“With election season coming up and racial tensions being high, we knew it was coming," Reed-Davis said. "I knew it was going to happen. I just wasn’t ready for it."

After seeing the pictures on Twitter, Reed-Davis continued to scroll through the social media platform to gauge other students’ responses to what had happened. She then reached out to the e-board of the BSA to inform everyone of what had happened. Quickly thereafter, they began to form a plan.

Once the e-board of BSA had decided they were going to repaint The Rock, Reed-Davis reached out on Twitter to connect with anyone else who wanted to be involved. In doing this, the e-board of BSA, various community members and friends of Reed-Davis made their way to The Rock.

While the group gathered and made their way to The Rock, a few resident assistants worked to respray and cover the damage.

“When we got there it was already painted over white, and the RAs were kind of just there waiting on us,” Reed-Davis said. “They had told me they had seen my post and they had seen our plans, but they didn’t want The Rock to be like that any longer. ... It was kind of like it was a blank canvas.” 

Those who decided to repaint aimed to convey four main messages. The Rock that had been painted to say “Trump 2020” with the letters of the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha signed underneath. The fraternity Phi Gamma Delta, also known as FIJI, has since suspended a member involved in the damage done to The Rock and the message painted on the nearby sidewalk. 

“Black Lives Matter," the call that has driven protests over the past months, was the first message the group wanted to share.

“(The Rock) saying Black Lives Matter sucks and Trump 2020, we just had to completely switch that around and go against that, so we said Black Lives Matter because of course they do," Reed-Davis said. "All Black lives matter.”

The second message on The Rock was “say their names."

“Because of everything that’s going on with police brutality, all of the Black people out here getting killed ... we need to acknowledge everyone who was brutally murdered by police," Reed-Davis said. "We need to remember their names and say their names constantly until justice is brought for them and even after that.”

While the other messages stood for ideas and served as a reminder of the Black lives lost to police brutality and racism, the third was an immediate call to action; “Go vote.” BSA wrote this message to remind everyone that voting is crucial. It didn't stand as an opposite to the "Trump 2020" written on The Rock before, but a push to those who saw to take the election into their own hands. 

The final message painted on The Rock was another reminder of the tension and injustice surging through America. “Justice for too many people to count."

“Everyone says justice for these different people that have been murdered, but at this point, it’s just too many to count," Reed-Davis said. "We can’t just put one name because it’s so many names. … It’s too many to say like if we wanted to put every name, every Black name, every Black soul on The Rock that needs justice, we would have to paint the whole campus.”

Over the past year, there have been multiple racist incidents on Michigan State’s campus. Around Halloween last year a paper noose was taped to a resident’s door. Within days of that, a Sona survey was distributed containing racial slurs. Then, in the spring, the Wharton Center received complaints after a display contained Black figures hanging from a rack.

Reed-Davis sees the messages as a problem with Michigan State University as much as those who performed the acts. When she looks at campus, she sees a place where hate can feel comfortable enough to do these things, because of the lack of consequence and accountability.

“These people on campus, whoever it may be that spray-painted these messages of hate, they feel safe here,” Reed-Davis said. “This is a predominately white institution … they feel like they can say these things, they can spread these messages of hate, they can try to tear down the Black community and nothing will happen to them. They won’t face any consequences because in the past, historically, and even now, currently, they don’t face any consequences. MSU preaches about accountability but these people that do these things are never held accountable and that’s the problem.”

Since she has been President of BSA, Reed-Davis has had to deal with more racist incidents on campus than she ever thought she would. To her, there is definitely a pattern emerging. She continues to be disappointed when it comes to MSU’s administration’s handling of racist incidents on campus.

“I never really get my hopes when it comes to MSU administration just because the only thing they are worried about is losing money,” Reed-Davis said. “So, if most of the donors feel the same way that some of these students do they’re not going to say anything. They’re not going to do anything to hurt the money that is coming into this university. They don’t really care about Black students, but they just care about the diversity statistics that they have.” 

As for how Michigan State should move forward, Reed-Davis wants an open, honest conversation about the culture at MSU. She no longer wants racist incidents like this to be swept under the rug.

“I don’t want them to teeter on the edge of saying, you know, Black lives matter and these students were wrong,” Reed-Davis said. “I want them to publicly hold people accountable that commit these acts, and I want there to be public consequences for people because they felt so bold as to do these racist and biased things publicly where all the Black students can be traumatized and see everything that’s going on on top of being afraid for our lives because of the society that we live in. So, I want them to do everything in the open. I want them to stop hiding stuff … and show that their Black students matter.”

For Reed-Davis, improving the culture at MSU is going to come through a lot of hard work. She has been educating peers around her for all four years she has been at MSU. Now it is up to those on and around campus to put in the work to revamp the culture for future generations. While others may just be recognizing the culture problem at MSU, Reed-Davis wants it to be clear that BSA has been doing the work on MSU’s campus for nearly 53 years.

“We are going to continue to fight for the rights, and for the needs, and the wants of Black students," Reed-Davis said. “We want the Black people reading this to continue to have hope and to continue to keep the fight going because one day, you know, it might not be soon, but one day we are going to get what we deserve.”