Cal Poly Blackface Accusations Cleared

On April 7th, 2018, Kyler Watkins attended a fraternity “Olympics” event that resulted in false allegations made against his fraternity campus activists. The premise of the event was that each family within the fraternity competes against one another in various games. Each family chose a different theme (inspired by the official Olympics logo) to indicate the team they were on. The team that Kyler was on chose the color black so of course he was photographed wearing black sweats, a black shirt, a black hat, and black body paint that had been applied to his face and neck. A photograph, which had been taken out of context, was then published on social media and used to defame his character by claiming that he was a racist and intended to depict an African American. This is unequivocally false and has been verified by the Attorney General of California, Xavier Becerra who concluded there was zero racial intent and it was simply a game.

After a 6-month long investigation, the Attorney General revealed in his 60+ page report that “a careful consideration of the evidence adduced during the investigation indicates that he did not” have anything to do with portraying Blackface. Kyler Watkins did in fact apply black paint to his head and neck to “comport with his team’s theme and represent a color – black”. Furthermore, “Our finding is compelled by the lack of evidence that any particular individual engaged in additional inappropriate racial behavior”.

Actions Taken

Immediately after the incident, Kyler Watkins released a letter to the editor hoping to clear the air on his intentions and publicly address this situation. In addition, he also reached out to various individuals and organizations seeking education on the matter. Despite his efforts, he was met with criticism and resistance from activists on campus. Kyler Watkins recognized this as an opportunity to shed light on the lack of diversity within the Cal Poly greek system as well as campus cancel culture groups. In response, Kyler did the following:

  1. Worked with Rev. Steve Vines, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to educate his Fraternity on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity.
  2. Created the Diversity Chair within the fraternity that was implemented across the country.
  3. Took a course on Diversity & Inclusion and achieved a certification that has educated him on how to encourage equal opportunity within the workplace.

These actions helped Kyler to better understand how actions can be misinterpreted and have a great impact on those around him and to himself. It’s wrong to draw conclusions without knowing the full story. It is wrong to judge and it is wrong to ignore the facts.