Stephen A. Smith Rails Against His Alma Mater After Viral Video Shows Student Escorted Out Of Classroom In Handcuffs By Police
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith bashed his alma mater after one of its students was arrested and handcuffed in a classroom.
Smith graduated from Winston-Salem State University in 1991. He remains a big advocate for his alma mater and other HBCUs (Historically Black College Colleges and Universities) throughout the United States.
ESPN’s First Take does a yearly HBCU Week where they go to a campus and broadcast the show live.
This week, a video circulated on social media showed police officers handcuffing a student named Leila Hamoud in a classroom.
In a statement on Wednesday, Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson addressed the incident to students in a letter. The statement said:
We received a report that there was a significant commotion in Carolina Hall this morning, and as such, a WSSU employee nearby called for the assistance of law enforcement after they tried to de-escalate the situation.
We understand that the weaponization of police is a prevalent problem in our community; however, that is not what happened in this incident.
Stephen A., sporting a Winston-Salem varsity jacket, addressed the viral video on Friday’s First Take and explained what happened to Hamoud.
“A young lady, young African American, Black, lovely young lady, got escorted out of her classroom,” Smith said. “I personally spoke to Chancellor Robinson of Winston-Salem State University to find out what has happened. I’m not going to sit up there and publicize that, but she got into an argument with a teacher.”
His message to Winston-Salem and any other university was that no student should ever have to leave a classroom in handcuffs when no crime was committed.
“Having somebody escorted from the classroom is perfectly within bounds,” Stephen A. added. “Having them escorted from the classroom in handcuffs by two police officers, when no crime was committed, is excessive.”
He believed that Winston-Salem would be viewed negatively because the university had one of its students arrested in a classroom.
“That was not our, meaning me too, that was not our shining moment,” Stephen A. continued. “If nothing physical transpired, and you’re just talking about a conversation of verbal sparring, is inappropriate as that may have been, and we don’t want to encourage kids to be disrespectful to professors or anything like that.”
“There is no excuse for a kid, a student, to be escorted out of her classroom in handcuffs like she is a criminal, Smith said. “I wasn’t there. I don’t know all the details. I got the Chancellor and other people’s position, but I did not speak to the young lady, and I will try to do that.”
He went on to slam the protocol that the officers followed for forcing Hamoud to leave the classroom in handcuffs.
“You’re escorting her out of the classroom in handcuffs?” Stephen A. questioned. “Nah, that’s not cool, and on this particular day, I am not proud of my university letting that happen! I’m not pointing to the police officers. Once the police officers are called, they got to do their job.”
“She did not have to be in handcuffs and to have that happen, I’m looking at my university today, and I’m not happy about that,” Smith concluded.
Watch above via ESPN.
