I guess I DESERVED that :)
Posted on 02/18/2003 1:11:54 PM PST by MotleyGirl70
On Monday, the Bruin Republicans made a bold political statement on Bruin Walk, which the Daily Bruin chose to ignore. Our Affirmative Action Bake Sale was intended to drive home to students the absurdity of deciding college admissions by race through the pricing structure of the cookies we were selling. The structure per cookie was: 25 cents for black, Latina and American Indian female students; 50 cents for black, Latino and American Indian males; $1.00 for white females; and $2.00 for white males and all Asian Americans.
Having been a Viewpoint columnist for three years with The Bruin, I know what makes a news story, and our event had it all.
The "peg" was the Michigan affirmative action case placed on the Supreme Court docket. The "controversy" was overflowing – hundreds of students smiling and laughing at our point, and hundreds of students scowling and cursing at us.
Other Bruin Republicans and I were called "racist" and "evil" and were told at one point that the only way we could take this view was because none of us had ever met a black person. Yet we talked with two black people that very day who supported what we were doing. One told us he didn't fall into our categories because he was a "member of the human race," illustrating our point that affirmative action is about racial division, not racial reconciliation.
Another black man, after we told him his cookies would be only 50 cents, told us he would rather earn a good price for the cookies on his own merit. Yet his other comment was even more amazing; he refused to let us take his photograph, saying he could not be identified with those views as a member of the black community.
It illustrates perfectly a point that the Bruin Republicans keep making. Being a conservative – even more a minority conservative – is a more closeted role in modern society than being lesbian or gay.
We posted one of our signs, stating simply "Affirmative Action Bake Sale, Today, Bruin Walk" next to Campbell Hall. Campbell Hall is also the home of the Academic Advancement Program, or, as the Bruin Republicans in the program call it, the "Affirmative Action Program".
Yes, it was a deliberate challenge to the radicals in Campbell Hall: could they accept the existence of political views different from their own? We had our answer at the end of the day, when we went to pick up our sign and found it gone. Not moved, not defaced, but gone. We believe our sign was stolen because of its controversial political message.
Returning to the Bruin Walk table for our last pickup, we found our more provocative menu sign defaced. We had been gone from our table for less than 15 minutes. But while we were on Bruin Walk, we did get more civilized debate.
People stopped to exchange ideas and views with us, as was our plan. A Bruin photographer took dozens of pictures of one such heated exchange. The photographs, and the event, were wholly newsworthy.
But The Bruin refused to provide any coverage, even on inside pages.
Given the facts of the situation – thousands of students supportive or hostile to our ideas – and the defacement and theft of our signs, the students of UCLA deserved to get a better idea of what had happened and what we meant to accomplish.
Since we have been denied that opportunity, I think a white female student's response to being told she would have to pay a dollar per cookie under affirmative action pricing, illustrates it best: "Affirmative action sucks." And it's true not just for white females, but for all students who must degrade themselves by participating in such a divisive, racist program.
UCLA's "Affirmative Action Bake Sale"
Democrats riled by race and gender-biased bake sale [Hilarious]
This is very series stuff.
I guess I DESERVED that :)
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