Drake Student Equity Action Partners

Happy Pride! 🖤🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Civil Rights Law Protects Gay and Transgender Workers, Supreme Court Rules

May 2020 Drake University alumna Kennedy Mitchum knew there was more to racism than what appeared in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.

So, she reached out to them and had a weeklong discussion over email focusing on systemic oppression, which was not part of the existing definition.

“It’s not just disliking someone because of their race,” Mitchum said.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s final reply: “A revision to the entry for racism is now being drafted to be added to the dictionary soon. … This revision would not have been made without your persistence in contacting us about this problem.”

The dictionary hopes to have a new definition released in a few months.

If you’re interested in protesting the killing of George Floyd, learn more about how to do so safely and healthily here

How to Stay Safe and Healthy at a Public Demonstration - Drake University It is important to know your rights and responsibilites at a public demonstration. The ACLU provides guidance on legal rights you have at a demonstrations and protests. Check them out here.

The Black National Anthem starts with the lyrics “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. That action is becoming harder to do when when Black people are being stripped of air. George Floyd was murdered. Murdered. Black men are not to be seen as a threat for living in the skin they’re in.

One thing we as UNITY ask, is to stop circulating the video and images of George Floyd’s death. For many Drake Students, and the larger Black community, this reinforces trauma and can be very harmful to their mental health.

For allies and accomplices of Black communities, it is not enough to be nice or to be “not racist”. Ask yourself what you are doing daily to contribute to your education about the experiences of the Black community Ask yourself what you’re doing daily to work against racism and systems of oppression.

We ask that you refer to the Anti-Racist Toolkit, https://www.drake.edu/diversity/getinvolved/resources/social-justice-toolkit/ , and be thoughtful and intentional in the way that you engage discourse around this subject.

- UNITY Exec 2020

Drake students: Dr. Erin Lain, Associate Provost for Campus Equity & Inclusion is seeking a marketing and design intern to create a promotional video and work on marketing for the upcoming DU What Matters-Climate Assessment Survey project. If you are interested please apply:
https://app.joinhandshake.com/jobs/3126614

Also, please forward this post on to others who might be interested. Thanks!

Handshake

This weekend is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, an event that is considered the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States. Learn more about what happened and about the ongoing fight for q***r lives.

Feature: How the Stonewall riots started the LGBT rights movement In the early hours of 28 June 1969 a relatively unassuming gay bar in the West Village of Manhattan became the epicentre of an event that changed the course of LGBT history.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Drake University has a new website and so do we! Check it out!!

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“The best part about being a bulldog is that I love everyone. It doesn’t matter what race, what gender, what sexuality, because I don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’m here to share the love and have people share their love (and snacks) with me!” -Griff, Live Mascot. —— #thisisdrake #bulldogstogether