Ntshanga: Motivated By 'Justice'

Last spring, Inati Ntshanga '95 publicly charged Harvard police with racial harassment for his 1992 arrest.

Since then, Ntshanga says he has been harassed two more times, including an incident last week. He has come forward to complain about the harassment, he says, because speaking up is the only way to make things right.

"Sometimes we want justice," Ntshanga said in an interview yesterday. "We can only get justice if we let the whole world know."

Speaking up does not come naturally to Ntshanga. Friends describe him as quiet and light-hearted. What seems to motivate Ntshanga is a deep, almost religious belief in the power of openness and knowledge to achieve what he calls "justice."

Taziona Chaponda '97--who, with Ntshanga, is co-president of the Harvard African Students Association--says he was surprised when Ntshanga publicized the alleged harassment.

"He's a quiet person," Chaponds says. "I was kind of surprised that he called The Crimson and that he went to that extent because I really appreciated that this was something that really affected him."

Ntshanga, an economics concentrator, is originally from South Africa. He plans to return there after graduation to teach high school and to reform his native country's educational system.

"It was only when I got to this country that...I felt people treated me as a Black person," says Ntshanga, who is from the predominantly Black area of Engcoko.

Andover

In 1987, Ntshanga left South Africa to enroll at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. There, he was so well-liked by his fellow students that they put him on the varsity football team because they enjoyed his company, according to Vuyelwa Maqubela, the wife of Ntshanga's high school chemistry teacher.

Maqubela, who is also South African, provided a nurturing environment which sheltered him from racism, Ntshanga says.

And he hasn't forgotten that. This past summer, when the Maqubelas were moving. Ntshanga called them and offered his help. "He is a wonderful young man," Maqubela says. "We relied on him greatly."

At Harvard, Ntshanga quickly made new friends. Ernie Minelli '95, Ntshanga's first-year roommate, calls him a "fun-loving guy."

"I consider him a good friend and a dear friend," Minelli says.

University officials also laud him.

"I have known him exclusively to be very thoughtful and positive," said Mather House Senior Tutor Mary K. Peckham.

Ntshanga has even won over Police Chief Paul E. Johnson, whose department he has charged with racial harassment. (Johnson, Harvard lawyers and police officers have denied the charges.)

After Ntshanga accused a University security guard of harassment last week, the student met with the guard and Johnson on Thursday. The meeting went so well that, after it was over, the police chief offered to let Ntshanga ride along in a police car for a day. Ntshanga also called the security guard a "nice guy."

"The more I get to know him, the more I understand him a little better," Johnson says.

'I Went to Jail'

His 1992 arrest radicalized Ntshanga. He says he would not have come forward with his story if Harvard police had not sent him to jail.

"Before the 1992 incident I would have not talked to anyone," Ntshanga says. "[But] I went to jail."

Ntshanga was arrested in December 1992 for trespassing in Matthews Hall by Harvard police who thought he was homeless--he was actually working for Harvard Student Agencies.

He spent a couple hours in a Middlesex jail and now has a permanent arrest record. Prosecutors offered to drop the charges, but on the advice of his attorney, Ntshanga went forward with the case and was acquitted.

Ntshanga says that if University officials had been more responsive to his requests for an explanation, he would not have publicized his story.

"I like to know the logic behind a situation," Ntshanga says.

Harvard seems to have learned as much from Ntshanga as he has from it. Now, the student says, University officials listen to him when he talks about the police. He says he is particularly satisfied with Harvard's response to his allegation of harassment against the security guard last week.

Ntshanga says, quietly: "I'm happy I was listened to.

"It was only when I got to this country that...I felt people treated me as a Black person," says Ntshanga, who is from the predominantly Black area of Engcoko.

Andover

In 1987, Ntshanga left South Africa to enroll at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. There, he was so well-liked by his fellow students that they put him on the varsity football team because they enjoyed his company, according to Vuyelwa Maqubela, the wife of Ntshanga's high school chemistry teacher.

Maqubela, who is also South African, provided a nurturing environment which sheltered him from racism, Ntshanga says.

And he hasn't forgotten that. This past summer, when the Maqubelas were moving. Ntshanga called them and offered his help. "He is a wonderful young man," Maqubela says. "We relied on him greatly."

At Harvard, Ntshanga quickly made new friends. Ernie Minelli '95, Ntshanga's first-year roommate, calls him a "fun-loving guy."

"I consider him a good friend and a dear friend," Minelli says.

University officials also laud him.

"I have known him exclusively to be very thoughtful and positive," said Mather House Senior Tutor Mary K. Peckham.

Ntshanga has even won over Police Chief Paul E. Johnson, whose department he has charged with racial harassment. (Johnson, Harvard lawyers and police officers have denied the charges.)

After Ntshanga accused a University security guard of harassment last week, the student met with the guard and Johnson on Thursday. The meeting went so well that, after it was over, the police chief offered to let Ntshanga ride along in a police car for a day. Ntshanga also called the security guard a "nice guy."

"The more I get to know him, the more I understand him a little better," Johnson says.

'I Went to Jail'

His 1992 arrest radicalized Ntshanga. He says he would not have come forward with his story if Harvard police had not sent him to jail.

"Before the 1992 incident I would have not talked to anyone," Ntshanga says. "[But] I went to jail."

Ntshanga was arrested in December 1992 for trespassing in Matthews Hall by Harvard police who thought he was homeless--he was actually working for Harvard Student Agencies.

He spent a couple hours in a Middlesex jail and now has a permanent arrest record. Prosecutors offered to drop the charges, but on the advice of his attorney, Ntshanga went forward with the case and was acquitted.

Ntshanga says that if University officials had been more responsive to his requests for an explanation, he would not have publicized his story.

"I like to know the logic behind a situation," Ntshanga says.

Harvard seems to have learned as much from Ntshanga as he has from it. Now, the student says, University officials listen to him when he talks about the police. He says he is particularly satisfied with Harvard's response to his allegation of harassment against the security guard last week.

Ntshanga says, quietly: "I'm happy I was listened to.