Submission: Afrikan Student Union should focus on problems within black community

There has been controversy over the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority “Kanye Western” themed party. The party allegedly promoted racism and cultural appropriation, with people dressed up in “baggy clothes, plumped lips and padded bottoms.” Although this party may have been mildly inappropriate, the way the Afrikan Student Union has reacted is absolutely outlandish and ignorant. If any other race had dressed up as pop culture figures from other ethnic groups, there would absolutely not be this much uproar about it.

Let me start off with the “plumped lips and padded bottoms” imitating Kim Kardashian. As someone who is Armenian, I am not offended by this in any way. This is not a representation of my entire Armenian culture. It is merely a representation of Kim’s pop culture status that include her iconic “assets.” The same goes for Kanye West. He is known to wear some pretty bold outfits that include baggy pants and shirts. Again, this outfit is not targeting the entire African American population, it is specifically targeting Kanye West’s iconic pop culture status. From the pictures that I have seen, the only black coloring on people’s faces was around the mouth, imitating Kanye West’s facial hair, and the soot to look like the infamous “gold digger,” which again, is not generalizing the entire African American population.

Like I stated before, this party was mildly inappropriate. However, these people have the right to dress and act the way they want to, because as upsetting as it may be to some people, the U.S. Constitution protects their freedom of expression in the First Amendment. The only time that it is really appropriate to act upon someone’s actions or words is if the person in question directly threatens another person. In this case, the “Kanye Western” themed party did not directly threaten anyone’s safety. The only thing it did was make people feel “triggered.”

To the people who felt “triggered”: How would you plan on implementing an action or policy that would actually suppress people’s freedom of expression? Your group is promoting a phenomenon called cultural Marxism: an ideology which emphasizes culture as a main cause of inequalities. You are pitting people against each other based on the color of their skin, by scapegoating the “white cis-gendered” male or female, which is only causing more dissension between certain races. The truth is the majority of non-African American individuals do not discriminate and do not have a reason to discriminate against African Americans, especially in this day and age. The instances of white on black crime or racism are rare and the only reason we tend to hear about them more in the media is due to the availability heuristic: a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person’s mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision.

Which leads me to my next question. Why are you constantly targeting these rare scenarios and supposed microaggressions when there is rampant black on black violence? The fact is there are definitely issues with the African American community, but it is not discrimination between different races, it is within the African American community itself.

READ MORE: Arthur Wang: UCLA’s lack of cultural sensitivity led to ‘Kanye Western’ themed raid

In 2013, Northeastern University criminology Professor James Alan Fox performed a study using adjusted FBI crime data from 2010-2013 (to estimate the number of murders where race between the assailant and the victim were not given). Fox found that about 92 percent of African Americans who were murdered were killed by other African Americans. The rate of white on white crime is almost as high at 81.5 percent. Fox also found that the percentage of homicides between the race lines has increased from 8 percent to 13 percent. This is not necessarily because of racial hostility but due to the fact that over the past decades there has been less segregation between races in neighborhoods and in everyday activities.

Even further analysis of the FBI’s bureau of statistics data for 2013 shows that 14 percent of white victims were killed by black offenders, and 7.6 percent of black victims were killed by white offenders.

They also found that black criminals carried out 38 percent of murders, compared to 31.1 percent for whites. Furthermore, over the last three years of data – 2011 to 2013 – 38.5 percent of people arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault were black. Therefore the ratio of African Americans that commit murders to the number of African Americans arrested for certain crimes is almost exactly proportional. One can conclude that these statistics disprove that racism is not something that is prevalent and encouraged in this country, much less UCLA. What these numbers do show is that there is a startling amount of violence inside the African American community that needs to be dealt with, by using groups like the Afrikan Student Union to perform community outreach.

READ MORE: Submission: Greek community must stand in solidarity with black Bruins

In essence, the point that I am trying to get across is that focusing on a mildly inappropriate frat party is closed-minded when looking at the broader spectrum of racial issues. It is also offensive to people who have actually been victims of severe, violent racism. As a student at UCLA who is concerned with racial matters, I ask the Afrikan Student Union to use their voice and their standing within the community to address issues that are more prevalent, like the quality of education and the proliferating rates of crime within the African American community. Use your group platform to go and help the future African American generation succeed. Encourage children to get an education and avoid crime. But most of all, help them be proud of who they are inside and out.

Kachadoorian is a first-year psychobiology student.

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276 Comments

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values.

      1. I’ve accepted your challenge and addressed the argument itself. Please see my above comment, as it contains no ad-hominem attacks.

      2. Her argument is non-sequitur. Being offended has nothing to do with addressing other issues. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, a demographic can consist of many different people who can prioritize one, the other, neither, or both to varying degrees.

        1. Because ASU falsely accused this frat of Racism. They should focus more on the real problems of their community.

  1. Who at the daily bruin let an 18 y o publish this trash..she’s so wet behind the ears i’m surprised she hasn’t drowned.

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values. (5)

  2. Lmao. You obviously know nothing about what ASU does. They have community service, access, and retention projects to target issues within the Black community both on campus and in the greater Los Angeles area.
    Your statistics on murder have NOTHING to do with the point at hand which is the climate on the UCLA campus. You’re a first year so you weren’t here last year or the years before to see MANY minority groups on this campus be targeted with racism, one of those groups being ASU.

    As you are someone who’s not a part of the black community you have no idea what’s being done within our
    community about our issues cuz it doesn’t concern or affect you.

    1. ;^) Were it not for the illegal affirmative action that UCLA conducts in its admissions, perhaps there would not be such low retention rates.

      Have fun with your 12 grand a year, ASU!

  3. Shame on the other students in the comments below who disregard this article merely on the basis that the person is a freshman or 18 years of age. You complain about racial prejudice and then immediately want to discredit someone’s opinion on the basis of their age. How is this not itself a prejudiced action? How about actually addressing some of the points that the author raised? And no, sorry, saying that because the author is not part of a certain racial group that they have no right to have a voice is racism. It is you who is a racist.

    I’m glad that someone is addressing the root of the perversion that is corrupting nearly every field of study in the liberal arts. Cultural Marxism is bullshit and critical theory teaches young, impressionable freshman to do everything but think critically. I’m out of my depth speaking on this issues as I’m a STEM major but it is troubling when nearly every single GE class I’ve taken at UCLA has been corrupted by professors who propagate a pernicious line of thought which would seek to pit Americans against each other on the basis of race or perceived cultural differences.

    1. OK, let’s break this down. Criticizing this individual based on her age is actually kind considering what she wrote, they are giving her the benefit of the doubt that she is just inexperienced and not, in fact, a ragingly ignorant willfully racist individual. In terms of things she brought up, most offensive to me is that the existence of black-on-black crime is somehow disconnected from the issues that ASU is facing on campus. What do you think are the roots of black-on-black crime? Systemic racism that is prevalent at every level of our society and categorically puts black youth at a disadvantage – a racism is propagated through this sort of stereotyping and cultural appropriation that plant the seed that this is somehow OK.

      In addition, did it every occur to you that saying those classes are “corrupted” by a certain line of thought is like many science-deniers who claim that introducing evolution and climate change into the classroom is “corrupting” classes with unproven theories? The line of thought which you apparently despise is based on scientific research, that’s why it’s taught so widely. Being a STEM major doesn’t work as an excuse for being ignorant about how we go about collecting, quantifying, and confirming theories as academics. Scientific research isn’t confined to STEM majors.

      1. Calling someone a racist is just about the worst slander you can make against a person’s character and it is your responsibility for providing evidence to substantiate such a serious claim.

        It is offensive and reprehensible that you believe criticizing someone because of her age is kind. I would commend her for having the audacity to publish an article in the largest student news organization that presents a dissenting view as an underclassman.

        You can make statements such as “systemic racism is prevalent in our society..” but without providing evidence to support this claim it is entirely meaningless.

        Provide some evidence from some reputable scientific journals to support your claims

    2. This is the funniest comment I’ve read on this thread. Sure, folks shouldn’t be using the author’s age as a reason to attack her ignorance. However, most of the individuals here also addressed the points she brought up beyond her age.

      In regards to cultural marxism and critical theory(?) (perhaps critical race theory), I’ve taken classes in both when I was an undergrad and it is pretty disturbing to see your insistence that the theories are “bullshit” and the professors “propagate a pernicious line of though” when the purpose of college is perhaps not to buy in, but rather to be challenged and exposed to varying ways of thinking.

      Finally, I do not believe any professor has sought to pit Americans against each other in a race or culture war as you presume. It seems to me (and correct me if I am wrong) that you have taken an extremely negative view of what you may have been exposed to. What professors say in liberal arts classes related to the subjects you bring up may be different from your views on race/privilege/culture and might even challenge what your parents have taught you and your socialized characteristics since birth. However, our professors words are built to help us become more conscious and to understand how to continue to grow as individuals as well as help our community. If that takes acknowledging the harsh truths that the lived experiences of some communities have been shaped by other more privileged communities so be it. We have a choice to take the knowledge shared with us constructively or negatively. Why not give your tuition its due and take it as constructively as possible?

      1. I agree with you, Pradhan! I have no idea how this aligns with cultural Marxism at all. Additionally, STEM or no STEM, ignorance is not bliss.

