Bake sale criticized for making light of racism

Can’t we all just share a giant black and white cookie and get along? As evidence by the intense debate being whipped up over tomorrow’s “racist bake sale” at the University of Berkeley, the answer is no.

KGO-TV reports The Berkeley College Republicans (BCU) are putting on a mid-day bake sale where the cost of each item will be determined by your skin color and genitalia. If you’re white, expect to pay $2 per good. Asians pay $1.50, Latinos pay $1,  African-Americans fork up $.75 and Native Americans get the biggest discount at only $.25 per item. There’s also an extra $.25 discount if you’re a woman. (Cherokee ladies, please enjoy your free cupcakes!)

If your eyebrow is raised, then rightly so. The announcement of this event has left campus and made headlines as far as New York and New Zealand. And according to BCU President Shawn Lewis, this is all according to plan. Lewis explains the absurd pricing plan for the bake sale reflects the “racism” that is found by affirmative action legislation that is currently pending Gov. Jerry Brown’s approval. If passed, the University of California would have to consider a student’s race or national origin during the admission process.

“The pricing structure is there to bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset,” said Lewis. “But it’s really there to cause people to think more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions.”

But others are not amused, and BCU members are being called insensitive, sexist and racist. The writing is splashed upon the wall of the Facebook event page, where a lively debate is taking place. One supporter called the bake sale “brilliant”, while a commenter named Monsieur Joyce wrote, “So you guys are really telling me a kid from the ghetto with straight A’s has the same chance of getting into Harvard as a white legacy kid with a C average? Stop fooling yourself. [Affirmative action] is necessary.”

Despite all the hullabaloo, the bake sale is still scheduled to take place tomorrow from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Upper Sproul plaza on the campus university.