If anyone thinks racism is dead and gone, you’ve got your
head buried in the sand. The problem of racism is right here at
UCLA, and it works both ways.
The mantra of Martin Luther King’s dream, “that
(his) four children will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character” is being hijacked by those who claim it
today as a rallying cry. Our student government eschews the ideals
of “diversity”, but they have distorted the true ideals
of equality.
David Dahle, the newly elected president of USAC, chose four
white people to fill judicial roles on USAC, yet they were rejected
because they are “lacking diversity.” In addition the
“council members opposing the appointments did not challenge
the applicants’ qualifications.” This demonstration of
overt racism is an outrage.
I don’t care what color the elected president’s
judicial nominations are. I care that they can do the job. Perhaps
the student government is so interested in attempting to enact
affirmative action (against the will of the state electorate) they
choose to push it any time they get a chance.
As student leaders at UCLA, members of USAC should be ashamed
for shoving their narrow views down everyone else’s throats.
The reason people don’t vote in USAC elections is because the
only issue USAC ever tries to push is SP-1 and 2.
Interestingly, this entire issue is about the appointment of
judicial members for an undergraduate government. First, this
refusal to appoint the white Judicial Board members because they
are white cannot be within the limits of the law, and second it is
against the moral dignity of this university. Our elected leaders
should be ashamed for sacrificing quality for diversity. We, the
UCLA community, should be ashamed for permitting such overt racism
to be practiced.
People who practice this reverse racism do not even attempt to
be subtle. They just tell everyone their race isn’t
represented, but since white people are represented they will not
allow it to happen. I guess we forget quality and refuse the
choices of elected leadership in the name of
“diversity.” If these were not white people being
refused on the J-board, I suspect the rallies would begin and a
couple of reverends (Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton) would storm our
campus and bring USAC “back to their senses.”
Imagine if we could achieve diversity in every situation on
campus. To do this we would need hundreds of judicial board
members, seeing as there are hundreds of different
hyphenated-Americans on this campus alone. Yet, diversity of
thought is not the focus of some members of our student government
who focus solely on diversity of race. Some members of the student
government only see this campus through racially-colored glasses,
and it is time we change this.
The only important thing in this situation and any other
situation is qualifications. If the Judicial Board nominees were
unqualified, this situation could pass without notice. However,
just as I am offended when black or Latino people are discriminated
against because of the color of their skin, I am just as offended
when white people are discriminated against. Martin Luther King Jr.
had a dream we would all be equal, only to be judged by our
character.
Those days of racism are supposed to be gone, and we are
supposed to have moved on. The great fallacy at UCLA is racism is
gone. People scream and shout about how racist Greek fraternities
and sororities are, yet they are easily the most diverse social
groups of their kind on the campus. Each and every race is
represented in the Greek system. If you disagree, see if there is a
designated “white” fraternity. I assure you, everyone
else has their own ethnic fraternity.
People scream and shout about racial equality on campus, yet the
most pushed agenda is the overturned affirmative action issue. My
point is diversity is not including a select few ethnic groups into
every situation. Diversity, true diversity, is including everyone
based upon their qualities as educated students.
For goodness sake, 3,000 people were massacred just one year
ago, because they were Americans. Not African-Americans,
Anglo-Americans, Jewish-Americans or Mexican-Americans. It’s
time we closed our eyes to the colors of our skin, and act in the
true spirit of the great men who broke the walls of racism to get
us where we are today.