        1. The real problem is that “Cultural Marxism” is label given to very different and at times antagonist strains of thought by a particular set of conservatives that does very little to understand those ideas. It’s usually deployed to reject them without any real substantial engagement.

      2. Defending cultural Marxism and disputing contrary beliefs by citing cultural Marxist dogma. And who says cultural Marxism doesn’t teach critical thinking? By saying that cultural Marxist professors don’t pit Americans against each other in race or culture war, you show your ignorance of cultural Marxism. That is its very goal! To deconstruct every aspect of society and dominant cultural through overwhelming negativity, which invariably pits groups against each other, in order to sow chaos so the cultural Marxist-approved cultural and society can be installed as the savior for the chaos the Marxists brought. In the end, despite the theory your professors may espouse, we all end up with all power in the hands of the very few elite to dictate to all others. 5% end up with power while 95% have none. To the extent folks like you buy into a theory that led to 100 million dead around the globe, not including the mass incarceration of political enemies, starvation and artificially lowering the standards of living for all, folks like us will fight you on it. We will not let those lacking critical thinking skills who have been indoctrinated in the theology of destruction and misery enslave us all in the name of “fairness,” “equality” or “racism.”

    3. Look, I’m no fan of “Cultural Marxism” (it sounds like a silly term to describe the phenomenon it claims to, but whatever), but attacking her age is actually legitimate, and I’ll explain why:

      She’s been in high school all her life up until now. She’s been in an environment in which everyone has everything effectively decided for them and everyone appears to play on equal footing (treatment in the classroom appears identical). She’s inexperienced in life, and her brain hasn’t fully developed (brains develop by 25). These points go after what’s called her “Ethos”, which you may recall from, ironically, high school. It’s about credibility. When she states opinion phrases, they carry a weight with them based upon her credibility. It’s perfectly legitimate to attack credibility through the argument that she lacks experience. If she wrote an article telling us what she thinks we should do about Syria, would you complain if I mentioned that she’s 18 and has literally no experience on the subject? No? Then why can people not mention here her lack of experience?

      1. why are you making false assumptions about her? She’s actually lived in 3 different countries, studied abroad, and traveled all over the world. She’s been on a medical mission trip to Tanzania, and published a medical research study at UCLA about treating hep c in the elderly. what she was trying to point out in this article is that a stupid party is not something to be concerned about when there are far more atrocities going out in the world today.You don’t even know her view on syria (which by the way she thinks is being used as a power play between Russia and the US and has actually lost family members in that region.) She realizes she should have pointed out what other good things the ASU does, and went on a bit of a non sequitur with the statistics, but her overall point is still valid, and she felt like she had to use statistics because if she did she would have been attacked even more for her view point.
        -from a friend

      1. This is an internet comment section, not a debate hall. We’re allowed to use ad hominem because who cares? Shove it, buddy, and take your head out your rear. And yes, this is ad hominem.

  4. All I see is extreme antiblackness, internalized hate and ignorance.
    If your goal was to sound more idiotic and bigoted than Fox News and Donald trump, then congratulations you have done it.
    In addition to this, you have only futher embarrassed UCLA.
    #Blackbruinsmatter

    1. So citing established statistics based on FBI data is now considered racist and ignorant? I’m genuinely curious because to me that just shows actual facts and opinions that are supported by facts? If that is your definition of racist then boy has the game changed…

      1. FBI statistics on murder have zero to do with POC constantly being disrespected on their own college campuses and have absolutely nothing to do with (yet another) incident at UCLA, but thanks for playing.

        1. But to say that this author is “antiblack, has internalized hate, and ignorance and is like Fox News” is way out of line don’t you think. She may have been wrong in your view but that doesn’t make her a racist or some person who out to get POC on UCLA campus does it just because she cited statistics?

          1. One of the simplest definitions of antiblack is “resistant or antagonistic to black people or their values or objectives.” This author told the entire black population on campus that this “mildly inappropriate” party is an isolated incident so shut up and work on “issues that are more prevalent.” Ignorantly so, because this is not the first, and probably not the last, of anti-black and anti-poc incidents on campus. Even further, what on earth gives a non-black, 2- week old freshman the authority to decide what the most prevalent issues are for black UCLA students? She stated that ASU needs to work on black-on-black crime and getting African American children educated. So many people are embarrassed for her and this trash because a 5 second google search would have told her that ASU already does this through its various outreach and retention projects.
            I wouldn’t have gone as far as calling her Fox News, fox delivers some very blatant racism AND misogyny.

          2. Is this author resistant to black issues or just offering a differing opinion than yourself? Just by stating a different opinion than the one you hold she is now against the entire black bruin movement? I’m sorry but that is just totally wrong and incorrect. Just because people hold a different opinion does not mean they are “antagonistic” to black values or objectives. To say otherwise is disingenuous and pretty divisive. All I’m saying these past few posts is what Obama has recently said in a speech, the labaleling of people as racist or ignorant because they disagree with your view is wrong and is against what college is about at its core: to see other viewpoints and debate them without name calling. All of which do nothing to solve the issues at hand.

          3. The problem is the author is marginalizing the concerns of the African American community, and others, with incredibly poor backing. The author believes that any other race would not be offended if a similar thing happened to them? When did she become the spokesperson to the entire demographic spectrum?

            It’s not about holding a different opinion when your opinion makes little sense.

        2. POC are literally dying in their own communities at very high rates and you’re more worried about how POC feel on college campuses? Shouldn’t we all be more concerned about what’s happening to black lives in POC areas, because guess what, that’s where the vast majority of young blacks are losing their lives?

          1. Are you all really not going to look up what ASU does before commenting something that makes you look stupid? The fact that you believe we somehow have an inability to care for the communities we came from while being concerned about our immediate environment is flat out insulting. Just like caterina, you need to do better.

      2. The perfectly simplistic view of things adopted by white supremacists. Must be nice to be so ignorant.

        1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
          demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
          hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
          and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
          to be published.
          Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
          Follow
          up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
          California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
          values. (6)

      3. You can cite (irrelevant) FBI statistics and still be ignorant. Just because she googled these numbers doesn’t mean she correctly applied them to a logical conclusion. Citing percentages of murders (well, people arrested/convicted of murder) doesn’t relate to this frat party at all.

  5. Orientation was just two months ago for you, Kachadoorian, remember the True Bruin contract you signed? As UCLA students, we are subject to both federal law and campus policy. Smoking is not illegal according to federal law and yet it’s banned campus-wide, for example. Since you’re new here, you might want to read up on what ASU actually does and the long history of racist acts on this campus and forgo the irrelevant statistics.

    Oh! Here’s an interesting thought: how about you work on establishing your gpa instead of telling black people how to feel? k thanks.

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.

      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its values. (3)

    2. Here’s another interesting thought. How about you actually refute her FBI crime facts and figures and arguments instead of resorting to ad hominem attacks. Wouldn’t that be more constructive?

      1. Quite frankly it wouldn’t, because the statistics are irrelevant. But if she wants to bring up crime then she should have accounted for the fact that African Americans are much more likely to be profiled and arrested, despite not committing crime at a higher rate than any other group. As I said in another comment,
        ‘FBI statistics on murder have zero to do with POC constantly being disrespected on their own college campuses and have absolutely nothing to do with (yet another) incident at UCLA, but thanks for playing.’ I guess you haven’t actually scrolled through the comment section yet.

        An “ad hominem attack” (which seems to be the support’s favorite word in this comment section) is certainly well placed, because an important factor of an argument is the author’s credibility. You wouldn’t trust a 4 year old with telling you about some event they weren’t even around for, for the same reason you wouldn’t go to Fox News for unbiased reporting on immigration. Zero experience and zero credibility. All of us are giving her the benefit of the doubt of being a two-week old freshman and not just a racist. The general hope is that she attempted to perpetuate the “why are black people so angry? There are bigger problems so get over it!” argument because she genuinely didn’t know better.

  6. It’s obvious that Ms. Kachadoorian is ill informed about racism on college campuses. I’m hoping that she reads my new book, Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses, when it comes out in Feb. 2016. She’ll get a greater understanding about what makes these campuses hostile for black students, including UCLA. http://www.amazon.com/Blackballed-Black-Politics-Americas-Campuses/dp/125007911X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434859582&sr=1-3&keywords=Blackballed

      1. No. What I am doing is letting her know that she doesn’t have to be ignorant. She’s a first year, and has no idea of what she’s talking about. As a result, if you’re going to speak on the subject, then you should read about the subject, particularly as it pertains to UCLA. And my book does that. If you have another book that does it as well, and I doubt there is one, then suggest it to her.

  7. The Afrikan Union students who were offended are part of the UCLA Community and they deserve to be treated with respect. You cannot ignore the actions of Sigma Phi Epsilon nor can you insist that Afrikan Union students seek to help victims of violent crimes. The immediate crime is the fact that students of color do not feel comfortable in their chosen educational environment. Furthermore, I am shocked the Editorial Board chose to publish this trash as written by Kachadoorian.

    1. It’s her point of view. Don’t dismiss it as trash. Try to be logical and address her arguments. Oh wait, you’re too angry and unwilling to do such.

      1. Hiding behind poorly backed up arguments and logic by claiming “it’s my point of view” is an absolute joke. Is it even worth going into the amount of holes in this piece? In the very first paragraph she writes, “If any other race had dressed up as pop culture figures from other ethnic groups, there would absolutely not be this much uproar about it.” If that isn’t enough for you to realize this piece’s credibility is threadbare I don’t know what is.

