A co-founder of the Black Lives Matter network visited with students in Saratoga Springs Saturday. Alicia Garza was the keynote speaker for the NY6 Spectrum Conference at Skidmore College.
Speaking with reporters, Garza addressed the recent controversy surrounding three black University at Albany students that will be charged Monday with assault and false reporting after a late January incident on a CDTA bus. Police say the students lied about being victims of a racially-based attack.
Garza said she would reserve judgment on the case but did speak to how the case is being portrayed in the media.
"I think it's a contradiction to, on the one hand, call for people to wait for the facts and then to simultaneously frame and shape a story that says there are real victims and alleged victims, and that the real victims are the white students, and that the...alleged liars are the black students," said Garza.
