The UF College Republicans, the same people who brought you the People Eating Tasty Animals barbecue in 2009 “to raise awareness of the extreme stances of the animal rights organization PETA,” have taken their political activism to the next level with their Affirmative Action bake sale. By charging different prices based on race and gender, they plan to, as their Facebook event page puts it, “denounce the bias of Affirmative Action.”
Oh, those poor discriminated souls.
In the past, I’ve concluded it’s best to walk by annoying displays of ignorance on campus, but this particular event, held right in the middle of Black History Month, is a disgraceful disregard of this country’s history of prejudice toward women and minorities. In fact, I wish it were just that — a tainted history we could read about and learn from — but reality doesn’t permit me to make such assumptions.
Sorry to break it to you, College Republicans, but some of us still carry the burden of centuries of institutionalized discrimination and political disenfranchisement.
Women still make 76 cents to the dollar for equal work as a man. African-American males suffer an obscenely disproportionate incarceration rate that sends many more to prison than to college. And Hispanics still face the prospect of racial profiling, as I will if the Florida Legislature passes a bill similar to Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070. Affirmative Action attempts to include historically excluded groups in hiring policies and academic admissions; your attempt to “denounce” it is not only tasteless but also ignorant.
