Lionel McIntyre, a 59-year-old professor at Columbia University in New York, was arrested and charged with assault and harassment after allegedly punching  a white colleague in the eye during a heated argument about white privilege.

Carrie Davis, the alleged assault victim is also an employee of Columbia University.

From New York Times:

The encounter happened in Toast, a popular, noisy bar and restaurant on Broadway north of campus, where the chatter often runs to current events and politics. Professor McIntyre liked to engage fellow patrons on the subject of race, according to one regular customer, Daniel Morgan, who considers himself a close acquaintance of both Professor McIntyre and Ms.  Davis.

The incident has also become a cultural/political issue.  In response to reporting of the story in the New York Post, a blogger wrote that McIntyre should be charged with a hate crime.

While not condoning the punch, noted columnist and educator Boyce Watkins understands how McIntyre felt.

What do you think?  Should McIntyre be charged with a hate crime?

UPDATE: Alleged shooter is alive in stable condition

A major in the U.S Army is dead after he allegedly killed at least 11 soldiers, one contractor and wounded 31 others.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an army psychiatrist was shot dead by military police at the Ft. Hood Army Base in Texas. Ft. Hood is the largest base in the country.

Two other suspects are in federal custody. Their roles in the murder plot have not been released.

President Obama comments on shootings:

Josh Lomax III, 21, Hakim Muhammad, 20 and Jamal Todd, 21 are in police custody facing charges stemming from the murder of 20-year-old college student and star football player, Jasper Howard.

A six-year-old girl who witnessed her mother’s murder has written a letter to Sasha and Malia Obama seeking help for her father.

Bianca Perez, who lives in New York wrote the girls “to see if you can ask your daddy to help me and my daddy,” according to the letter.

From the New York Daily News

Bianca wrote the letter with the help of her father, Joseph Perez, 31, last week. They sent the letter over the weekend.

Her mother, Christina Scarabaggio, 27, was shot to death by an abusive boyfriend in September 2007 as she tried to shield Bianca, then 4, in front of their Bay Ridge home.

Christopher Flynn, 27, shot Scarabaggio twice in the back and once in the face before turning his .380-caliber handgun on himself.

Bianca has been living with her father on Staten Island ever since. Like many New Yorkers, he has fallen on hard times.

UPDATE: Hampton University confirms that Theo Smalling died from his injuries. Click here for more information.

The captain of the Hampton University basketball team is in critical condition after being shot in a club parking lot.

Theo Smalling, a 22-year-old senior majoring in sports management, was accidentally shot by Domonique Smith early Saturday morning. Smith is charged with one count of Reckless Handling of a Firearm.

The parents of a popular Chicago TV news host were found dead in a suburban Chicago forest preserve.

Milton and Ruby McClendon, the parents of Garrard McClendon, the host of “Garrard McClendon Live” died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to Journal-isms.com

The McClendon’s live in Hammond, Ind, a suburb of Chicago. Investigators from Illinois and Indiana are working on the investigation.

De’Coria Brown, a 14-year-old middle school student is now facing felony charges after a fight in school in which she allegedly assaulted a student, teachers and a school resource officer. But did she have to be tazered? You make the call.

Atlanta Police have arrested a suspect in the beating death of the fiance of a cast member of “Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Police allege Fredrick Richardson killed Ashley “A.J.” Jewell, the fiance of Kandi Burruss outside of the Body Tap Strip Club, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Richardson, an employee of the Body Tap is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Jewell, 33, is one of the owners of the club.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that A.J. Jewell, the fiance of Kandi Burruss of Real Housewives of Atlanta reality show was killed during a brawl at an Atlanta club.

Jewell made frequent appearances on the series. No arrests have been made in the case according to police officials.

Burruss has received hundreds of condolence messages on Twitter. She has also responded to the situation through the social medium.

“im just in one of those moods where i dont wanna talk, i dont wanna b held & told its gonna b ok. i just wanna cry myself 2 sleep, alone.”

Visit BET Entertainment Spotlight Blog for more information.

A man who police allege stabbed and murdered another man in a dispute outside of a New York City post office has taken his own life.

28-year-old Sirmone McCaulla, a former Army Reservist who admitted to murdering 20-year-old Christopher Gutierrez after the men bumped shoulders on the street, decided to go out by his own hand instead of going through a trial.

McCaulla explained his actions in a suicide note he posted on MySpace according to the New York Daily News.

New York Police officials determined that the two men exchanged words after bumping into each other. Video surveillance allegedly shows McCaulla stabbing Gutierrez in the chest.

Ironically, McCaulla was recognized on camera by a police officer who served with him in the Middle East.

McCaulla was found dead with a plastic bag over his head and a cable box inside a bathtub in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Philadelphia.