Jean McGuire says she will never again walk alone in Boston’s Franklin Park after she was attacked last week by a knife-wielding stranger.

Speaking with reporters, the 91-year-old civil rights icon and educator described how her fear is new territory for her, according to the Boston Herald.

“I’ve never, in 91 years, not felt safe walking in the streets of Boston, day or night,” McGuire said in a conference room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “Never. And now I will never go up there to the park alone again.”

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McGuire underwent surgery and has been recovering at the hospital since she was stabbed in the park while walking her dog last Tuesday night (October 11).

A native Bostonian, McGuire co-founded METCO, the nation’s largest voluntary school desegregation program, and was elected as the first Black woman on the Boston School Committee in 1981. Though she still has recovery ahead of her, her family says it’s a “blessing” that she’ll be able to soon come home.

“We want to ask our community to stand up for Jean. If you know anything, if you saw anything, even if you don’t think it matters, please call the Crime Stoppers line,” said McGuire’s nephew Ronald Mitchell, according to the Herald. “Our community needs to stay safe, and it’s important that we stand up for our community, we stand up for Jean.”

McGuire’s attacker has not yet been identified or located. Police are continuing to investigate.