On Friday, January 29th an incident took place at a CDTA “11” bus stop located behind the Social Science building on our campus. The incident involved three students, all of which were African American; the girls were allegedly attacked by a group of 10-12 white students who also attend the university.
Videos of the incident have surfaced on the Internet and the victims claim the attack was racially motivated. One of the victims, Asha Burwell, shared her side of the story via Twitter the same night of the incident and it quickly caught the attention of many social media outlets and public figures. So much so that on Monday night, February 1 (ironically marking the beginning of Black History Month) hundreds of students and people from the Albany-Guilderland area, gathered on the main campus to attend the #DefendBlackGirlsUalbany rally where many spoke on the inequalities and injustices affecting the lives of African American women around the world.
Burwell said, “We are proud of who we are, Black women. And no amount of hate will change that.”
So my question is when will it end? As much as we thought racial discrimination a thing of the past we are now seeing that it is very present and should not be ignored. I agree with the attention and calls’ for action these issues have been getting but when will it end? When will we ever be able to stop fighting the system and live amongst each other if not together than at least co-existing? When will Black women, Black people ever be enough? Enough for the promotion, the raise, the new car, and the luxuries of being successful based off of skill and not skin? When will it end? The prayers for the black men who have been killed in these wars of race, the flowers for the black women who are left? Now, these are the questions that I cannot answer. Only time and good faith will be able to heal the generations so scarred by the wrong doings and misguided obedience to the system of our ancestors oppressors. At one point in time we were all in sync but because “he” did not know “he” labeled, misused, and mistreated. These opinions and attitudes that have caused us years of captivity, were not a result of genetics or biological factors but instead, were learned and is a result of compliance to the idea of authority. For now, I say PEOPLE we must continue to fight in ways that do not always call for violence or ignorance… but in a way that allows for our voice to be heard and sometimes that requires silence.