Editor,
Rather than spending my time talking about the white supremacist logic of the so-called "Affirmative Action Bakesale," I want to talk about how the young Republicans seem to know very little about the real price of cookies.
First of all, anyone who has ever shopped in inner-city grocery stores knows that price gouging is the norm. Since people of color primarily inhabit inner cities, this means that these groups in particular are actually paying more for their cookies than whites.
Also, grocery stores in inner cities are spread far apart. Inner-city residents in places like Los Angeles must take long bus rides to get to the nearest grocery store, unless they want to pay convenience store prices. So, add in the cost of bus fare plus travel time to the already exorbitant price.
People of color must endure risk to their health and safety on the way to get cookies. For example, they must breathe polluted air on their way to the store, air that is always worst where people of color live. So, add in health expenses for asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Second, since people of color are racially profiled, we need to factor in legal costs for erroneous traffic and shoplifting charges. After all, the store clerks already think they're shoplifters.
Of course, all of this assumes that all people of color have the free cash to buy luxuries for their family, like cookies. I know that's a hard concept for most whites to understand.
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The fact is that we whites benefit off the backs of people of color. For instance, people of color deposit more money into banks than banks invest in them. The reverse is true for whites. It is well known that people of color are forced to pay more for car and house loans than whites. Certainly, these are more important than cookies. The choice of cookies trivializes the real economic issues that people of color face.
We whites are under that illusion of the "reverse racism" mythology, even though there is no empirical evidence to support such claims. Meanwhile, we turn a blind eye to all sorts of evidence to support the existence of white power and privilege, thus turning us into active participants in the reproduction of racial inequality.
If the young Republicans knew much about the price of cookies in the real world, they would have reversed their prices.
Ricky Lee Allen
UNM College of Education Instructor
