Over the weekend, three Black women of the State University of New York Albany were allegedly assaulted and harassed by a group of white students, according to the Huffington Post.
Allegedly the women say they got into an argument with a group of 10-12 men and women from their school, while on a city bus. The women claim that following the argument, they were beaten and called racial slurs by the students. A woman said when she fell, one of the men kicked her.
According to reports, the women removed themselves from the bus at a campus stop and two of them went to Albany Medical Center to treat the scrapes on their faces.
Following the event, Asha Burwell, one of the three women, shared her story on Twitter saying:
I just got jumped on a bus while people hit us and called us the “n” word and NO ONE helped us.
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
I can’t believe I just experienced what it’s like to be beaten because of the color of my skin.
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
And these were my fellow classmates, people that attend MY school.
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
Called SUNY police and they didn’t even seem concerned, just transferred us to Albany police who told us they should’ve helped
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
I begged for people to help us and instead of help they told us to “shuthe f*ckup” and continuously hit us in the head
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
Idk if I’m ever going to be able to get over this experience.
— Asha Burwell (@AshaBurwell) January 30, 2016
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.”
Please see a statement from #UAlbany President Jones regarding last night’s events => https://t.co/c7pDiCC7Zl pic.twitter.com/3TBgpY3vId
— University at Albany (@ualbany) January 30, 2016
According to reports, Albany Officer Steve Smith said that if this is a hate crime, “that’s something that the Albany police would take very seriously.”