        Not to mention the whole Black on Black violence thing she brought up. That’s like saying we should not be concerned about illegal immigration in the US because there’s a migrant crises in Europe. How is that related?

  8. As a UCLA alumni, I am embarrassed to see this coming from such institution. I don’t understand why the editorial board would accept such poorly written, biased, and ill-intentioned piece.

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values. (4)

    2. Oh the horrors of being rational and trying to find concrete solutions to actually save black lives. How dare she!

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values

      1. Sigh. ET what should the Office of Internal Affairs do? This is constitutionally protected speech. Just because you think it’s racist doesn’t matter. The first amendment and legal decisions around it are pretty clear.

        You are an illustration of how some students cannot intelligently and maturely engage in dialog themselves. Instead they want school administrators to suppress ideas they don’t like. While some universities have taken up these kinds of causes, that’s neither legal for public schools nor wise for a school where presenting and discussing ideas are central to an education.

        Here’s an alternative approach for you to consider – how about explaining your objections to the piece. Make a persuasive argument for why it’s wrong. It’s a useful exercise for you and those you want to influence.

        1. ET’s posts are hilariously wrong. I’m almost certain she is a troll, someone adding inflammatory rhetoric for their own enjoyment. If not, then I would love to meet this person anytime anywhere at UCLA so I can…. re-educate them.

  9. “They also found that black criminals carried out 38 percent of murders, compared to 31.1 percent for whites.” Carried out or convicted of? African Americans are significantly more likely to be arrested, profiled, and incarcertated than whites.

  10. Do you even know any black people? At ASU, BSU meetings and other meetings, black people are literally constantly organizing to address problems in their communities. I hate when everyone all of a sudden claims they can list positive black discussions on their fingertips. The problem isn’t that there aren’t any… the problem is that if you’re racist, you won’t count them.

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values. (2)

          1. Why don’t you troll against the Bloods and Crips that are killing thousands and thousands of young black people every year?

    2. Where are the national protests against black gangs that murder the vast majority of young blacks? I see constant protests against the police, but no national protests against the Bloods or the Crips. Why?

  11. I, for one, commend the Daily Bruin for publishing this article. We have to be reminded as an academic community and an educational institution that our work is never done, and that the need to enlighten and educate is a never-ending pursuit. That even in what is widely considered an elite institution of higher education, opinions and levels of rhetoric such as this exist, and that we must strive to improve upon them.

    Yes, she’s using the rhetoric of a 15 year old whose education consists of their facebook feed.
    Yes, her use of evidence is rife with bias and hardly does anything to actually support her argument, one which is woefully narrow in scope and completely tone-deaf to the actual larger issues at hand.
    Yes, she completely misinterpreted the first amendment and the specific role of the U.S Government in enforcing its liberties (it’s how this tripe was published, after all, isn’t it?)

    But all these issues, aren’t they the exact platforms which we should be working so hard to combat and overturn? Think not of this misguided writer as one to be chastised endlessly, but one who is blooming with the potential to be taught.

    As an observer of UCLA’s recent debacle who is concerned with racial matters, I ask the members of this esteemed University to use their voice and their standing within the academic community to address issues that are more prevalent, like the low quality of rhetoric and the proliferating rates of a lack of perspective within racial matters. Use your group platform to go and help future opinion writers succeed where this one did not. Encourage these budding debaters to get an education and avoid criminal levels of poor writing. But most of all, help them to not utterly ridicule themselves on a very public forum about a very public and charged matter so that, when they look back on the articles they wrote and the arguments they penned, they won’t completely hate themselves inside and out.

  12. Oh my god! THIS HORRIBLE and the level of Anti-Blackness is BEYOND ME. I don’t give a damn that this person is a 1st year psychology student, “Armenian Republican” (whatever the f*** that means) and from Switzerland. No excuses, this is anti-blackness and this person needs to be held accountable to this community.

  13. Ahhh, I don’t want to pile on. I had trash opinions when I was 18 too–though that’s not to make an excuse for this terrible piece. Honestly, I’m shocked her editors put her in this situation to begin with. I think they really screwed up by letting this make it to the internet.

    1. I’m guessing that they wanted the publicity this is likely to bring if the news media find out.

  14. as an armenian myself, i am disappointed and revolted by this blatant display of anti-blackness. “plumped lips and padded bottoms” cannot and do not compare to blackface specifically and anti-blackness generally. the fact is that in america, armenians do not face the institutional, systematic oppression suffered by african americans. you’re comparing apples to oranges, and i think you know it. if you don’t, you’re not only racist: you’re an idiot.

    1. Armenians were never oppressed?

      Maybe your history classes should have covered events that happened prior to 1915.

  15. Sounds like a bunch of crybabies whinning about an article. Are we so offended? LOL go home to mommy then.

  16. PULL THIS ARTICLE. IT IS RACIST. AND, LESS SIGNIFICANTLY, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE EMBARRASSMENT TO THE INSTITUTION. Daily Bruin could also stand to re-staff its editorial board. Unless slumming for publicity and click baiting is the point. Then, by all means press on like the tabloid capitalism that this is, and claim your collective fame on the grounds of racist insensitivity. (only the last sentence is sarcasm). As a white student six years into her tenure here, I’m absolutely ashamed to be affiliated with this publication in any way.

    1. I can agree that the article is obscenely ignorant, even racist, but to pull it would be even worse. Censoring beliefs is not how we do things in this country. People are fully entitled to agree with us, and they’re also entitled to be racist idiots.

  17. If someone came on campus and demeaned the lives and experiences of Armenians living with the legacy of genocide in Turkey I bet you Ms. Kachadoorian wouldn’t be so forgiving or dismissive of the problem. Make an effort to actually learn about an issue before you open your mouth and demonstrate your ignorance for the whole world to see.

  18. Are you black? No. Are you a black student at UCLA? No. Could you ever possibly know what it’s like to be a black person living, working, and struggling in America? No. Now that we clarified things, please refrain from commenting on what black Bruins should feel or how they should react after an offensive, racist incident. It’s a true shame when folks, let alone Bruins, cannot look past their own privilege and blind spots to practice empathy and solidarity for fellow colleagues, peers, and friends. I hope your remaining three years at UCLA allow you to connect and dialogue with other communities of color and to learn from others’ experiences with oppression and bigotry.

    1. This is like saying blacks should never comment on redneck culture because they can’t “possibly know what it’s like to be a redneck person living, working, and struggling in America”.

  19. Absolutely great and on-point submission, Caterina. Please do not be hurt or deterred by the typical cyber-bullied reverting to ad-hominem attacks. As expected, these cultural marxists and fascists are reverting to the only thing they know to do: spew unwarranted hate and demean others, without addressing facts.

    Everything written in your submission is accurate, thank you for taking a stand!

      1. I can only weep for the professor who probably tried their best to teach their students how to critically analyze arguments, and yet who has created someone who can only use fallacies to try and minimize others.

      2. There are tons of ad hominem attacks dismissing anyone supporting the author’s thesis on this comments board. In fact, you just resorted to one yourself.

        1. I can see how you might think that, though given I was asking a genuine question, it could not be considered an ad hominem.

    1. The facts presented in this article do not support the conclusion they propose to. The ending claim that the ASU caring about this issue somehow is offensive to victims of “real” racism is a ridiculous claim. That’s like saying an American LGBT movement complaining about marriage equality is somehow “offensive” to victims of “real” LGBT discrimination in the middle east (because they get decapitated as a punishment). It just doesn’t make sense.

      Stop acting like this is some brave, logical argument, and only fascists oppose it.

  20. Dear Daily Bruin, why aren’t you upholding you comments policy and monitoring hateful, personal attacks?

      1. Because Caterina wants everyone to believe someone besides her understands her stupid argument. SNAPS! is Caterina, you guys.

  21. Hi Caterina, I had some thoughts about some of the points in your article. This is in fact an opinion piece and it I in no means intend to devalue or trample your opinion, but rather, I have read through your piece carefully and thought deeply about it. I also appreciate the stats that you gave to back up your opinion. The following points will be my opinion as well, and while I’ll say straight out I disagree with you, I hope you will read through it because I believe that it can offer more information and facts to this conversation and overall this continued conversation can help all of us get a fuller picture of what is going on.

    I would take offense if someone of another race had dressed-up as my ethnic background. I am Chinese American and in the first place, pop culture does not really depict my culture correctly or even at all. But let’s say that my culture was a part of pop culture and that this party had been instead called the “Wild, Wild, East.” The equivalent situation of the chains and clothes worn at the Kanye Western party would have been people dressing up with pointy straw hats and qipaos that were tailored shorter and tighter. The equivalent situation of the padded bottoms at the actual party would have been the stretching and taping of eyes so as to look smaller. I could not possibly look at that situation as a celebration of my culture and body, but rather, a shabby mimicry that pokes fun and belittles my culture, my body, and my identity.

