Three black University of Albany students who received support from Hillary Clinton after claiming that they were victims of a racially-motivated attack will reportedly face charges after video emerged debunking their story.
The students, who are black women, claimed that early in the morning of Jan. 30 up to a dozen white students shouted racial slurs at them before physically attacking them on a city bus near campus.
“I just got jumped on a bus while people hit us and called us the ‘n’ word,” Asha Burwell, one of the alleged victims, wrote on Twitter just after the alleged attack.
The incident sparked outrage on campus and made national headlines. The social media hashtag #DefendBlackGirlsUAlbany was created to stand in solidarity with the women, and protests were held on campus. Student groups demanded that the school address what it claimed was racial disparity on campus.
And Clinton tweeted a link to an article covering the story days after the incident occurred.
“There’s no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus,” wrote Clinton, whose campaign has made a major push to appeal to black voters.
But according to Albany’s ABC News 10, the three students’ claims have been debunked by video recorded by the bus’ cameras. The women were all issued notices on Wednesday to appear in city court next week. They have not been formally arrested, and will reportedly face minor charges.
A source told News 10 that instead of showing the white students attack the alleged victims, it was one of the black women who hurled a slur at a white student before striking her. The source also reportedly says that the video does not show any of the white students making racial comments.