Racist notes, robocalls directed at Black students at Iowa’s Drake University sparks outrage

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

Another day, another racist threat to a student on a college campus.

This time, it’s at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. A racist note was slid under the door of a Black student on Nov. 8. And the ensuing backlash sparked the hashtag #ThisIsDrake to shine a light on a number of racist incidents on the campus.

The note to the unnamed student read: “Dear Porch Monkey, we no longer want a darkie on our campus which means you need to leave or else.”

@DrakeUniversity #ThisIsDrake pic.twitter.com/Bjab0Pjkpy

— Layana (@Laadybuugg_) November 9, 2018

The note comes on the heels of a recent spate of racist activity on the university’s campus. The Des Moines Register is also reporting that Drake students were receiving racist robocalls on Monday.

The calls originated from The Road to Power – the same group that made calls to promote white supremacist messages in the wake of the murder of Mollie Tibbets, a former University of Iowa student.

An alert was sent to Drake students Monday evening and a tweet was posted to the Drake Public Safety Twitter account warning of an apparent robocall being made “with white supremacist speech.”

Bulldog Alert: Drake University is aware of a Robo call presently being made with White Supremacist speech.  We are actively working to stop it.

— Drake Public Safety (@DrakeDPS) November 13, 2018

In the case of the racist note, the student has chosen not to file charges and wants to remain anonymous. The school says it values its diversity and is looking for solutions to address the current issues.

“There have been other incidents recently, and each one erodes our sense of community, and our trust in one another,” Erin Lain, Drake associate provost, said. “We all need to engage in discussion about how to prevent hate on our campus, including bringing it up amongst our classmates and colleagues, educating ourselves about hate, speaking out when we see something that does not uphold our commitment to equity and inclusion. We can all make a difference.”