Lang
8/15/20
Fall move-in begins this weekend at University of Iowa dorms, and one thing returning students won’t see is graffiti related to June’s protests on campus.
Black Lives Matter protestors, including a group called The Iowa Freedom Riders, spray-painted the Old Capitol, Macbride Hall, Schaeffer Hall and other campus buildings during the demonstrations. A UI news release in July said the removal of the graffiti would take extra time due to the buildings’ “historic nature and material composition.”
Before its removal, the graffiti was photographed for the UI Library’s special collection.
The Iowa Freedom Riders haven’t held a protest in weeks, but according to their Instagram page, they have one scheduled for 7pm Friday on the Pentacrest, just before the start of the fall semester. Among the topics the group says it plans to address are justice for Makeda Scott, an Iowa City woman who drowned in Lake MacBride in June. The Iowa Freedom Riders have questioned the accuracy of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office’s account of the drowning.
The group also wants more information on the case of Tremayne Clemons, a Coralville man who allegedly provided the guns used in a deadly Christmas night shooting on Boston Way. The Iowa Freedom Riders want to know why Clemons was held by police for months before being charged.