College Republicans' Stupid 'Race-Based Bake Sale' Is Exactly What You'd Expect
Today, College Republicans at U.C. Berkeley undertook a hilarious satire, of, like, life, by holding a bake sale and charging different prices for different racial groups. Makes you laugh, doesn't it? But more importantly... it makes you think.
For example, I thought about what smug little wangs the College Republicans at U.C. Berkeley are! I also wondered why this irritating little stunt—a standard-issue bit of thought-provoking College Republican satire—is getting national press this year, instead of being rightly ignored, as it usually is. (The answer seems to be SB185, a new bill that "would add race and ethnicity to factors universities can weigh when considering prospective students," essentially overturning voter-approved Prop. 209, which banned affirmative action in the U.C. system in 1996.)
In any event, it went basically exactly how you'd expect:
Chris Maldonado, a chemical engineering student, paid $1 for a green frosted cupcake. "I'm Hispanic, so I'll pay a dollar," he said. "I'm the son of two poor immigrants from Guatemala. Yes, there exists a disadvantage, but if you put the emphasis on education, you will get an education. Me and my two brothers are proof of that."
Students Megan Escalona and Mia Tong carried a sign saying, "Free Goodies - Humans Don't Have a Price Tag." The Republicans' bake sale "is extremely insensitive to all groups of people," Tong said.
A Harry Potter-themed student group sold "enchanted Costco muffins," selling them for "Two galleons to pure bloods" and "Eight sickles to muggles."
Oy. (Even our old affirmative action-hating friend Ward Connerly showed up!) The best response, we think, came from Political Science Professor Wendy Brown, who was the bake sale's first customer:
UC Berkeley Professor of political science Wendy Brown tried to buy all the baked goods at the Republicans' sale, but they did not allow her to do so.
"I thought the Republicans were free enterprise, but they won't let me buy all the cupcakes," she said.
Heh. Wendy Brown! You are a poli-sci professor! You should know that Republicans care way more about trolling Democrats and scoring arcane "gotcha" points than they do about free markets.