    Now I don’t believe the black bruins at UCLA are advocating Cultural Marxism and I’m not convinced that is the proper label to place on this situation. But even so, Cultural Marxism does have some validness in pointing out that culture, race, religion, etc do point out critical differences in all of us. Not to say that the extremity of the influence that Cultural Marxism advocates is correct, but it does raise a point that everyone should be thinking about. Because the OPPOSITE of Cultural Marxism, to just throw Cultural Marxism completely out and disagree with it fully, would instead mean colorblindness. And I don’t want to be colorblind to the fact that that violent crimes like homicide, aggravated assault, or kidnapping make up 2.9% of those who are incarcerated, but drug crimes make up 48.4% of those incarcerated (Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons). And of that 48.4%, Black Americans make up 44.8% of that, while White Americans make up 28.5%. However, no race has been proven to be more likely to do drugs than the next meaning in theory they should be incarcerated and similar proportions to their population proportion. But Black Americans only make up 13.8% of America. Why? Because for the longest time, crack that is more commonly found in black neighborhoods had a 100:1 ratio, meaning that 5 grams of crack was equivalent to the severity and the punishment that 500 grams of cocaine deserves, despite the fact that they are the same drug that is only separated by baking soda. President Obama made the ratio 18:1 in the Fair Sentencing Act, but that was in 2010 and that ratio of 100:1 has been in place since 1986. Meaning that there have been 24 years of the mass incarceration of African Americans. I don’t believe that your point in that 38.5% of African Americans incarcerated for violent crimes matches the 37% of African Americans incarcerated overall means that there is no racism when violent crimes only make up around 2.9% but drug crimes make up 48.4% of African Americans are nearly half of that percentage. So African Americans are incarcerated at higher proportions than any other race despite the fact that other races are just as likely to commit drug crimes.

    But you do make a good point that African Americans have high black on black crime and have the highest ratio in violent crimes. What that should tell you is NOT that this is a problem that only involves the African American community and should be dealt with only by the African American community, but instead it should tell you of a VERY broken justice system and history of racism that has crippled the African American community. Twenty four years of disproportionately incarcerated African Americans means thousands and thousands of homes in the two decades that lacked a father or brother. And thousands and thousands of African Americans get out only to find that their felony has made it impossible to find a job, find a stable living situation, and qualify for certain welfare options and benefits. So then you have people who need to feed their families and they then have to turn to the streets to do so. That’s where gangs arise and that is where the MOST black and black crime happens. It’s this vicious cycle that just happens over and over again, and let’s be reminded that I’m only talking about the effects of 24 years of the 100:1 sentencing on crack cocaine. Let’s not forget the centuries of slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc that have made it near-impossible for the black community to rise above. We need to be aware of that and we need to see that there has been a build-up of historical injustices against the black community and we cannot be colorblind to it all. We need to start defending the black community, protecting it, and make up for the centuries of oppression that we as a society and country have placed on them. We’re a country that proclaims freedom, but the African American community is in chains and behind bars. I think it’s important for all of us, regardless of our race, to own up to that and work toward a better future.

    Racism is alive and well and there are plenty of classes at UCLA that talks about implicit racism. David Sears has a great class that’s a psychology upper div, and maybe you might be interested in it. UCLA is the time to really reach out and learn from some great professors. Take a African American Studies class. I just graduated with a double major in Poli Sci and Psychology, but my African American Studies class was one of the best classes I ever took. You’re a first year, but there is plenty to learn about the racial climate in the world but also at UCLA. UCLA is not perfect. The Sig Ep party was an example of that. But it is the responsibility of the faculty and student body to own up to our imperfections and mistakes and work towards a better and safer community of Bruins.

    I’m glad that you want the promotion of education in the African American community. I will say that there is a great “This American Life” podcast titled “The Problem We All Live With” that you should check out. Because despite the Brown decision that was made during the Civil Rights movement, schools are still segregated. It’s not a lie that Asian Americans and White Americans tend to be in better school districts that are wealthier and have more resources while African Americans and Latino students are in school districts that do not give them a proper education. The school Michael Brown went to, Normandy High School, made it hard for even the top students, those who deeply cared about their education, to find the resources to actually do so as some teachers never showing up for class or giving students middle school assignments to an 11th grader. That is a problem we all live with. We should ALL be fighting for that.

    I’m also glad that you want every African American to feel proud of who they are inside and out. That’s an excellent thing to desire for a community. I will say that Afrikan Student Union are full of people who are proud of their skin color, their culture, and who they are. My friends in ASU are leaders of leaders that teach me how to love my culture, how to value my race and therefore better value other races, how to defend who I am and never be ashamed of that. My friends in ASU are some of the wisest, most intelligent people I know that taught me how to fight for what is right. My friends in ASU have a vibrant culture that has greatly impacted pop culture and it deserves to be cherished, not to be made a spectacle out of. Black lives matter. Black Bruins matter. They protest it and chant it because they are rightfully proud of the beauty of their lives and race and hope that the rest of the world and the rest of UCLA will value them and respect them the way that they respect other students.

    1. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have
      demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this
      hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation
      and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination
      to be published.
      Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
      Follow
      up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of
      California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its
      values (1)

          1. Crime data is neither hate speech, nor is it racism. Inferring something about a class of people and expressing hatred for a class of people is hate speech and racism.

            Threatening people’s speech is far more hateful, because it’s directed at an individual. It’s a direct threat to their persona and well-being, even if you compare it to criticism of broad abstraction, even if it was unfounded.

          2. How in the world is citing crime data straight from FBI crime reports “hate speech” and “racism”?

          3. Check your white privilege. Freedom of speech, not the speech you find worthy of. Now turn the other cheek away for the massive violence and the fatherless epidemic.

          4. Ratcraft, I know you were waiting on this response. I am a black woman. My actions are not out of the ordinary. On the campus of University of California Santa Cruz in 2010, a student run newspaper was shut down because it continuously printed racist hate speech. How were students able to demand and successfully shut down the publication of the paper? Don’t they have free speech. Here’s the thing that your young mind is unaware of, the University of California is a PUBLIC INSTITUTION. STUDENTS and TAXPAYERS pay into that system. Tax dollars cannot be used to perpetuate hate. In publishing this piece, black students pre-paid into the hate speech that they now have to read on UCLA’s campus. That alone is a form of violence and harassment. Go read up on the past to learn about the future of using public dollars to target marginalized groups.

          5. Again, CHECK YOUR WHITE PRIVELEGE!! You are only allowed to speak the way you do, rant the way you do and act a fool the way you do because of the society set up for you by whites!!! CHECK YOUR WHITE PRIVELEGE AND SAY THANK YOU!! You are NOT the dictator of what is racist and what is not. Free speech is free speech. I despise every single bit of the “black lives matter” garbage. I hate it. To me it is all hate speech, but go ahead as spew your hate filled anti-white rhetoric, even though the very society you thrive in was put in place by them. You are not the dictator of what others say. Schools are for debate discussion, not just debate and discussion YOU see fit! I found nothing in this article hateful whatsoever. You not I am a racist right? I must have my comment removed and have the SPLC come and do an investigation. You are sadly mistaken. Free speech is not forcing others to say what you want. You can shout me down all you want, you have that right. Obviously you don’t think that way. Make your own school paper and cry about all your “struggles”. Spew your opinions there. Have at it. Your white privilege allows you to do this. I am free not to read it, and I won’t be calling…… never mind, there is no one to call and cry to about racism against white people….. I guess because you are free to hate us all you want.

          6. “Check your privilege,” you demand in a command that teeters between
            an imposition to actually explore how I got where I am, and a reminder
            that I ought to feel personally apologetic because white males seem to
            pull most of the strings in the world.
            I actually went and checked the origins of my privileged existence, to empathize with you. I attempted to assume that I have benefitted (sic) from white racist “power systems” and other systemically racist institutions planted by your forefathers. After tons of digging, family interviews and soul searching for the truth, I could not find my white privilege.
            Ratcraft, I really sympathize with you. The white privilege I should have, according to you, is no where to be found. Can you mail it me? I would love to put it in my wallet. Actually, right behind my black card. Having both tools at my disposal would be great for the next black lives matter rally I attend.

            I don’t need to share why “all lives matter” is an inappropriate, racist response to Black Lives Matter. You assumed I am apart of Black Lives Matter because I shared that I am black. Ratcraft, do you know that Black Lives Matter is actually an organized movement? That’s the equivalent of me instantly assuming you are apart of the KKK because you are a racist. By the way, I do assume you are a racist in the same way you assume I am a ‘white privilege queen’.

          7. Your white privilege is called “western civilization”. Pretty simple to see it all around you, well, except the parts of town where it has been destroyed… Botswana is waiting. I can’t go back to Europe, they have enough people already wanting their share of white privilege. I am just white. You have the privilege. Your racism and victim status blinds you to this. I don’t feel sorry for you though. You are the master of your own hate. Stew in it.

          8. Saying that the lives of all human beings matter is “racist”?

            From now on, when someone says “all lives matter” is bigotry, we should call out that person as a bigot themselves. ET, you are a bigot.

            For the record, the life of every person on this planet matters. Yep, even if they’re white. Even if they’re male. Even if they’re heterosexual. EVERYONE. Matters. End of story.

          9. Just curious, you say “On the campus of University of California Santa Cruz in 2010, a student
            run newspaper was shut down because it continuously printed racist hate
            speech.”

            I wasn’t able to find anything about this online. Can you point me to an article about this or give me more specifics? I find this very interesting and want to read up on the details.

