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A Dublin teen has taken a creative and fashionable approach to promoting diversity and inclusion in her community by designing T-shirts with a unifying message.
Acacia Tripplett, 16, said she was inspired to bring her vision for the tees to life after witnessing “division and hatred” spreading throughout the nation amid civil unrest and racial tension, which peaked earlier this year following the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
“I wanted the shirt to be a reminder that our differences aren’t something to be afraid of; they’re not something to be anxious about,” the Dublin High School junior and diversity ambassador said. “Our differences are something to be celebrated.”
Designed by Tripplett, the front of the black tee features five raised fists of different skin tones with the words “Our Dublin” printed in white capital letters beneath them. The back of the shirt includes a quote from the young adult novel “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, which reads, “Your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter. Be roses that grow in the concrete.”
After reading the novel, which was released in 2017 and tells the story of a Black teen who witnesses the police shooting of a childhood friend, Tripplett said she was touched by the story.
“When I came across the quote, it really resonated with me — especially with what I was promoting with the T-shirts and my goals and ideas — and I thought that the quote really embodied everything that I was promoting,” she said.
Tripplett said that although the quote made the shirts more expensive to make, it was important to her that they be available to the Dublin High community, including faculty, staff and students, at no cost.
She was able to make this happen by reaching out to various organizations and community members for donations. “We were able to get to $15,000 to buy 3,700 T-shirts,” she said, adding that the funds were raised over the course of about five weeks.
Among the donors were the city of Dublin, the Diablo Black Men’s Group and the San Ramon Valley Diversity Coalition. With the amount raised, Tripplett was also able to offer the shirts for free to the students and staff at Valley High School.
Tripplett’s efforts captured the attention of the Golden State Warriors public relations team. She delivered a presentation to them about the idea behind the shirts, which resulted in a video message featuring some players and coaches, including head coach Steve Kerr, wearing and promoting Tripplett’s tees.
“Strength in numbers means our Dublin. Dub city means our Dublin,” they said in the video montage.
The T-shirts are now up for sale to the public online.
“All of the money we raise from people purchasing the shirts is going to go to creating a scholarship program for a Dublin High School senior,” Tripplett said. The guidelines and criteria for the scholarship have not been finalized yet, but Tripplett said that the reason for limiting the eligibility to seniors is to encourage the recipient(s) to promote unity and diversity beyond Dublin as they embark on their college journey.
More information about the project and shirts are available at diversityambassador.square.site.
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