This ‘Quaker Pirate’ uses an illegal artform to promote peace

Todd Drake calls himself the ‘Quaker Pirate’. The name comes from an old story about a Quaker boy named Obadiah who begs his parents to let him become a pirate. “His parents eventually say, ‘Well, Obadiah, if you’re going to be a pirate, be a good Quaker pirate,’” Drake recalled. That spoke to Drake, a New York street artist who plasters messages of peace onto walls, storefronts and mailboxes in Manhattan. His work is being featured at Wilmington College’s Quaker Heritage Center, as a part of the southwest Ohio college’s annual Westheimer Peace Symposium. Kendall Crawford / Ohio Newsroom A photo of Todd Drake, the Quaker Pirate, hangs at the entrance of his exhibit at Wilmington College’s Quaker Heritage Center. Each year, the college explores alternatives to war and conflict. This year, they’re focusing on how an often illegal artform, graffiti, can be a path to peace. To Drake, that’s what being a Quaker Pirate is all about. “To me, it sums up what I’m doing, which is putting up graffiti, pushing the limits of what is permissible, of course, but for a good cause. And Quakers have been doing that since the start,” Drake said. Drake began his street...