            I used to work in journalism, 10 years as a newspaper editor, and I know that many people tend to confuse news articles (strictly facts with no opinion from the writer) with opinion pieces (strictly opinion with some facts to support the writer’s ideas). Unless it’s an editorial by the newspaper staff, all opinion pieces are submitted to the newspaper by others in the community and do not represent the newspaper’s views.

            A newspaper can definitely be sued if they print anything libelous. Even opinion pieces have pieces of fact that must be checked for libel before printing. However, someone’s opinion and freedom of speech is protected under the First Amendment. There is no way you can legally shut down a newspaper for printing someone’s opinion. And I highly doubt a student newspaper would choose to print any hate speech in support of racism.

          10. Exactly. It’s ET’s definition of “hate speech” we’re going by here, so let’s hear what this encompasses (seeing that the above editorial is judged as “hate speech” by ET’s metric).

      1. You took an incredibly well thought out rebuttal to this ridiculous article and turned it into an attempt to censor someone’s opinion in a newspaper. Congratulations, you’re officially part of the problem.

          1. I think you’re mistaken of what I’m calling well thought out. I’m calling Audrey’s deconstruction of Kachadoorian’s article well thought out. I am not calling Kachadoorian’s article well thought out. You can see this, as my other comments all criticize this article.

          2. I reported Caterina Kachadoorian’s article. Not the rebuttal. It was a repost to ensure that her article is taken up with Office for Diversity Affairs.

          3. I’m aware that’s what you did. That’s the problem I have with your action; you’re trying to inhibit the freedom of the press to publish opinion pieces on the grounds that the article is terrible.

          4. No, Gerard, ET seems to be doing it on the grounds that no right, including the right to “Freedom of Expression” or “Freedom of the Press” have been considered to be consequence-free or uninhibited rights, nor should they ever be construed as such.

            Certain forms of speech, certain forms of expression, and certain acts of the Press deserve legal redress and repercussions; the only debate then is at which point that line need be drawn, and there’s more valid debates of that point beyond your assertion that ET is “officially part of the problem.”

          5. Do you genuinely believe that DB’s publishing of this particular article warrants legal repercussions or are you just arguing in bad faith? Are you really saying we should draw the line HERE and say newspapers cannot publish opinion pieces if the opinion is irrational?

          6. In my personal opinion? Yes. Though, as I’ve implied, that is something to be argued both in the halls of academia, the courtrooms, and in the general public. If, in general, a growing majority of people would see a more limited interpretation of the right of free speech that allows for greater penalization of hate speech, I am all for it.

            If, on the other hand, our society continues to practice a more laissez faire interpretation of the First Amendment, contrary what I view as marginalized peoples’ rights to pursuit of a non-toxic public environment, then I’m not exactly in a position to impose my will. The main point being that the boundaries of these rights, the lines drawn, aren’t “essentialized”, but are based on the contexts and wills of the people at a given period of time – the current broadness of free speech we enjoy now is only a few decades old, anyways.

          7. So you’re basically saying you don’t care for the first amendment and would be happy to see it gone enough society decided to start censoring speech it didn’t like?

          8. I’m saying that all rights are relative, and contextually sensitive to given periods. Half a century ago, Marxists where censored. Nudity is still censored, and we are not considered to have lost Freedom of Speech. We censor child pornography, and we censor official government documents through numerous redactments. We limit press access to military zones, and coverage of certain sensitive policy documents.

            Roughly a century ago, anarchist Emma Goldman was censored in her campaigning for sexual education and birth control access for women, as entire immigration policy frameworks where shaped to limit the speech and organizing of Labor and Anarchist thinkers entering from Europe and Latin America.

            We have never had an unlimited, entirely objective Freedom of Speech, and I place my interpretation and threshold closer to those limits on Expression and Speech as placed in contemporary Germany, with strong support for hate speech legislation as present in Canada, or within the various international treatise on Human Rights.

            I see legitimate public interest in limiting the damage hate speech causes in society; I would not, however, consider those acting as my intellectual agonists as arguing in bad faith – that would be an ad hominem charge.

          9. And, to be sure, we have ALWAYS censored speech we did not like – especially when it is in the context of a public paper written by a public university, the students of whom I would argue are public intellectuals until such a time as they graduate and enter the private sector, or otherwise cease to act in the public sphere of the university.

          10. Guest, it is plain to see you wish to convey that not all speech is protected, contrary to Gerard’s generalization of all speech being equally protected.
            However, this defense of ET’s allegations only applies if the article is, in fact, hate speech– a point that you allude several times when mentioning the debate to take place in the courtrooms and academia / where the line is drawn.
            I also don’t understand the exchange regarding Gerard’s two questions: “Do you genuinely believe that DB’s publishing of this particular article
            warrants legal repercussions or are you just arguing in bad faith? Are
            you really saying we should draw the line HERE and say newspapers
            cannot publish opinion pieces if the opinion is irrational?” And your response: “Yes”.
            While your point about some speech not being protected is relevant in regards to Gerard’s specific criticism of ET, it is moot in the general discourse if no substantive argument for why the article constitutes “hate speech” is provided.
            In addition I would be interested to hear a defense for “Yes” to the second question of whether or not “irrational” speech can be published (if that is, in fact, your assertion). I’m no expert in German or Canadian law (the closest we get to seeing where your “line” is), but I believe many forms of irrationality are still protected in those countries, as well as the U.S.A.
            Found your response to Gerard’s “ad hominem” aloof.
            Anyway, I don’t suppose it’s your responsibility to provide those arguments, and ET doesn’t have to either, but their comment carries little weight without them. Nonetheless, it is quite clear that for ET, there is no further debate, and it is time to act swiftly as agent of legal redress.

          11. You’re correct that rights are relative, and that’s a very reasonable stance, but we usually try not to censor based on the message, but rather the form of delivery it takes. To want the newspaper punished for publishing this article is PURELY censorship of the message. It was not delivered in any threatening way, any way that could possibly incite immediate lawless action, it was published online in a newspaper. And it’s political speech. This is literally the exact type of speech the first amendment was designed to protect; people giving their opinions about recent political events. See Brandenburg V. Ohio, which held that even the KKK are allowed to hold a rally as long as it doesn’t incite any lawless action, because political speech is that important.

          12. You suppose that a) I have some loyalty to the notion of political freedom as presented in the context of the U.S. Constitution, b), that I would support the judgment of the court in Bradenburg v. Ohio, over that of the court in Whitney v. California, and c), that a decision decided by two judges (Douglas and Black) who where noted First Amendment Absolutist/Literalists would sway someone who has already admitted to wanting substantially stricter limits on public speech in general, and political speech in particular.

          13. If you have no loyalty to the notion of political freedom from the constitution, then I think a free society might not be for you. I hear Russia is lovely this time of year.

          14. You are a fool,why out yourself like this. You must not keep up with new laws local and country such as the late patriot act or maybe you do because I see you used notion correctly. Your such a hypocrit pushing your ideals in coercion and oppression to have to convince them your right, when what your preaching about is the total opposite and for that you lack consistency and your ideals are flawd and implanted. Stop trying to shoot down original thoughts. In this great society you’ree sooo definitely the solutionn~

            Jc

          15. So you’re basically saying you don’t care for the first amendment and would be happy to see it gone enough society decided to start censoring speech it didn’t like?

            I wonder what would have happened if governments during the Jim Crow era started policing hate speech?

            anyone think they would have policed hate speech in an even-handed manner?

          16. Imagine if governments during the Jim Crow era censored speech it did not like.

            I wonder whose speech would have been censored.

          17. Are you for real? The first amendment is absolute. The constitution is not subject to the whims of morons. Where are you from? Oops-microagression!

          18. What criminal laws did the author break? She used facts and figures. Is that now considered racist and punishable by a public university?

          19. So apparently, speech is only okay if it fits your views? Freedom of speech be damned? Wow. Just wow.

        1. Basically, what I got out of this op-ed was deflecting an obvious act of racism (and embarassingly, and very sad to say, stereotypically within the Greek system) by saying, “Well, your group of people need to work your things out, because as a whole, you don’t have your stuff together.”

          Here’s the thing: Students of color and students from disadvantaged and disenfranchised backgrounds at a university level (including me) typically seek to address problems and improve the communities they come from. It is sad to see that others aren’t as willing to address the real problem within universities which is equitable education and exposure to the experience of peoples from these backgrounds.

          Yes, black on black violence happens. But so does white on white. And Asian on Asian. Statistics show that crimes are more likely to be committed where victim and offender are from the same community- and it makes pretty darn good sense. That’s the flipside of the author’s “availability heuristic” with media coverage and information most people receive about acts of violence.

          HOWEVER, that is beside the point. You can talk all you want about violence and crime within communities of color, but you’re not willing to talk about racism and making a mockery of people within that culture? This is the real problem we face. You talk about racism like it’s a dirty word, but you know what- racism is the norm. On the books, racism was supposed to end 50 years ago. Culturally, we’re still as racist as ever- and we’ve grown complacent about it.

          Racist stereotypes leads to ignoring individuals. Ignoring individuals makes it easier to insult them. Ignoring individuals makes it easier to paint and marginalize them. When this happens… it makes it easier to make scapegoats.

          Now that, is the danger of denying the norm of racism within our American university culture. This is the danger of dismissing these microaggressions as being innocuous. Because it creates a cycle that perpetuates oppression of groups that have faced generations of discrimination, denial, and ridicule.

