ABSTRACT
This chapter departs from an inciting event at a liberal-arts women's college where three White students posted a photo to Snapchat with charcoal masks on their faces. Below the image was the caption, "drink the mf koolaid," apparently a joint reference to the stereotype that African Americans consume the sugary beverage and to the Jonestown tragedy, where many people of color perished after drinking poison-laced Kool-Aid. The morning after the post, the campus was in chaos and students of color mobilized to protest the incident. The administration, faculty, and staff were forced to confront underlying racial tensions embedded in the history, policies, rhetoric, visual messaging, and curriculum of the college. The image, its circulation, and subsequent coping performances on organizational, cultural, and personal levels represent a microcosm of the larger political context in which blackface incidents on college campuses are being circulated and discussed in the media and public consciousness. This chapter describes the ways in which the ethos of the college and its history help to understand the context in which the blackface posting occurred; it depicts and critiques performances during the blackface incident, observes the impact on students and faculty, and ultimately outlines lessons learned from this failed diversity and inclusion moment.
