Bake sale misunderstood
Because readers could get a false understanding regarding
“Affirmative Action Bake Sale, Reloaded,” (News, May
22) let me address some of the quoted comments.
In the article, Nauashua Neao is attributed as saying “the
comparison of people to Oreos and Twinkies perpetuates
racism.” I couldn’t agree more! But Neao thinks that
because our sale featured “Oreos” and
“Twinkies,” two common racial slurs directed at
conservative minorities who don’t toe the liberal line, that
our sale was racist.
The only way we can take away the sting of racist slurs like
“Oreos” and “Twinkies” (black or yellow on
the outside, respectively, but “white” on the inside)
is to bring them out into the open. The reason the phrase
“queer” holds so little of its former power to hurt is
because it has been brought out into the light. Of course, what
Neao doesn’t admit is that liberal-leaning minorities are the
ones who use these racial slurs against people of their own
ethnicity who don’t agree with them on social topics like
affirmative action.
Ana Fernandez commented, “it’s sad to know that they
think of us as people who got in here just for our race.” It
would indeed be sad if that’s what we thought. But we know
that Proposition 209 ended overt affirmative action. To defend
against a ridiculous accusation like Fernandez’s is a waste
of time, but since she made the accusation, I’ll explain what
we think is truly sad.
It’s truly sad that racial preferences disguised as a hand
up in society continue to hold any legitimacy. As we told anyone
who would listen, our sale was protesting affirmative action in
general and the possibility that the Supreme Court could, with the
Michigan decision, completely legalize racial preferences if it so
decided.
Andrew Jones
Chairman of Bruin Republicans, 2002-2003
Bhaskar overlooks harm of drug use
Shiva Bhaskar was regretfully mistaken on three points in his
column, “Moral regulation of private life a threat to
freedom” (May 14).
Firstly, what Bill Bennet did with gambling, whether morally
right or not, was legal. To gamble in a casino in the United States
is legal.
Secondly, to use drugs is not legal. It is a criminal act and
punishable by law.
Lastly, that there are “drug users who do not harm other
people” is a great misconception! Bhaskar must be living in a
world I do not know about after my 60 years on this earth. There
are too many people who still consider the use of hard drugs to be
their own personal choice that should not be regulated.
This would be fine if users had the money to buy the drugs and
stayed at home or in confinement so as not to kill people on the
street with their cars. They’d also need to be highly skilled
and make great amounts of money so that they would not have to
steal and rob from others to support their habits.
I can only add that Bhaskar, being a political science student,
should get out of his protected lifestyle and see what the world is
really like. It ain’t pretty. Go to the campus police
department and just talk to the officers who deal with the drug
users. Take a trip to an emergency room and see the results of drug
use. Talk to some victims of theft and hear about the destroyed
lives caused by a drug user. Or better yet, talk to the parent of a
drug user.
B.J. Johnson
Westminster, Calif.