          1. I totally agree with you, but I’m not sure why this is a reply to me? The comment you’re replying to is just my comment that attempting to punish the Daily Bruin for publishing this is a bad idea.

            We seem to be on the same page on how this article is wrong.

          2. What I forgot to address is this is beyond providing a voice- this op-ed is trying to silence and dismiss a movement that is trying to normalize justice and equity among everyone in the community. When you deny someone’s ability to say, “I’m offended, I’m uncomfortable with what you are doing, can you please stop?” in situations where they’re being attacked, dismissed, or ridiculed for their identity (race, gender identity, sexuality, etc.) – I think that goes beyond censorship and outside the bounds of protected speech.

          3. So, that would be a criticism of the author’s point of view, which I think is totally fair to make. But I’m defending the newspaper itself for having a right to publish opinions that are unreasonable and ignorant.

          4. It’s pretty awkward to say that though when the only actual “silencing” taking place is from commenters trying to get this article censored, regardless of its misguided conclusions.

          5. The state is not allowed to punish peaceful dismissal and ridicule of one’s identity.

            I do hear that censorship is all the rage in Germany and Saudi Arabia.

          6. Jews were oppressed for generations and don’t nearly have the same murder rates. Using “oppression” to conveniently deflect blame is such a horrible argument.

          7. Party wasn’t racist. I mean if parodying Kanye West off-limits because he’s black? Baggy clothes is racist?

        1. Here’s the thing college students: The University of California is a PUBLIC INSTITUTION. STUDENTS and TAXPAYERS pay into that system. When student populations such as the Afrikan student population at UCLA are forced to pay tuition on campus those funds cannot be used to further hate speech, further discrimination, and target students who are marginalized. In publishing this piece, Afrikan students pre-paid into the hate speech that they now have to read on UCLA’s campus. That alone is a form of violence and harassment towards the Afrikan student population.

          1. Just wanted to clarify your statement about being funded by student tuition in case it gets misconstrued:

            The Daily Bruin used to be an independent newspaper, completely funded by its own advertising revenues, until 2009. The PLEDGE referendum was passed that year and “mandated that the UCLA Communications Board (which publishes the Daily Bruin) receive $3 from each student per quarter.” – http://165.227.25.233/2012/04/17/_saving_student_media_students_should_be_able_to_choose_whether_or_not_to_financially_support_campus/

            In 2011, “funds from PLEDGE comprised 9 percent of the Daily Bruin’s operating budget.”

            So to sum it up, the Daily Bruin is not funded by student tuition. It is funded by student fees that students themselves vote on. And a majority of the Daily Bruin is funded by its own advertising revenue, not by the students.

            I only point this out because things are so easily misconstrued these days and taken out of context. Your statement implies that the entire newspaper is funded by the money students pay for their university education. That is false and misleading.

            In our present world where information is easily obtained, we’re just as easily misinformed. It’s so easy to jump to the wrong conclusions. Let’s do our research and stop the misinformation.

          2. Because it’s a public institution, the First Amendment quite definitely applies to its actions. If it were to take action against the newspaper as you suggest, should the resulting damages and legal fees a court is likely to order UCLA to pay the students they took such unconstitutional action against be taken out of the budget of the Diversity Office, possibly leading to its de-funding? That would be fair.

        1. This person is an idiot or troll or both. To think she is representative of our country is the real insult. Lets not give her any more attention.

      2. ET,
        Good for you, ET. Demand away, that’s your right in this country. What I don’t understand is why you advocate the fascist principles of censorship and McCarthyism simply because you don’t like what you hear. I could demand that you stop espousing fascist ideas but that would probably only make you scream and demand more.
        With respect to how my tax and Reg. fee dollars are managed, I’ve got a long list of line items I’d like to eliminate as well.
        Just remember #allbruinsmatter including those of us that demand free speech and assembly.

      3. man the fact that you think this is hate speech is amazingly insulting
        to people that have actually dealt with real racism. How dare you
        trivialize the struggles of others because of your paper thin
        sensibilities and clearly naive and sheltered world views. How dare you.

    2. You seem to have completely missed the author’s first point. She was asserting (quite accurately) that these partygoers were not dressing up as Kim or Kanye’s ethnic background, but that the party attire was designed to mock these two individuals specifically, not their ethnicities/cultures/races, and as such you have presented an analogy that completely fails due to its lack of comparability. The SigEp party (Kanye Western; key word Kanye) was not so much “racist” as it was a mocking of these two pop culture icons. Contrarily, the party you’ve described would indeed be termed “racist” by your defnition, because it does away with any specific mocking of any celebrity and instead focuses on a region (East Asia). I’ve placed the word “racist” in quotes as the word has completely lost its connotation in which it implies a belief of superiority/inferiority and now simply refers to anything that involves a racial stereotype, and I personally believe this devolution is completely absurd.

      Now the rest of your argument and the rest of the author’s argument I will leave alone, because all of that, due to the polar opinions, is simply good discussion.

      However, I will finish by posing a question. You say you “would take offense if someone of another race had dressed-up as [your] ethnic background.” The thing is, you do not have to. It is your choice to take offense to something that is not explicitly a personal attack on you (though even if it was a personal attack, you could still very well choose not to take it personally). You have the ability to choose to not take offense to anything. You gain nothing by doing so. So for what reason do you do it?

      1. 1. One should take offense anytime that the seeds of race superiority/inferiority are being planted at a state run institution of “higher learning” because, 2. It all starts off with benign, that’s how you get the masses to go along with bad ideas. The ASU was right to stop it before it is allow to even start. If this were a private school I’d say go ahead, encourage racial bias and making caricatures out of human beings. But when my taxes, and those of many of UCLA’s students support the school I say you don’t get to publicly encourage those things in any way.

        1. Actually, because it’s a public school, it’s governed by the first amendment which prohibits you or anyone else from dictating who can say what. You got it exactly backwards.

          1. Read my post again. I didn’t say she couldn’t say what she said did I? I am a journalist and agree with her right to free speech. However, she wrote an opinion piece not a news piece and opinions are open to critical review and in this case condemnation. What she said was ignorant and based not in truth but stereotypes. Just because you provided a few stats to support a flimsy view doen’t mean it is right and doesn’t mean she should not be confronted when she says it.

          2. I was responding to this portion of your comment, “But when my taxes, and those of many of UCLA’s students support the
            school I say you don’t get to publicly encourage those things in any
            way.”

            Perhaps English is your second language, but I interpreted that to mean UCLA is a public school, and since you pay taxes, you can censor speech you find objectionable. What did you really mean by “I say you don’t get to publicly encourage those things in any
            way”?

            Are you our benevolent dictator? May I wash your feed, as our monarch? Perhaps you are a god. Inquiring minds want to know.

          3. Again sir, go with what I said, not what you think what I said means. The thing about students these days is that you guys focus on bullet points as oppose to looking at the whole of a statement, just as the writer of this piece chose to focus on a small segment of the black community making light of an issue that is far more complicated than she can obviously wrap her head around in order to make her overly simplified and largely erroneous point.

            That said, my statement wasn’t aimed at the piece itself but at the person to whom I was responding, who’s name by the way isn’t Matt. Seeing as you obviously didn’t read enough of the thread before responding to me maybe English is your second language as well? But hey, thanks for your interest.

          4. I understood the thread. I bow your cosmic leadership – you are the ruler of what’s allowed to be said anywhere. Hail to god Iknowbest.

    3. Thank you very much Audrey Lynn for this thoughtful and well-written response.

      I hope the Caterina’s article was entirely based in sarcasm but I don’t think it was. The idea that black people have to lower the crime rate in “their” community before they will be allowed to protest all the subtle passive aggressive racist insults hurled their way is so offensive that I wanted to punch this author in the face.

    4. padding the bottoms was a jab at KIM KARDASHIAN who, last I checked, IS NOT BLACK, ergo they were mocking an INDIVIDUAL not an entire RACE.

  22. In regards to anyone getting offended by people calling this terrible article trash here’s an example of how this author is ignorant. Luckily it’s at the claim of her argument so it was easy to find! Her premise follows as “If any other race had dressed up as pop culture figures from other ethnic groups, there would absolutely not be this much uproar about it.” , a simple google search and personal insight from UC Irvine leads to these two articles about an Asian frat and somewhat diverse frat who both were under fire at this institution for performing acts such as UCLA’s Frat did.

    Phi Gamma Delta – http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/01/uc-irvine-leftists-call-fiji-frat-racist-for-fundraiser-featuring-coconut-bras-grass-skirts/

    http://www.scpr.org/blogs/news/2013/04/25/13453/uci-asian-american-fraternity-s-blackface-video-su/

    Educate yourself. @caterina_anna5

    1. The problem with your premise is that ethnic fraternities and sororities being insensitive to other groups is so rare, that these two are pretty much the only examples out there. But when it comes to white fraternities and sororities, my research shows that we can track almost YEARLY examples of racist portrayals, (typically clustered around Halloween, MLK Day, and Black History Month) going back to 1916. So she’s making a false equivalence. And if you truly want to educate yourself, then read my book, Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses when it’s published in Feb. 2016. It will give you the width and breadth of the problem. http://www.amazon.com/Blackballed-Black-Politics-Americas-Campuses/dp/125007911X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434859582&sr=1-3&keywords=Blackballed

  23. This article is example A-Z of why my money and my child both go to an HBCU our families FIRST choice. Ihave had numerous family attend and graduate UC’s including UCLA. The experiences they had varied but the constant theme was of frequently “feeling out of place and unwelcome” in the institution of higher learning that they chose to attend.

