USAC must look for ability, not race in Judicial Board
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.
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