Shawn Lewis, third-year poli sci major and president of the Berkeley College Republicans, on their “Diversity Bake Sale” stunt to protest efforts to increase the numbers of minorities in California’s universities

With all due respect: You don’t get to decide if you’re a racist. You can only decide how you want to act. Everyone else gets to judge you on that. (That said: I’d love it if a progressive group did this sort of thing, only if they made things really cheap for white guys to underscore just how easy we’ve actually got it in comparison to everyone else.)

(via NYTimes.com)

From NYTimes: “’This event was not organized by a bunch of white guys,’ Mr. Lewis said. “We’re not racists.” The group’s 10-member board of directors includes several Asians and a Latino, he said, and more than half the board members are women.”  Let me reiterate: “The test of how racist you are is not how many people of color you can count as friends…It’s how many white people you’re willing to talk to about racism.”

Here is Shawn Lewis’ response to media coverage of their pay-by-race bake sale, from the Berkeley College Republicans website:

My Thoughts on the Berkeley CRs Bake Sale

Welcome to Berkeley!

Where ideas are exchanged and disagreement is encouraged as a part of this awesome idea known as higher education. As a white, conservative male, where could I hope for a more rigorous challenging of my personal, political, and philosophical ideas than at UC Berkeley? For the past two years I’ve been here at Cal, I have experienced incredible conversations with people I disagree with politically, and have formed some of my closest friendships with long-committed Democrats. Anyone who knows me knows this to be true.

What I have seen and heard in response to the Berkeley College Republicans’ “Increase Diversity Bake Sale” has been far from healthy disagreement or challenging of ideas.

Instead, I have witnessed the harassment of the creators of the Facebook event, threats to those who plan on participating in the event, and a total mischaracterization of the purpose of the bake sale.

This event is in response to SB 185, a bill passed by the California legislature and on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. It would allow the UC and CSU systems to consider race and other factors in college admission decisions, in direct defiance of the will of the voters with Proposition 209. After the UC Berkeley student government endorsed the bill, we decided a response was needed. Thus this bake sale was formulated. Participants will be offered a discount based on their race and gender. If preferences based on skin color are ok for college admissions, they should be ok for other aspects of life. We agree that the event is inherently racist, but that is the point. It is no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race or gender.

Blanket statements have been made to the Berkeley College Republicans and anyone participating in this event, claiming they are all ‘Ignorant rich white kids’ or ‘WASPy Conservatives’. If you’ve ever been to a BCR meeting, you would know we have an incredibly diverse membership from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. But we don’t keep tab.

In addition to these grossly misguided comments, there has been a surprising amount of implicit and expressed threats targeted toward the supporters of the event. Several people have threatened they will “stop by the table only to knock it over” or “buy a cupcake just to throw it at [us]”. These physical threats are no joke. Further implicit threats were made, including one ASUC Senator who directly messaged me and warned of the “repercussions we will face” if we go through with our event.

Threatening and intimidating political opposition should not be part of the Cal Community.

It is my hope that any student or student organization should feel comfortable and safe in voicing their views on a current issue, especially when that view is in the minority.

To see the full description/info of the mentioned bake sale, please click here: http://tinyurl.com/3prko9f

Sincerely,

Shawn Lewis
President, Berkeley College Republicans

Shawn Lewis, you are the real victim here! Oh actually I was being satirical see what I did there hm, boo..

(via acmesalesrep)