This past Friday night, a group of approximately nine white males harassed Georgetown students based on their ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. A number of students had eggs thrown at them, and a large fight also took place near the Healy front gates. None of those involved in the incidents recognized the males as Georgetown students.
Carrie Solages (SFS ‘01), director of the Black House, said that around 7:30 p.m. the same day, a group of black males had eggs thrown at them while leaving the Black House at 1410 36th Street. Solages said that the four males were leaving an event for the Prospective Minority Students’ Weekend when a group of white teenagers drove up and threw eggs at them.
“We’re unsure of what to do, but we do condemn these acts of hate,” Solages said. “We will not let it intimidate us into recruiting more minority students to Georgetown,” he said.
Solages added that DPS officers patroled the Black House around 1 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Other Georgetown students also reported having had eggs thrown at them earlier on Friday. Jennifer Lee (CAS ‘04), who is Chinese, said that she and two friends were walking towards campus from Booeymonger’s around 7:45 p.m. on Friday when an egg hit the pavement in front their feet. Lee said she was the person walking closest to the street. Lee said she did not see the people who threw the egg, but saw other broken eggs on the pavement in front of them and a SUV vehicle driving away.
Chad Lewis, a biracial student at the University of Maryland at College Park, said that he was walking in the Village A area when he saw a group of eight or nine white males and one black male yelling insults at bypassers.
Later, Lewis said that he and two friends were walking back from Wisemiller’s Deli when they encountered the group of males again by the library steps. The males began to try to start a fight with Lewis and his friends, calling him “gay” and referring to him and his female friend, who is also biracial, as “a couple of niggers.” Lewis said that he and his other friend, who was a male, replied to the group of males with mild insults.
“The guys started following us … we didn’t say anything very insulting, it was just a comeback,” Lewis said.
Lewis said that the group of males also directed the comment “Watch out, bitch, we’re going to rape you,” to his female friend.
According to a Georgetown student, who wishes to remain anonymous, he and a group of eight other Georgetown students engaged in a fight at the front gates around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night. He said that he received a phone call from Lewis before the fight, saying that he feared for his personal safety.
The student said that he gathered a group of fifteen males who lived in the Henle area to go to the front gates with him, and when they arrived, the group of white males had since entered a party which was being held in a Georgetown townhouse.
Lewis said that they told the person who answered the door of the house that was hosting the party, “Just get those guys to come out and apologize.” He said that he and his friends were not intending to engage in a fight with the group of males.
The Georgetown student said that then one of the white males saw Lewis through the window. The student said that this male then came out of the house and ran towards Lewis with approximately 15 other males. The male punched Lewis, without saying anything. Another male in the group then punched Lewis from behind, said the student.
The student said that he became involved in the fight shortly afterwards, which lasted approximately five minutes between the two groups of males.
The student said that nine of the males from Georgetown involved in the fight were significantly hit by their opponents. Lewis said he and the other students involved were significantly injured.
The Georgetown student said that one Department of Public Safety vehicle pulled up near the front gates after about five minutes into the fight. The Georgetown students involved in the fight left the site immediately, but an observer said that the group of white males stayed at the front gates.
Lewis described the aggressors as a group of white, college-aged males with large build. All of the males had short crew-cut hair and were wearing black leather jackets.
One of the white males was also reported to have been carrying a video camera and was filming during many of the exchanges driving away.
