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Breaking news: English professor found slain
July 15th, 2008, 7:09 am · 16 Comments · posted by Marla Jo Fisher, Staff Writer
Read here for updated news on this case.
An autopsy is scheduled Wednesday on the body of well-known English Professor Lindon Barrett, who was apparently murdered last week in his apartment in Long Beach.
The body was found in an advanced state of decomposition, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, where the autopsy will take place.
Barrett. 46, ex-director of UCI’s African American Studies program who moved to teach at UC Riverside last year, was found dead in his downtown Long Beach apartment, apparently murdered, according to Long Beach police. Police
discovered Barrett’s body Sunday morning when they were asked to investigate an odor coming from his apartment, only to find that he appeared to have been dead for several days.
During the investigation, it became known that Barrett’s black, two-door Lexus was missing. Police found at Paramount Boulevard and South Street and began staking it it out.
They subsequently arrested construction worker Marlon Martinez, 20, of Long Beach at 11:20 p.m. Sunday night He was booked into the Long Beach city jail at 4:20 a.m. Monday on suspicion of murder and is being held on $1 million bail. Martinez is described on the sheriff’s jail website as 5′ 9″ tall, weighing 140 pounds.
Martinez’s arraignment was scheduled for today, but was continued until July 24, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
Barrett’s colleague at UC Riverside, Assistant Prof. James Tobias, said that his death “is so profoundly devastating for me — beyond belief.”
“I am quite frankly in a state of shock after hearing about it this morning,” Tobias said. “The sense I had on hearing of this event is hard to articulate: a very bright light has gone out, and it hits like an emotional body blow. An inspiring scholar, a joyful person, an extraordinary presence, Lindon was a path finder who was extraordinarily generous with his intellectual discoveries.”
UCR English Professor George Haggerty said Barrett “was the kind of guy who made you feel that it was a better day just because you had run into him. His loss is devastating for us all individually and for the department as a whole.”
KUCI radio host Daniel Tsang of the show “Subversity” called Barrett’s death a “huge loss” and said he felt “great sadness” in relating the story of his apparent murder.
“Lind
on was a striking figure in dreadlocks who looked so young he could pass for a student,” Tsang said. “He was soft spoken yet anything that came out of his mouth he seemed to have given deep thought.”
Barrett went to work last year at UC Riverside as an English professor.
While at UCI, he had belonged to the Critical Theory Institute, taught in the English and Comparative Literature departments, and also was an editor for the journal Callaloo.
He was author of “Blackness and Value: Seeing Double” and had been completing a manuscript titled “Racial Blackness and
the Discontinuity of W
estern Modernity,” according to a UC Riverside announcement of his hiring.
Barrett’s colleague at UC Riverside, Jennifer Doyle, an associate literature professor, said this morning that she was “in shock along with the rest of the intellectual community to which Lindon belonged. I am worried, too, about the impact of this news on our students. Lindon’s scholarship is pathfinding, fearless, and deeply committed in terms of its politics. Behind that writing was a decent and thoughtful person whom I wish I had known better. I can’t wrap my head around the circumstances of his death.”
Statement by UCI Dean of Humanities Vickie L. Ruiz on Barrett’s death
Statement from Katherine Kinney, chair of the UC Riverside Department of English:
Here’s his faculty page from UCI
Here’s his faculty page from UC Riverside
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16 Comments
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This is a very sad story and hopefully justice will prevail.
This is a terrible loss!
He was a fantastic professor!!! I can’t believe this. I’m sure he would hope this stupid kid gets rehabilitated if it’s possible.
I send my love to his family and the family he created at UCI. I would never have had the courage to become an academic if it weren’t for Lindon. He changed my life and I will miss him so much.
Ironic, isn’t it, that liberal folk are usually the ones that are crime-excusers and criminal-enablers? Now this talented and respected man gets felled by the very evil that many of his academic peers support, sometimes only indirectly, by their liberal leanings.
Even ultra-liberal Ted Kennedy morphs into the staunchest conservative whenever Sirhan Sirhan, Bobby Kennedy’s alleged killer, comes up for parole review.
Yes, Irony Is King.
Irony as King,
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Lindon maintained his commitment to critiquing systems of state sanctioned violence even when confronting horrible examples of individual everyday violence. Don’t dance on the grave of someone who you obviously know nothing about and don’t attribute your own ideas to people you don’t know for example those who mourn is loss.
He was a great teacher, very inspirational, and very kind. I’m sorry that someone who didn’t know him at all could make such harsh judgments–
It says a lot about him that the comments from his peers are so beloved. May his spirit rest in peace and may we all find inspiration in the wonderful scholarly work he has left behind for us to ponder. Thank you professor Barrett.
I had taken some classes taught by Barrett at UCI, and he always was a nice teacher, even that one time he told me to lower my hand because I answered too many questions. :o)
It was a shock to see his face underneath a headline saying that he was slain.
Truly sad what happened to him. He will be missed greatly.
pretty late on this, very devistating news, i really wish i took a class with him.
to irony is king,
the only crime enablers are the ones that create the systems of inequity that produce not only poverty but promote the materialism that would drive a youth to murder a brilliant mind like prof. barrett over something like a car.
if you want to talk about crime excusers look at people that support corporate criminals and corporate welfare claiming it is “capitalism” or the reduction of civil liberties under the misguided belief that it would somehow increase our “security.”
even so called ultra conservatives turn communist when it helps them keep their money.
As a former UCI student of Prof. Barrett, I have lots wonderful memories of him in class teaching. However, the one that sticks out the most is of him dashing across Ring Road to get to his class on time. In the midst of his mission to get to his class he stopped to speak and ask if I was having difficulty with the book I was reading. He was that kind of a Professor, brilliant yet humble. His death is untimely and he will be missed!
I knew Lindon when he was still in high school. He made everyone laugh with his silly humor, and he was a trusted confidante to each friend. Track meets and practices were made more enjoyable just having him around… I wish we had kept in touch through the years as now all we have are the memories of a young black man who made a huge impact on my life… thank goodness for memories.
I’m very shocked to see that this news story gets put into a blog and not a proper article. I was not able to locate the blog article through the OC Register search. What is the Register saying? That they don’t care about this story?
This was a news story as well. Regrettably our website search function is very poor and I can’t even find stories myself. Supposedly that is to be fixed soon. thanks for caring.
I am totally freaked out by this. I just found out. I had spoken with him in March over the phone. I had him for four classes at UCI. He was a good teacher. Yeah, ok he could be flaky sometimes, but that’s human nature. Overall, he had a passion for the subject and really tried to get people think. This is truly sad.
I was good friends with Lindon in grade school. Even in those early years, I recognized that he was very special and he made a lasting impression on me. I always thought that he would become a very important man some day. We lost touch after high school, but I thought of him often throughout the years and was devasted to see his obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press. Only recently did I find out the details of his death and am horrified. I truely loved him and his cousin, Anne. Seeing his recent photos is like taking a step back in time. He looked the same as he did when he was 16! Adorable! Many knew his as a respected university professor, but I’ll always remember him as a funny, sweet, joyful kid–full of hopes and dreams. I remember the photos of Diana Ross he had posted inside his school locker–the love of his teenage life. Remembering Lindon has always made me smile. It will now make me cry.