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January 4, 2010

University of Indiana Professor Don Belton Murdered
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In Indiana, a former Marine has confessed to killing a professor at the
University of Indiana named Don Belton. Belton taught English at the
school and was the editor of the book Speak My Name: Black Men on
Masculinity and the American Dream. Northwestern University Professor
John Keene said, “Belton was a literary path blazer and one of the
important black gay writers to emerge in the 1980s.”
Twenty-five-year-old Michael Griffin has been charged with murder in the
killing. Griffin told police he stabbed Belton because the professor had
sexually assaulted him. But according to court documents, a journal
found at Belton’s house contained a note saying that he is “very happy
that an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life.”



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