Drake will continue its #PaintItBlack tradition despite legislative opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion.
In the Iowa legislature, many bills prohibiting DEI offices, activities, academic courses, research, arrangements and health services from private higher education were introduced. However, the bills are no longer active. Yet, the amount of legislative attempts to block DEI have concerned both staff and students.
In 2018, a series of racist letters sparked outrage on campus, leading to protests and eventually the #PaintItBlack movement. Campus rallied around students of color. Students and staff painted all of Painted Street black as a sign of solidarity. Every year since 2018, besides last year due to weather, students repaint and sign the black circle.
Now, seven years later, people view movements like #PaintItBlack in a stronger light. In the current political climate, aligning with diversity, equity and inclusion has become more significant — and dangerous — than it was in the past. Anti-DEI crackdowns in the Iowa legislature and nationwide, like President Donald Trump’s executive order ending DEI programs in the government, have Drake students and staff on edge about the future of certain campus organizations and events.
“It feels like whenever I wake up, there’s something else that’s happening that’s attacking this work,” said Jazlin Coley, director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Crew Scholars program.
Coley was present for the first #PaintItBlack six years ago. In November 2018, a first-year student of color received an anonymous letter full of racist slurs and insinuations. Soon after, four more racist letters were slipped under the doors of first-year students in residence halls. Then, during a meeting with about 150 students and faculty addressing the letters, a neo-Nazi group in Idaho called multiple students and staff and left terrorizing and racist recordings.
The calls were the tipping point for administration to allow students to paint Painted Street black instead of reserving it for student organizations. On Nov. 16, 2018, supporters covered Painted Street in black paint as an act of solidarity with Black students. Students painted a black circle for those to sign their names in hopes that their signature would commit them to the ongoing work of creating an anti-racist campus.
According to the #PaintItBlack fact sheet created by Drake faculty, the original investigation was not able to determine who sent the first letter but learned that the others were “copycat” letters from a student of color, looking to get public attention. However, investigative conclusions did not determine or release this information until after the event.
“Some of them [letter receivers] were my friends,” Coley said. “I spent hours with them as they were bawling in tears. It was a traumatizing experience, but it was also an empowering experience. I don’t think students know that they are able to collectively come together and make change. I would just encourage them to get back to the real stories.”
Despite the pushback against DEI, Drake President Marty Martin and Associate Provost of Campus Equity and Inclusion Office Terrance Pendleton doubt the proposed legislation would affect #PaintItBlack. The event will remain open to all students, and they plan to maintain that inclusivity.
“It’s such a pivotal time in Drake’s history,” Pendleton said. “I hope that we continue this history, that the story lives on, and that we continue to instruct and tell new students about this history, why it’s important and why it has set the stage for how we engage in this work.”
This year’s sixth anniversary will be no different than previous years, except last year’s electronic signing. #PaintItBlack will host speakers and occur during Relays week.
“It’s the time when our campus is most alive,” Drake President Marty Martin said. “It’s the time when our alumni come back in droves. It’s the best time to call that message forward.”
Martin expressed his commitment to inclusivity in a March 4 email to Drake students and staff.
“It is my fervent desire that every person sees this University as a place that exists for them and in support of their beautiful differences,” Martin said in the email. “That everything which makes you the wonderful person you are is embraced and celebrated. That when you walk on this campus you feel at home — you find happiness and peace here.”
#PaintItBlack this year will be held on April 25 from 12-2 p.m. Drake alumni, along with Unity Roundtable co-president Trinity Houston, National Panhellenic Council representative Savannah Ming, student-athlete Favor Omoijuanfo and Coalition of Black Students president Ty Walls will speak prior to the signing. Attendees will be invited to sign their names.
“We want to make sure [students] are able to take away from why they’re putting their name down,” Walls said.
Most students present during the first #PaintItBlack have graduated. Walls, along with Coley, Martin and Pendleton, want current students to know the real story behind the movement, especially within the current political climate.
“I encourage everybody to show up,” Walls said. “The more people who show up, the more unified we look as a university. We will not back down easily to certain rhetoric about DEI or racism. We are all in this together or else we all are going to get left behind.”