    As a parent, the 4 years of undergrad are so fleeting, why place your child in an unnecessarily hostile environment when their time should be spent focused on studies, learning about who they are, and what they are working to become without needless ignorance from other students or professors. No thanks. I am not paying my hard earned money for my child to spend even an inkling of her day thinking about or having to attempt to re-educate individuals such as the young lady who wrote this biased article. She is likely a product of the environment she was raised within, and has apparently found a fitting educational environment that supports and gives platform for such notions to be expressed in as a result somehow validated. At the expense of Bruin Students of color. I feel for each of these students. They could have been at an an HBCU where their brilliance is heralded and expected. We have a better choice!

    Invest in those vested in your future, because you are their legacy. I stand with Taraji Henson in her expressed sentiments regarding why she is sending her son to her Alma Mater, Howard University. When when I lay my head down at night, I am at peace knowing my child is safe on campus and surrounded by a diverse faculty and other students that cherish, value, believe and support her visions and goals for self. HBCU’s graduate

    HBCUs represent about 3% of colleges in the U.S. but enroll 12% of all
    Black college students and produce 23% of all Black college graduates.
    Remarkably, this small group of colleges confers 40% of all STEM degrees
    and 60% of all engineering degrees earned by Black students. They also
    educate half of the country’s Black teachers and 40% of all Black health
    professionals. And they do this with much less funding support than
    that of traditionally White institutions. 70% of African American doctors and dentists have received their
    degrees from historically black institutions. Specifically, Morehouse,
    Meharry and Howard universities have all established a strong reputation
    for graduating African-American physicians.

    A UC for grad school is fine, but let our children be children. Let them be young adults. Let them be focused on both studies and their own parties, instead of having to stand up and deal with this on their parents or their scholarships dime.

    #SupportHBCUs #OurFamiliesFirstChoice #MyMoneyAndMyCHildBothGoToAnHBCU #ChooseBetter #BlackBruinsMatter

  24. Catarina, when I was your age, I was also a conservative. I didn’t know anything about the world expect what my parents and privileged surroundings told me to believe. Over time, however, after living, after experiencing troubles of my own and living among real people amidst real struggles, I began to see more clearly. Your brand of race politics is founded on an overly-simplistic and reductive perspective of the world, one that is skewed and sheltered. While many of the comments here might be jarring and offensive to you, understand that beneath them is the worthwhile message that you have not reached your time to speak about race. You need to grow and live. Come back in a few years after spending time around people with whom you’ve never spent time with, and then give your thoughts again.

  25. “First year” as in ….she’s a freshman. So I’m going to just chalk this up to immaturity and ignorance. As a CHICANA who was a former President of a BSU at a Cal State School, her comments about dividing the races cant be further from the truth. And how is she going to talk about racism being rare???? When has she ever seen first hand the level of discrimination Black people face. My daughter’s father is Black. My daughter is Black. Trust me…it’s not as rare as she thinks.

  26. Why do people always feel the need to discredit one problem by addressing another? Gun control’s not the problem, mental illness is. They’re BOTH problems. Black on black violence is a problem, of course it is. Just as any other problem is. But so is what happened at Sig Ep. Black on black on violence has nothing to do with the problem being discussed and you’re trying to divert necessary discussion towards another issue that has already been discussed before. None of the ideas you have posed are of any originality and have already been used before. Why recycle arguments already used by Fox News during Ferguson and the Baltimore riots? Clearly nothing came of those arguments, and nothing will, because all it does is stagnate the issues by diverting people’s attention to another issue. You work on solving black on black violence, while others work on addressing racism at UCLA. Keep your arguments elsewhere.

  27. From my blog post here: https://chrisjtang.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/dear-ucla-we-need-to-learn-to-listen/

    Dear UCLA, We Need to Learn to Listen

    There was one thing that I
    couldn’t get out of my head after reading freshman Caterina
    Kachadoorian’s thoughts about the response to the Kanye Western party at
    UCLA last week: we need to learn as a campus about how to listen to and
    learn from fellow bruins who are hurting.

    We need to learn how
    to have compassion. When black students share their hurt and
    disappointment with something like the Kanye Western party, too often we
    respond with the way we see things, and more often than not, it’s
    usually accompanied with some kind of criticism about how incorrect we
    think the black point of view is. But there’s an issue with this
    because we are implicitly saying that we understand the black point of
    view when in reality, many of us don’t.

    Almost 100% of the time,
    our responses are shaped by our experiences, and our experiences are
    shaped by our privilege (or lack of) in our society. Those of us in the
    majority who have certain privileges have a hard time imagining what
    life is like without these privileges because we don’t know anything
    else. In my case, I’m a Chinese-American, heterosexual, male,
    Christian, resident assistant, sociology major, fourth-year
    undergraduate at UCLA, and every part of my identity has shaped my
    experiences up to this point, so it’s a challenge for me to try to
    understand what life is like for someone who does not share the same
    identity as me. Put this way, it’s pretty obvious that this is a huge
    challenge for all of us, especially on a campus that advocates for
    diversity as much as UCLA does. But in reality, we are far from
    acknowledging the extent that this challenge affects our everyday
    interactions with people who are different from us.

    Let me
    illustrate this with the example of mental health. On our campus, we
    are getting better at recognizing the pain in things that maybe 10 or 20
    years ago, people wouldn’t have been taking as seriously, such as
    depression, anxiety, and mental wellness. If someone tells us that they
    are depressed, most of us wouldn’t respond with “What do you mean you
    feel depressed? You have so much to be happy about. You’re at UCLA,
    you have your whole life ahead of you. Get happy.” We are starting to
    understand that depression isn’t something that you can just snap
    yourself out of or think happy thoughts and have it all go away. We
    understand that those of us who have had the privilege of never having
    to fight significant depression will never fully understand the
    experience of our fellow bruins who are deeply depressed.

    This is
    an awesome area of advancement for our campus and society in regards to
    mental health, but this level of compassion and understanding goes out
    the window with matters of oppression and race. When students in the
    minority come to the rest of the campus and tell us about the ways that
    they have felt emotionally and, at times, physically hurt, our first
    response is usually to get defensive and tell them why we think they’re
    wrong. Isn’t there something wrong with that? We’re implicitly saying
    that their pain isn’t real, that what they feel is invalid because we
    can’t see the campus or the world the way they see it. We don’t treat
    these situations with even remotely the same degree of compassion as we
    treat other issues like mental health. We don’t have that same posture
    of acknowledging that we lack understanding of where people are coming
    from or what they’re experiencing.

    Instead of invalidating their
    pain, why can’t our response be to listen and learn about it? Why can’t
    the first things we say be: “I am so sorry that you feel so hurt by
    what has happened. I care about you and your wellbeing, but I have no
    idea what any of this feels like or what it means to be a black bruin.
    Can you help me understand where you’re coming from? Could you show me
    what it’s like to be a black student at UCLA, in Los Angeles, in
    America?”

    I think this is something that we all need to learn,
    regardless of whether we agree or disagree with whatever hurt people are
    experiencing. We need to grow as Bruins in listening and understanding
    issues before we use our voices to share our thoughts about them. This
    isn’t just for race, this goes for all issues: race, gender, sexuality,
    socioeconomic class, sustainability, safety, immigration, politics,
    etc.

    And then, after we’ve spent some time learning, (in the case
    of racism that our fellow black bruins experience, they’ve been
    experiencing this for 18-22 years of their lives while we might have
    learned about it just recently, so it’ll take some time) then and only
    then should we feel like we are in a place to say something about it.
    And if after fully learning about and engaging with the plight of black
    people in the US from the times of slavery and Jim Crow all the way
    until the current day and age of the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration,
    we still think that black people shouldn’t be upset or hurt, then
    that’s our prerogative to think that way, but it would be completely
    unloving to still dismiss someone’s feelings. And I’m willing to bet
    big money on the fact that if we were to all really sit in and fully
    learn about the strife of black bruins, there would be no denying the
    reality of racism on this campus and in our country.

    And lastly,
    to Caterina, thank you for using your voice and sharing your opinion.
    Thank you for standing up for something that you feel strongly about.
    I am certain that you had good intentions and meant well with your
    submission, but, as a fellow bruin who is not black, I urge you to take
    up the challenge of learning from our fellow black bruins and seeing if
    that changes your opinions and thoughts. If you’re down to take on the
    challenge of learning, I and a few of my friends would love to help you
    out in that process. I’m part of a group called InterVarsity Bruin
    Christian Fellowship, which is a multiethnic fellowship and home to
    Black Campus Ministries, one of the largest black student groups on
    campus, and I and a few of the members of my fellowship would love to
    sit down with you sometime over coffee and we could just chat and learn
    from each other. Swipes on me (like I said, I’m an RA and I’m
    definitely living that 19P life).

    1. If white students feel offended about the movie White Chicks, should we ban that from campus? Why the double standard?

