Just an act as simple as walking to class can warrant uninvited and unnecessary acts of hate. Which is exactly what happened to Natasha Nkhama as she walked to class at Baylor University in Texas. On her way to class another student “went out of his way” to bump into her hard enough to push her off of the sidewalk. After pushing her off of the sidewalk he said, “No niggers allowed on the sidewalk.” Keep in mind this happened the day after Trump was elected POTUS.

Another male student quickly rushed to Nkhama’s defense, saying to the student who pushed her, “Dude, what are you doing? That’s not cool.”

The offender’s response was, “Dude, like what? I’m just trying to make America great again.”

Nkhama recorded a video about her encounter and visibly distort. The video went viral which inspired the hashtag #IWalkWithNatasha. But Natasha received so much more than a hashtag from this incident she received love and support from the Baylor community, nearly 300 students and staff members walked Nkhama to class. The Baylor community went above and beyond to make Nkhama feel safe and provide her with the support system she needs right now.

A lot of us could learn from this, when we see people being hurt, attacked, bullied, or victimized we have to step in as a community instead of pulling out our phones and recording. Bullying and hate exists so many levels because allow it (and I’m not just speaking about racism). Step in, let people know this behavior will not be tolerated, we have to police on our communities just as the Baylor community did. And her support team consisted of young and old, students and staff, and people of different races, ethnicities and religions.