Getting bombarded with emails about this... Have you heard about the bake sale at UC Berkeley? Oh, this isn't just any bake sale. This is a bake sale where customers will be charged different prices based on their race, gender and ethnicity: Racially heated posting sparks UC Berkeley outrage.
The Berkeley College Republicans are holding an "Increase Diversity Bake Sale" on Tuesday to protest SB 185, a bill to let the University of California and the California State University consider ethnicity in student admissions. They'll be holding the protest at the same time and location as a phone bank session in support of the bill.
According to the Facebook event posting, pastries will be sold to white men for $2.00, Asian men for $1.50, Latino men for $1.00, black men for 75 cents and Native American men for 25 cents. And all women will get 25 cents off those prices. Yeah. Real classy, Berkeley College Republicans.
The campus Republicans, who expect to go forward with their "Increase Diversity Bake Sale" on Tuesday, say the event is meant to mock an effort by the student government to drum up support for SB185, a bill to let the University of California and the California State University consider ethnicity in student admissions. It's awaiting approval or veto by Gov. Jerry Brown.The issue of diversity and college admissions is not analogous to a friggin' bake sale. Wherever you fall on the issue of affirmative action, you can't deny that this senseless "bake sale" oversimplifies a highly complicated and contentious issue. It mocks the very real-life struggles of students of color -- including Asian Pacific Islanders -- and reduces them to the unfair price of a goddamn cupcake.
"Our bake sale will be at the same time and location of a phone bank which will be making calls to urge Gov. Brown to sign the bill," posted six students who created the Facebook page. The purpose "is to offer another view to this policy of considering race in university admissions. The pricing structure of the baked goods is meant to be satirical."
More here: UC Berkeley Republicans to hold racist, sexist 'bake sale.'
(Huge thanks to Denise Wong of UC Berkeley for her contribution to this post.)
