The cookie continues to crumble

I have read several responses to The Daily Campus fromstudents giving their opinions about the bake sale that occurred oncampus this past week. In class and around campus, I have continuedto hear students voice their opinions about the bake sale.

The only conclusion that I have been able to draw is that eitherI am apparently the only one or one of very few people who istaking a step back and looking at the big picture of thissituation.

I am a black female student, and I was actually at the bake salelast Tuesday. I was one of the few spectators outside ofHughes-Trigg before the Young Conservatives of Texas table was shutdown. I was not offended by the bake sale because I did not fullyunderstand the point YCT was attempting to make.

It was not until I read the Friday, Sept. 26 edition of TheDaily Campus, I became offended by how the media, includingThe Daily Campus, covered the ordeal. While reading thefront page of The Daily Campus, I saw that the”Today’s Quote” was from Guy Bellaver stating:”My question is, before they had the bake sale shut down didthey [black people] at least buy four cookies for a $1?” Idid not want to take offense from reading this quote out ofcontext, so I flipped to page two to read Bellaver’s newscolumn in it’s entirety. In the column, Bellaver sums up theentire event by stating: “The bake sale sold cookies to whitestudents for $1 and to black students for 25 cents”.

Bellaver’s summary is very distorted because not all whitestudents had to pay $1, only the white males did. White females hadto pay 75 cents. My point is that the media always diminishesevents that are pro- or anti-affirmative action down to a”black and white” issue. Are we forgetting that thesign at the bake sale also said that all Hispanics could buycookies for 50 cents? Why didn’t Bellaver say: “Beforethe bake sale ended, did the Hispanics at least buy two cookies fora $1?” Asians were not even included on the price list, socould Bellaver not easily say: “Before the bake sale ended,did the Asians at least grab some free cookies?”

Bellaver continued to seriously butcher the summary of theevents that took place at the bake sale when he stated, “Thebake sale was shut down shortly after two young black studentscomplained the bake sale was offensive.” It really bothers mewhen the media portrays black people as people who easily takeoffense to any free speech campaign/event that is raciallycontroversial. Not all black people, including myself, got offendedbehind the bake sale. To prove my point, in an effort to add humorat the bake sale, my friend Matt Houston bought a cookie for 25cents and then tried to sell it to another student in order to makea profit. I would like for it be known that not only did severalstudents of different races complain about the bake sale beingoffensive, but several SMU staff members of different races alsocomplained about the bake sale being offensive. Obviously someone(Bellaver) did not do his homework. The bottom line is: Regardlessof who complained, in the end, the YCT table got shut down becausetheir organization did not go through the proper procedures fororganizing their event.

Friday’s edition of The Daily Campus noted that ABCinterviewed Carl Dorvil, Robin Preston was on “PaulaZahn” and Nina Morris and David Rushing were interviewed byThe Daily Campus concerning the bake sale. It looks to me asif the media is only allowing the public to hear opinions fromwhites and blacks.

What about the other races? There were some Hispanic and MiddleEastern students in front of the YCT table as well, and we were alldiscussing our opinions about the bake sale. However, I have notseen a single quote or interview from any minority except blackstudents. The last time I checked, the goal of affirmative actionwas to eliminate discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicbackground or any other criterion that deprives people ofopportunities to live, work and receive an education. Affirmativeaction is supposed to equalize the opportunities and privileges ofall people.

Well, it seems that according to the media, debates surroundingaffirmative action only reduce down to merely black vs. white.