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John Hawkins

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We Should Have Affirmative Action Bake Sales At Every College

Posted: 09/28/11 03:38 PM ET

The University of California - Berkeley College Republicans should be congratulated for speaking the truth to power about the odious race-based discrimination that occurs at colleges all across the country. You see, you can be legally discriminated against at many American universities if you're the wrong race or gender. It's hard to believe that those sort of backward un-American policies still exist in the 21st century, but here we are. So, the Berkeley College Republicans decided to fight back. How did they do it? By ingeniously selling delicious baked goods on a sliding price scale.

To ensure the fairest distribution, and make sure that there are a DIVERSE population of races of students getting BCR's delicious baked goods, the pricing structure will be as follows.

White/Caucasian: $2.00
Asian/Asian American: $1.50
Latino/Hispanic: $1.00
Black/African American: $0.75
Native American: $0.25
$0.25 OFF FOR ALL WOMEN

Hope to see you all there! If you don't come, you're a racist!

Admittedly, this is a little offensive... well, if you're a capitalist. They're literally GIVING AWAY BAKED GOODS to Native American women! What is this, Moscow circa 1977? Come on, fellas, you can only get away with that kind of thing if you're government workers. Republicans are supposed to operate in the free market and you're not going to stay in business for long giving away cupcakes.

Getting beyond that, these courageous students were cursed at, condemned and smeared for opposing race-based discrimination at their college. They were even falsely called racist, which is sort of like comparing the Israelis to the Nazis -- which, come to think of it, is probably done by the very same crowd at Berkeley that claims fighting race-based discrimination is bigoted.

Moreover, how does this end? We've now decided that all Americans aren't going to be treated equally. Instead, we're going to discriminate against students who've done nothing wrong, in favor of students who haven't been wronged, in order to make up for past discrimination. Using this same logic, will Berkeley be discriminating against black, Hispanic, and female students forty years from now in order to make up for the un-American discrimination that will occur under SB 185?

Last but not least, we hear a lot about tolerance, taking people's feelings into consideration, and avoiding offending other people's sensibilities. Ironically, the people who ramble on about those things are often some of the most hate-filled vitriolic people in all of politics. Certainly this bake sale is no more offensive to liberals than protesting in favor of gay marriage or cop killers like Mumia Abu-Jamal is to conservatives. Moreover, straight white Republicans have every bit as much right to express their political opinions as gay black Democrats. Conservative black Americans have precisely as much right not to be offended by liberal sentiments as white liberal Americans do not to be offended by conservative opinions. This bake sale not only exposes the hypocrisy of the people who call other people racist while pushing for race-based discrimination; it shows how close-minded and intolerant the people are who constantly lecture the rest of us about tolerance.

 

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12:12 PM on 09/29/2011
While I am against this post for ideological reasons, the author does make an awesome point by stating "straight white Republicans have every bit as much right to express their political opinions as gay black Democrats. Conservative black Americans have precisely as much right not to be offended by liberal sentiments as white liberal Americans do not to be offended by conservative opinions."

True, everyone in America has the right to protest. But, the method of our protest is what is most important. To alienate individuals who continue to face great levels of discrimination may not have been the best way to rally others around their cause. To get in the news? Well, they got that.
12:04 AM on 10/06/2011
who's being alienated? Minorities are getting a discount. Just like Scott Brown wants the state colleges to do.
Norm
Read think read analyze read comment
10:18 AM on 09/29/2011
Youth does not excuse bad taste. Ever.
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Alois SaintMartin
aloistmartinsequinox.blogspot.com
04:36 AM on 09/29/2011
Is Darwin abusive ?
KingCranky
Texas Liberal
10:36 PM on 09/28/2011
Yes, college Republicans have it so tough in the US today, what with not being hauled off to prison, or losing their jobs, for speaking out against minorities.

Good thing Republicans never use the affirmative action of a "legacy" admission to college, like George W. Bush did, that would just be ridiculous and hypocritical.
06:34 PM on 09/28/2011
great article -- the bake sale really highlights an issue most citizens want to or feel like they have to ignore.
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John Hawkins
05:31 PM on 09/28/2011
Yu Shen

That's the pricing from the signs. In the real world, Asians often get screwed by Affirmative Action, too because percentage wise, they do "too well."
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Vic22
"I write to make it right, don't like what I see"
05:53 PM on 09/28/2011
As Yan Shen (which you spelled wrong, probably on purpose) said previously, Asians probably have it the worst. You want to complain about a few black or brown people getting in on the margins, but the truth is, if admissions were purely merit based, the top schools would all have demographics much closer to UC Berkeley, 40%+ asian. So if you want to get rid of race as one of many considerations for admission, then legacy status, parental donations, along with anything else not directly related to education potential should be eliminated. In fact many ivy leage schools limit their asian population, and loosen their academic requirements in favor of "well rounded" students, to limit the population of Asians. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/11/26/victim_of_success/

So hey, if you want to make it a true meritocracy when it comes to admissions, you lose out, and all of the advantages that you have and take for granted will suddenly be gone.
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Alois SaintMartin
aloistmartinsequinox.blogspot.com
04:34 AM on 09/29/2011
Kick Me !
05:08 PM on 09/28/2011
You realize that they have the pricing wrong right? Asian Americans face the greatest hurdles in the college admissions process and in fact whites often benefit from affirmative action relative to Asian Americans, especially in the form of athletic and legacy admissions.
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BigWillyG
04:23 PM on 09/28/2011
Excellent posting.