An 18-year old Black woman, Althea Bernstein, says she was attacked by four white men with lighter fluid as she was driving to visit her brother in the Madison, Wisconsin, suburb of Middleton.
The alleged attack from the men, who were on foot, happened at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, just as Bernstein reached a stoplight on Gorham Street near State Street in downtown Madison.
“I was listening to some music at a stoplight and then all of a sudden I heard someone yell the N-word really loud,” Bernstein, who is working as an EMT while she studies to become a paramedic and firefighter, told local outlet Madison365 on Wednesday.
On the same day as Bernstein’s attack, Republican State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos attended a news conference and condemned the destruction of the city’s statues.
“A Black woman named Althea Bernstein was set on fire by white men in downtown Madison, and the news has basically ignored it in favor of talk of statue and damaged businesses,” tweeted Chet Agni, the communications director from the Lieutenant Governor’s office.