‘Despicable behavior’: School officials react to racist threats at Sacramento community college
School officials responded with shock, sadness and anger after police arrested a woman accused of making racist threats against both the president of American River College and Black students and staff at the Sacramento campus.
Jamie Yvonne Barnes was arrested Tuesday evening after an incident at Sacramento City College, one of the four colleges - along with American River College - in the Los Rios Community College District.
District officials said Barnes “recently made a racist and vile threat” against Melanie Dixon, who became American River College’s president at the start of 2021.
“I just want to say for me and everyone around Melanie, we’re angry,” Los Rios Chancellor Brian King said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “I am beyond angry that someone as strong and competent as Melanie has to endure something like this today. So, that anger has led and will lead to action. That events like this should be a catalyst for actions that are long overdue.”
Barnes, who is identified in Sacramento Superior Court documents, is a former student who recently had a temporary restraining order granted against her which barred her from all Los Rios campuses.
King said Barnes was at Sacramento City College Tuesday and used a campus blue phone that send calls directly to the Los Rios Police Department, which provides police services for the college district. Barnes spoke with police dispatchers and “made a number of claims, all of them as yet unsubstantiated,” district officials said in an email to students. King said Barnes was spotted on security camera video.
‘Personal’ threats
At Wednesday’s news conference, King and Dixon declined to discuss specifically what Barnes said in the alleged threats. King did say Barnes used language “that no one should ever use and threats to her safety of a very personal nature.” King said there were also broader threats made against Black members of the campus community at American River College and across the district.
“We want to say to our black students and employees that we’re here for you,” King said. “We have zero tolerance for this kind of despicable behavior.”
It’s been several years since Barnes was a student at American River College. Dixon said Barnes has a history of making harassing and disruptive phone calls to her campus, and only recently did the calls include threats.
“These particular calls were directed at me as a threat, as a discomfort of me, assuming the role that I have here at American River College,” Dixon told reporters. “We can’t explain why. We just know that is what is occurring.”
Dixon said the initial “shock and sadness” over these threats has subsided, but the threats have also impacted Black students and staff at her college, along with the rest of the Los Rios district.
Court records show the Los Rios district’s request for a temporary restraining order against Barnes was granted on March 3. The court filing lists Dixon as the protected person.
Suspect arrested
After the alleged threats were made Tuesday, a custodian spotted Barnes in a campus restroom after school hours and contacted the authorities, said Los Rios Police Chief Larry Savidge. Officers responded but did not find Barnes and take her into custody until a couple of hours later.
Savidge said Barnes was arrested on suspicion of violating the restraining order and harassment. Barnes did not have any weapons when she was taken into custody. Barnes, 44, was booked at the Sacramento County Jail and then released Wednesday, jail records show.
Dixon said they have notified the campus community of her release from jail and circulated a photo of her, asking students and staff to notify authorities immediately if they see her on campus because of her escalating “behavior and the potential threat to our entire community.” Dixon said Los Rio officials will be asking the court to grant a permanent restraining order against Barnes.
Los Rios police has increased its presence at American River College in response to the alleged threats, along with providing security for Dixon at her home, the college president said.
“I say to you all today that as a woman of color from the black community I no doubt was fearful when I first heard these messages,” Dixon said during the news conference. “But I think it’s important to know that what we have out in our community will no doubt show up at our college campuses. And it’s incumbent upon all of us to do the work around anti-racism to support all members of our community on and off our college campuses.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
