Berkeley's racist bake sale

Don't you love spin? You catch tidbits of news -- crafty headlines on your SmartPhone, commercials for the 11 o'clock broadcast and its top late-breaking stories (they always seem to be late-breaking), jokes by late-night talk show hosts -- and think you know what's going on, like you got it all figured out, but you ain't got a clue. All up in the Jell-O and don't even know the flava my friend.
We don't have time to research every news story to separate truth from lie so we want it quick and dirty like an afternoon romp between the sheets. Yeah, if it's a story that hits home I'll take the time to look it up but ... who am I kidding? Signs point to no. I want it quick and dirty. I want to start a timer -- 2 minutes -- and say, "OK, go! Give me the news! Get to the point and shove it down my throat while I multi-task -- eat my lunch, check my e-mail and play a round of Angry Birds." Those smirking pigs always get my blood boiling.
So, when did I hear of Berkeley's racist bake sale? I can't remember. The tidbits are like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle scattered across my living room table. Was it Google News? Was it my local nighttime news with the woman who looks like a frightened bird (gotta slow down on the Botox chicky)? Was it Jimmy Kimmel? Well ... the only thing I learned from Jimmy Kimmel last night is Mark Wahlberg can't dress but is still gorgeous and has a friend named Taco who is going to (or already has) serious gastrointestinal issues, especially after he sucked down three Solo cups of Tabasco sauce and a glob of Wasabi. Yikes. Burns going down ... burns coming out.
So, who knows. I do know I had no idea what a "racist bake sale" would entail (I was thinking along the lines of racist desserts like KKK shaped cookies or a Fortune Cookie offering insults instead of fortunes or maybe a cake shaped like an Afro ... I bet black icing stains your teeth). Instead of looking into the issue I assumed -- yeah I know it makes an ass of me and you, whatever -- hmm ... Berkeley ... visited there once and it's full of hippies and homeless people so it's probably some sort of demonstration or homeless uprising ... which would be pretty cool. Homeless people charging down the street, riding their shopping carts like dog sleds, with medieval flails made out of aluminum cans, torches crafted from branches, booze and urinated on bedsheets. Pretty badass. (Can you tell I have ADHD? Like really have ADHD ... not like those posers who are simply trying to score some Adderall ... druggies).
Anyway, it wasn't until today I read an article about this racist bake sale and got the gist. To make a long story shorter, the Berkeley College Republicans feel California Gov. Jerry Brown (not as exciting as the name Schwarzeneggar, I know) has a discriminating and racist bill on his desk (Senate Bill 185) -- it allows the state's university system to consider race, ethnicity and gender in admission decisions, as long as these factors don't become the determining factor. Affirmative action was banned in state institutions in 1996 but because this new bill states these factors shouldn't be the be-all-end-all factors it's supposed to be OK.
Something smells fishy ... to me and the Berkeley College Republicans. To protest this fishiness, the group sponsored a bake sale -- Increase Diversity Bake Sale. No there weren't any racist KKK cookies but to mimic SB 185, there was a pay scale.
$2 for Whites
$1.50 for Asian Americans
$1.00 for Latino/Hispanic
$.75 for African Americans
$.25 for Native Americans
$.25 Off For All Women
Woo hoo! I get 25 cents off. What a deal.
It's called satire. People didn't have to pay these recommended prices but the poster advertising the cost was made to mimic SB 185, as in if that's not racist then neither is this.
Some people got it (I finally got it after reading about it) and were glad it made national headlines because it started a conversation about the bill and racism -- humor is a good way to begin discussing heavy issues like race. Others were upset, including black-clad students who laid face down in the quad in protest and other students who distributed pink conscious-cupcakes so we can all hold-hands-and-be-friends. Too bad your stupid pink cupcakes aren't going to make people like each other. Is pink supposed to equal happiness?
Duh.
No violence broke out. No one was arrested. The cupcakes sold out. While the sale was underway, the Student Government sponsored a phone bank (held yards away) in support of SB 185.
People were pissed and still are pissed. They found the satire offensive and distasteful, that the bake sale reduced the historical and current struggles that non-whites and women face as they seek education and employment. People are mad because when it comes to employment and education, outside factors are not factored.
How on Earth is this possible? How is a school or employer supposed to take into consideration all of these external factors and make an unbiased and good decision? User error! Too much room for error! You deserve to go to school here more than he or she does because you weren't provided with the same resources growing up and didn't have the chance to succeed. How is this factor scaled? She had a harder time growing up than he did ... why? How can you know this?
You want to go to a good school? Well apply to schools equivalent to your intelligence. Yeah, I would have liked to go to an Ivy League school but I did not have good enough grades and my extra-curricular activities were chiefly sports. Too bad, so sad. That's life. Here I sit a decade later wishing I would have taken my studies more seriously.
How about starting at the beginning and changing the cycle? Putting more money into schools located in low-income areas? Hiring better teachers and having more before- and after-school programs? Getting to the kids before they become even more underprivileged? Getting police to target gangs and evil-doers who, in turn, target these impressionable youth? Stopping the cycle.
Am I supposed to get a better job or into a better school because my dad was left disabled after a car accident when I was 6-years-old? Because I grew up poor? Hmm? Or is that not as bad as Joe Smith or Sally Jones? They had it tougher so they deserve it more.
SB 185 is Affirmative Action wrapped in different paper. Yeah, it means well but it is a slippery slope. Bravo to the Berkeley College Republicans for getting a conversation started in a unique way. People are always going to find something offensive so it's better to voice your opinion anyway.