AMHERST — An alleged case of racial profiling, in which a PVTA driver called for police assistance to handle an incident in which a University of Massachusetts student boarded the bus holding a lemonade, has led to complaints being filed with both UMass and PVTA officials.
Getting on the B43 bus as it made its way through the UMass campus on the afternoon of Nov. 4, where she was heading to the Starbucks in Hadley, Kalina Nurse had lemonade in a paper cup from the dining commons that the bus driver told her to throw away, which she did. Then the driver asked her to get off the bus to allow others to get onto it, according to Nurse.
“It really felt like she was trying to make a big deal out of a glass of lemonade,” Nurse said in an interview at the Student Union this week. Describing the driver’s behavior as “passive-aggressive,” Nurse, who is Black, contends the matter should have been resolved without getting a cop involved. “It was me that she wanted to make a problem about,” Nurse said.
“It’s like you’re calling the principal on me,” Nurse said. “The immediate assumption was that I’m a threat. I felt embarrassed.”
A senior finance major in the Isenberg School of Management originally from Boston, Nurse said the bus was stopped for 20 minutes as the driver waited for the UMass police officer to arrive.
Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy sent an email Tuesday afternoon to the campus community that references the incident that he characterized as involving two Black students, the driver and another passenger, and which he wrote has been viewed “as an example of anti-Black racism.”
“I have personally conveyed my concerns about this incident to the PVTA, since UMass does not operate this particular bus route and does not employ the driver, and they assure me that they are investigating it,” Subbaswamy wrote.
“We will also review this matter to ensure that campus first responders carry out their duties in an unbiased manner,” Subbaswamy wrote. “We are also in the process of identifying and contacting the affected students to offer support and comfort.”
Since then, a TikTok video, recorded by a friend of Nurse’s, has shown the 2-minute interaction between her and the responding police officer.
“She called the cops on me because I had a drink,” Nurse says to the officer. “Where’s the threat? Where’s the danger?”
The recording then shows her noting the prevalence of violent incidents that have occurred across the United States between police officers and Black citizens. “This is why Black people die over dumb sh–,” Nurse states.
She also tells the officer she wouldn’t be leaving. “I had no reason to get off the bus when I threw away my drink,” she says, and the officer can then be heard saying, after agreeing that she and a friend could remain on the bus, that they would need to move from near the doorway. “Can you guys go to the back of the bus?” he asks.
While Nurse doesn’t think the officer was being racist, the connotation is of a time when Black people were forced to ride at the back, which was defied by civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
The complaint was filed by eyewitness Abigail Thomsen, who provided a statement to PVTA, UMass police, the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the dean of students. Nurse said she intends to also write a complaint about her treatment, even though most of those on the bus have come to her defense.
“I was so happy there were so many people on board who know I’m not making this up,” Nurse said.
“I am appalled by the racial profiling by this driver and how she targeted this young Black woman for something many people do without consequences (drink from an open container),” Thomsen writes.
That account confirms that the incident began as a request to dispose of a drink, but also mentions that an older man, also on the bus, began harassing Nurse.
“The driver asked the young woman to throw away her drink, and the woman quickly finished her drink and threw the open container in the trash can,” Thomsen writes. “The bus driver asked the woman to get off the bus, and everyone protested because the woman did nothing wrong, (and) even complied with what the driver asked.”
But when the man began bothering her using a piece of plastic to bang on his walker, Nurse raised her voice toward him. Nurse confirmed that the passenger was badgering her. “I was obviously annoyed with the situation,” Nurse said.
Brandy Pelletier, a spokeswoman for the PVTA, issued a statement that there is more to the incident, the passenger’s actions precipitated what happened, and that PVTA’s policies promote safety for drivers and passengers.
“PVTA strives to provide a safe and reliable transportation environment for all,” Pelletier wrote. “The situation that developed as a result of the passenger’s unwillingness to follow PVTA’s policies and procedures was unfortunate. There is a sequence of events that was not revealed in the TikTok video.”
Pelletier’s statement continues: “The passenger in the video was asked to leave the bus for not complying with reasonable direction from the driver and for her derogatory and threatening language that was not shown in the TikTok video. UMass police arrived on scene and were able to help diffuse the situation.”
Nurse, though, said that the idea she used threatening language is a common misunderstanding of how Black people converse.
“I feel like people with prejudices toward Black people consider us to be threatening,” Nurse said.
While she appreciates that the chancellor has gotten involved, she said that someone needs to be spoken to and she is frustrated that incidents which racial discrimination, or similar overtones, continue to happen.
People have called for police assistance with her previously, once at her on-campus housing at Prince Hall, when she had an issue about not getting packages, and a second time when she was eating food in a room at the W.E.B. DuBois Library, even after getting permission from a person in charge there.
“Things need to be done since I’m paying to go here and I’m not being treated fairly,” Nurse said. “I haven’t seen anything concrete to address the situation. Even if you’re right you’re in the wrong because you’re Black.”