The agitator who stole a man’s Trump flag outside a Manhattan federal courthouse Wednesday during the protest against Pro-Hamas organizer Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation is suspected to be a current Columbia University professor.
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to demand the release of Khalil, whose arrest over the weekend has agitated fellow leftists.
A video, taken by NYC-based videographer Peter Hambrecht, shows protesters chanting “release Mahmoud Khalil now!” as a counter protester with a Trump flag yells “send them back!”
Javier Lopez, an adjunct professor at Columbia, was identified by online sleuths using facial recognition software as the individual seen in the video snatching the flag away from the Trump supporter, and yelling “take that sh-t out of here, man!”
Tel Aviv University and Tufts University alumni Ben Badejo posted the results of a search on the PimEyes Face Recognition Search Engine showing a positive result for Lopez.
“F-ck out of here with that bullsh-t, man!” the flag snatcher hollered as the counter protester lunged toward him to retrieve his flag.
“Give me the f-cking flag!” the enraged Trump supporter wailed, as a tug-of-war- for the flag ensued and the man was mobbed by Hamas supporters. NYPD officers quickly moved in to break up the altercation. The counter-protester was ID’d by the New York Post as Raul Rivera. Another protester was arrested by police for snatching the beanie with the Puerto Rican flag off of Rivera’s head, but the flag snatcher was not arrested.
Lopez teaches a course called “Planning For Justice in a Low Carbon Future.”
His bio on the Columbia University website highlights his “expertise in structural power and equity, organizational and movement strategy, adaptive leadership and change, organization and network development, systems change advocacy, and strengths-based inquiry and engagement.”
His passion for racial justice and movement work can be traced back to his family. A product of Black and White Puerto Rican parents, he was educated from a young age on how racism and anti-blackness can be embedded in a person’s daily life and life experiences.
American Greatness reached out to Columbia University for confirmation that the flag snatcher was indeed Professor Lopez, but did not immediately hear back. Lopez also did not respond to a media inquiry.
Colombia will probably promote Lopez to assistant professor and give him tenure.