After an alleged racial attack on three black University at Albany students, hundreds of people banded together to speak out against the injustice toward black women.
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The female students who said they were attacked left the bus at a campus bus stop, and two of them, with minor scrapes on their faces, went to Albany Medical Center to be evaluated.
Authorities say three women reported being assaulted during an argument on the No. 11 bus in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
In a video from the rally, one of the victims said, “We are black women, and no amount of hate will change that”. “We are proud of who we are”, she told the gathered crowd through tears.
“I’ve learned how crucial the power of a voice can be…we are shocked, upset, but will remain unbroken”, she said.
The encounter started with a verbal spat between the two groups and ended with a fight as the bus drove onto campus, according to New York State University Police. “We’re also working with Capital District Transportation Authority to review video”.
Thirty-four “persons of interest” have been identified in an alleged weekend assault on three black college students in Albany, N.Y., that officials have described as a racially motivated.
The allegations of the use of racial slurs are being taken “very seriously”, said Steven Smith, spokesman for the Albany police department, which is coordinating efforts with university police in the ongoing investigation.
President of the University, Robert Jones, sent out a statement in response to this incident via email where he wrote “There is no place in our community for violence, no place for racial intolerance and no place for gender violence”.
The rally Monday evening was to demonstrate the university’s commitment to “promoting a campus community of acceptance and inclusion”, according to a university statement, and it was to be followed by an annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. “They’re controlling their own narrative”, she said.
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Now, “It’s going to be harder to push [this incident] under the rug”, Perez-Wallach said, “because national attention has been given to it”.
