Ruby Red Rose

Ruby Red Rose is a transgendered woman of color who was deeply mistreated by Hampshire campus Public Safety in the process of her arrest on the night of September 14th, 2009, and subsequently sexually assaulted by an Amherst police officer at the Amherst Police Department. It is important, particularly on Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 19th), to listen to the survivors of transphobic hate crimes as well as to commemorate the lives of those who have been murdered.

Ruby's Story: On September 14th a transgendered woman of color named Ruby survived a hate crime committed at the hands of local law enforcement officers in Amherst, MA. A year and a half ago Ruby (pseudonym) was served with a trespass notice by Hampshire College at the request of her sister, who is a member of the Hampshire community.

At 7p.m. on September 14th, Public Safety received an anonymous call that stated that Ruby had been seen on campus. An hour later, Public Safety began investigating an unrelated smoky smell in the Enfield housing area (according to the senior officer, there was only one individual investigating the smell; according to the sergeant there were two; according to the Public Safety Daily Incident Log “officers and the Hampshire detective were dispatched to Enfield to investigate a smoky smell”). During this unrelated investigation, Ruby answered the door of her friend’s home, where she was visiting, and told the officer(s) that she did not know of the smoke’s origin. Upon seeing Ruby, a transgendered male-bodied person of color, the officer(s) chose to investigate her presence on campus.

The officer(s) asked the house director if there was a black male resident in that house, and found that there was not. Based on this information, Public Safety made the assumption that the “black male” they had seen was the trespasser in question.

The officers returned to the house (or, according to the sergeant, but not the senior officer, the sergeant returned to the house and met the senior officer, the detective, and the assistant director of Public Safety, all of whom arrived while the sergeant was speaking with the house director). According to Public Safety, they were able to see Ruby through a window, hiding under a bed, although Ruby's host and the occupant of that room, Beau River, has stated that such a view was impossible.

The only two people present in that building were Ruby and another guest, because all house residents were at an informational on-campus meeting at that time. The other guest answered the door and was told by the Public Safety officers that there was a “black male” with whom they needed to speak. The guest told the officers to wait while she attempted to locate a resident. When she returned without a resident, the detective and the uniformed officers had already forced their way into the living room without invitation.

The officers called the house director and asked her to open any private bedroom doors. Ruby was found under Mr. River's bed. She was dragged out from beneath the bed and arrested without a verification of her identity as the trespasser.

During this time, the detective verbally harassed Ruby about her decision to wear a skirt. The officers had change out of her skirt and into a pair of pants before they transported her to the Amherst Police Department. At approximately 10:40 p.m., nine of Ruby’s friends, including her host, arrived at the Amherst Police Department. Bail was paid for $124.00 immediately upon arrival, and two hours later Ruby was released into their care.

Once released, Ruby confided in Mr. River that she had been sexually violated by an Amherst police officer while three other officers looked on. Mr. River reported that she was very pale and shaking violently. Ruby also confided in her host that an Amherst police officer who had observed her violation informed Ruby that, “if your ass is caught on Hampshire campus again, [you will be caught] by a big guy with romance on his mind.”

Ruby was put on 6 months probation and assigned a $350.00 fine.

An internal investigation on Ruby’s suspected mistreatment was performed by a Public Safety affiliate, the Special Presidential Assistant for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs of Hampshire College. This internal investigation concluded that Public Safety was not at fault in Ruby’s mistreatment. The investigation denied that Ruby was forced to change her clothing during her arrest. This conclusion was based on the account of a witness who was not in the same room as Ruby’s arrest.

Public Safety policy maintains that Public Safety is responsible for the treatment of all detained persons while in the facility of Amherst Police Department. As a result, it is mandatory that a member of Public Safety must check on the state of the detained person once every 15 minutes. The internal investigation stated that there is video and audio footage missing during the time that Ruby was detained at the Amherst Police Department. The missing footage begins immediately after the booking and fingerprinting process at 10:15pm and remains absent for the next two hours that Ruby was detained. However, the internal investigation does not hold Public Safety responsible for the time that is not accounted for, or for the possibility that Ruby was sexually assaulted during this period of time.

Statistic: "In over 50 percent of the total transgender hate violence cases, the offender was a law enforcement officer. This completely mirrors the national trend. There is increased police brutality against the transgender community." -Shawna Virago, domestic violence and hate violence victim advocate for Community United Against Violence (CUAV) in San Francisco.

Please tell this story. With everyone's help we can create a world where police officers must be accountable to their community members. Let's create our own external investigative process of law enforcement violence. They must understand that we will react to protect each other. REMEMBER RUBY RED ROSE, REMEMBER DUANNA JOHNSON, REMEMBER ANGIE ZAPATA, REMEMBER JORGE STEVEN LOPEZ MERCADO. All people of color, all members of the LGBTQ community. Do not let your silence perpetuate the violence.

With so much ferocity and heart, Friends of Ruby Red Rose

Discussion Forum
This is a space for us to talk about hate crimes and the disgusting event that took place on September 14th here on campus. How do you feel? Do you feel safe? Do you feel scared? Do you have questions or connections to make? Please post feelings/ideas here!

Any serious attempt to start a dialog about this issue must include some background information about the event in question. I know of three sources: the original public safety incident report (pdf, archived here), an independent report on the arrest issued by the office for diversity and multicultural education (found here), and an anonymously authored flyer entitled "Statement on Transphobic and Racist Law Enforcement: Ruby's Story" which was posted across campus earlier this year. - wfw07

Note: Be accountable. This is not a space for hate speech or to cyber attack each other. You can use any name you want to sign your discussion topics, but don't use anonymity at any other poster/Ruby's expense.

--Actually, you can't...since you need to be signed into hampedia in order to edit this page, and all the valid hampedia usernames are linked to student emails (which in turn are linked to the directory...) one can literally put ID photos next to every comment with very minimal effort. This post isn't meant as criticism, but I feel that people should know that there *isn't* anonymity on hampedia.

-hmm duly noted, thank you. then even more reason to be accountable!