Pitts: 'Bake sale' showed recipe for freedom

I have no beef with the student Republicans.

Oh, I disagree with them about affirmative action, and probably a dozen other things as well. But I am not troubled -- amused, but not troubled -- by the way they've expressed their view.

Unfortunately, others have been less sanguine.

The story goes as follows: the GOP student group at the University of California at Berkeley wanted to illustrate its opposition to pending legislation that would allow state universities to consider race, gender, ethnicity and national origin as factors in admission. So it sponsored an "Increase Diversity Bake Sale," in which the prices varied according to race. White men were asked to pay $2 for what Asian men could get for $1.50, Latino men for $1, African-American men for 75 cents and Native American men for a quarter. All women received a 25-cent discount off those prices.

If I were going to use baked goods as a metaphor for affirmative action, my price scale would go like this: Black and Native American men would pay $10, Asian and Latino men $7 for brownies white men were able to buy for a buck, and the blacks, the Native Americans, the Asians and the Latinos would have to walk a gauntlet of gunfire, physical assault, name-calling and legal roadblocks in order to reach the counter. Women would not be allowed to buy any brownies, but would be required to remain in the kitchen baking them, preferably while barefoot and pregnant.

After 350 years, the black, Latino, Asian and Native American men would get a $5 discount off the original prices (do the math) but they'd have to listen to white men carp about the gross unfairness of it all. Women would also get a discount, but would have to sweep up the bakery after it closed.

That said, I'm troubled at the

Rate This Article: - Excellent Good Average Poor Terrible

Comment on "Pitts: 'Bake sale' showed recipe for freedom"

Your Name

Your Comments

Verification Code: TMWV9Z
Enter Code:

Bishop's Bread from the American frontier
A few years ago, you printed a recipe for a breakfast bread or coffee cake with buttermilk, cinnamon and pecans in it. I don't remember what you called it. It was delicious.

Small Biz: Consignment shop for brides
As if running a home day care center wasn't keeping her busy enough, Pamala Baker decided to turn her hobby of helping with weddings into a paid service to help cover expenses for her daughter's college education in 2004.

Shipp: Georgia needs a meaner attorney general
Thurbert Baker is not exactly a clone of Barack Obama, but neither is he another Vernon Jones. So when Baker, Georgia's veteran attorney general, announced his run for governor on a dull day last week, Georgia's highest-ranking African-American constitutional officer made a few headlines around the state.

Baker, Reds add to Cubs' misery
CHICAGO - Disgruntled fans bade a not-so-fond farewell to Dusty Baker after the Cubs sent him packing. Four years later, he has returned to Chicago for a little revenge.

Baker resigns as coach
Patrick Baker's son takes the field for his first game of the soccer season this week and Baker isn't going to let a job that hogs nearly all his time stand in the way of watching him play.