trial.
The plainclothes officers claimed Amadou Diallo resembled the rape suspect they were looking for, who also was black, though they were 50 feet away and only had a sketch of the suspect, Kadiatou Diallo said.
The officers approached Amadou Diallo at the door to his Bronx apartment building, wishing to question him about a rape suspect and reportedly opened fire when Diallo reached for his wallet, which the officers mistook for a gun.
The widespread protests that followed the not-guilty verdict were conducted well, Kadiatou Diallo said.
"There weren't any riots," she said. "I believe that every individual who came out did it for the sake of humanity."
According to Matthew Holden Jr., a professor of government and foreign affairs, verdicts such as this one are not rare.
"Police behavior has received a great deal of latitude in court," Holden said. "In recent years there has been some contention over that."
Kadiatou Diallo currently is working on a book about her son's life that will be published next May.
"No one really knew who he was," she said.
Innocent victims of profiling often are portrayed as criminals in order to justify their deaths, Kadiatou Diallo said. She wants to restore her son's name through writing the book.
Kadiatou Diallo concluded her presentation with a call for an end to the widespread ignorance that exacerbates problems of profiling.
"My son is not going to come back," she said. "But I know what happened to him didn't have to happen"
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