'All I did was be black': Police called on student for 'eating lunch' at campus

A college in the United States has apologised after campus police were called to investigate a black student - who was just eating her lunch.

Oumou Kanoute, who was working as a teaching assistant at Smith College in Massachusetts, was on her lunch break on Tuesday when a campus police officer approached her. He was responding to a call from an employee reporting an unknown person who "seemed to be out of place" in the common room. 

The incident has sparked outrage after an upset Kanoute filmed the encounter and shared it on a Facebook post. In the video she can be heard speaking to the officer who asks her who she is then explains why he had approached her.

“I did nothing wrong, I wasn’t making any noise or bothering anyone,” she wrote. “All I did was be black. It's outrageous that some people question my being at Smith College, and my existence overall as a women of color," she wrote, adding that she'd had a 'meltdown' after the incident.

In a statement released on Thursday, Smith College apologised and said it would hire an investigator to review the incident. 

"This painful incident reminds us of the ongoing legacy of racism and bias in which people of color are targeted while simply going about the business of their daily lives. It is a powerful reminder that building an inclusive, diverse and sustainable community is urgent and ongoing work," the president of Smith College, Kathleen McCartney, wrote.