  28. I have sent this letter to the Office of Internal Affairs. I have demanded an investigation into the Daily Bruin to determine how this hate speech was published. I have requested an internal investigation and firing of the staff member that allowed this hate and discrimination to be published.
    Here’s the email: diversity@mednet.ucla.edu
    Follow up so that immediate action is taken. Ensure that the University of California takes a public stance against racism and lives up to its values.

  29. I wonder how many people actually care about this. I mean, if you asked all the students, “Was this party offensive? Was it okay?” would 75% of people say offensive, and 25% non-offensive, or would it be the other way around? I’m legitimately curious, because I think it would be the other way around.

      1. The poll could parse responses by race, but your presumption that some opinions are more important than others, depending on their race is an interesting window into your world view.

        It would be unfair to discount opinions of black students just because they are black just as it would to discount non-black students just because they are non-black.

        We can agree that different people can have different perspectives on a topic. But it’s disheartening to have you essentially argue that we shouldn’t ask a question of all students – as if their views are irrelevant.

        1. The party’s theme was centered around a black man and stereotypes of black culture, so the opinions of the actual black community do matter more. Having the opinions of those who don’t care or even understand the issue is nice, but like FBI stats on murder when we’re discussing appropriation and racism- are irrelevant.

          1. Kardashian is not black the last time I checked. Having a big butt that she actively promotes doesn’t make her black either.

            As for the “black man” his music was being lampooned, and isn’t the term “gold digger” somewhat misogynist? So his speech is beyond criticism and mockery, cuz…… I can’t figure that one out. You’ll have to explain it to me.

            In the end what I think you’re saying is because some black students mistakenly or willfully misinterpreted the party, they get a bigger say.

            This reminds me of the David Howard “niggardly” dust up where a city official was required to resign for using a word that exceeded the vocabularies of some oversensitive colleagues.

      2. Wouldn’t it? UCLA has, what, 40,000 students? At 4%, that’s 1600 black students. I doubt that all 1600, or hopefully even 1000 of them, would find this offensive. Then you have, you know, all the other ethnicities too. Another article said that 200 people (half a percent of the student body) came out to protest the party, which leads me to believe this whole thing is overblown.

  30. Caterina, just because something isn’t illegal (this old document says it’s okay! yes!) doesn’t mean there are any good reasons to do something. I think other commenters sum up other concerns, but don’t fall back on the age-old Constitution crutch to support a hateful opinion.

  31. The idea that because black-on-black crime is a problem, this somehow lessens the right of the Afrikan Student Union to take issue with a different problem is absurd. That’s akin to saying that because heart disease kills more Americans each year than car accidents, Americans need to stop trying to make the roads safer until heart disease stops being the biggest problem. The logic makes no sense.

    1. The Afrikan Student Union would do more to save black lives by protesting against the Bloods and the Crips than protesting against the police.

      1. There are 2 problems with that attitude:
        1. It’s just false. The police are a governmental organization and as such, protests can get policy changes implemented. The bloods and crips are criminal gangs. Protests will not move them into action in the slightest. It doesn’t even make sense to protest gangs.

        2. Even if it were true that there’s a solution that could save more lives (protesting gangs), the ASU doesn’t have to do that in order to have the right to protest this action. You don’t have to be working on the BIGGEST problem at all times, see my above example.

  32. Opinion writers must really love the view from that high horse, telling others what they should or shouldn’t be offended by. What other non sequiturs will this author point out to tell us what issues we should “actually care about”?

  33. In the 80s “theme parties” were banned, and back then it was Mecha and its Third World Coalition allies protesting. 30 years later and the only question that i have is when was the moratorium lifted? Cultural Marxism. Really? As a Black Bruin alumnus its shameful to see that these kinds of incidents are being defended instead of denounced. However, im not surprised knowing the history of the Daily Bruin.

  34. This is by far the most ignorant and racist post I have ever seen published by the daily bruin. To read this makes me genuinely ashamed of my alumni university.

  35. At first, I was super furious with this article. As a black student, there has been so much negative news around campus and frankly, no one seems to care except black students and allies to black students here. As the hours went by, this has become more hilarious. This article is so ignorant and ridiculous, like Republican debate ignorant, that it’s pretty funny! It really shows how out of touch some people are here when it comes to racism on campus. This article actually hurts SigEp and AlphaPhi. Thanks karma and baby Jesus!

  36. Wow. The comments below illustrate how low intellectual discourse has fallen at UCLA.

    With a few exceptions, the commenters complain about racism without stating how this is racist. There are calls for censorship, without demonstrating how this column meets the first amendment exception tests. There is the repeated statement by ET about his or her demand that the administration step in, demonstrating a lack of intellectual and personal agency.

    While it’s easy to shout “racist”, that does nothing to further a dialog and persuade those who aren’t already in agreement with your position. That approach doesn’t hold water outside of the protected enclaves of your own echo chambers.

  37. As a student at UCLA who is concerned with racial matters, I ask the
    Afrikan Student Union to use their voice and their standing within the
    community to address issues that are more prevalent, like the quality of
    education and the proliferating rates of crime within the African
    American community. Use your group platform to go and help the future
    African American generation succeed. Encourage children to get an
    education and avoid crime. But most of all, help them be proud of who
    they are inside and out.

    WISH I WAS BOLD ENOUGH TO SPEAK TRUTH LIKE THIS AT MY ALMA MATER!

    1. What is more prevalent today than cultural appropriation, social injustice, racial profiling, and lack of representation on campus? All of which lead to an increasingly cultural alienation on campus given what is perceived as s hostile environment. Unfortunately,many of you are in denial that these conditions exist because you are blinded by your oen white priviledge, and thats putting it mildly.

  38. Reading this piece has left me very frightened about the willful ignorance of students like this writer. Research indicates that prolonged exposure to microaggressions (like this letter) and racist acts (like the party) cause emotional harm impacting the health and well-being for black folx. Emotional harm that also impacts learning…

    Also, UCLA Chancellor, Gene D. Block said publicly that he was shocked by the party and its promotion of “exaggerated racial stereotypes”. This party was beyond “mildly inappropriate” and it is this letter that is in fact “absolutely outlandish and ignorant”–not the Afrikan Student Union. The Daily Bruin might want to read the Chancellor’s words directly (see below) before putting out this embarrassing drivel completely void on cultural context.

    Oh, and you may also want to check in with the Institute of American Cultures–right on your very campus–for a break-down on why this letter and the publishing of it are beyond problematic. I’m including the institutes email since it looks like the editor of the Bruin had a hard time looking it up: ACcoordinator@conet.ucla.edu

    UCLA Office of the Chancellor

    To the Campus Community:

    Last week, in a letter to all students, I noted that UCLA is not immune
    to bias. We all must treat one another with compassion and
    understanding, being sensitive to the hopes and fears of others and
    remembering how we can hurt each other at our worst but heal each other
    at our best.

    This week, a
    fraternity and a sorority jointly threw a “Kanye West”-themed party that
    included some people dressing up as exaggerated racial stereotypes.
    This left many African-American students feeling mocked and
    disrespected. Even if that was not the intent of the partygoers, it
    should not have been hard to foresee that this would be the reaction.
    This was poor judgment and I, too, was offended. Everyone at UCLA is
    smart enough to think more carefully about the impact of their actions.

    Yesterday, the newest member of my top administration, Vice Chancellor
    for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang, eloquently and
    passionately represented the university at a rally about this incident.
    He will continue to speak on these matters and he has my full support as
    he leads our efforts to ensure UCLA is a welcoming and respectful
    environment for all.

    I urge you to listen to his powerful remarks from the rally as well as his appearance on KCRW-FM last night.

    A community is defined by the care and the choices made by all who are
    in it. As you go through the year, I urge you to think carefully about
    the choices you make and how they will impact the community we all live
    in — the community we build together.

    Sincerely,
    Gene D. Block
    Chancellor

    1. You have yet to show that microaggressions actually exist.

      The evidence that microaggressions exist is as numerous as the evidence that perfect cuboids exist.

  39. As one person who has experienced 50+ years of life, I would like to comment on an important aspect of your college (millenial) generation. Frankly your all self-absorbed, selfish brats whose only thought is what’s in this for me. Your constant search for “micro-aggressions”, “triggers”, etc. so you can claim to be “offended” is nothing more than an extension of your selfie-snapping, fame seeking mentality. Grow up and get over yourself. Despite what your parents told you your not that important in the scheme of things. Caterina offered a bit of wisdom in her op-ed that I will repeat as valuable advice. Start focusing on how you can help the broader community around you. Not by protesting or espousing points of view. That’s to easy. How about helping actual people in need by going to them through local organizations including your local churches, food banks, rescue missions, local community outreach programs, etc. Start thinking outside of yourself and about how you can personally impact another person by being involved with them in their daily walk through this life. It’s hard work but it is rewarding in the self-respect it generates. Get off your butts and go experience real life as people are living it, not by looking at it from the ivory tower. Do this and then, maybe, you will understand what is really important.

    1. With all that “experience,” how do you still not know the difference between your and you’re?

    2. “your [sic] all self-absorbed, selfish brats”
      This unilateral dismissal of an entire generation makes me think yours was not much better. You should read into the ASU’s other activities. Kachadoorian should have as well.

      1. Let me be more clear. if you read the entire comment you might realize that I am calling into question those individuals who constantly search for ways to be offended in order to claim victimhood. They feel that gives them a right to a platform to protest and whine about how they feel. The reality is all of that protesting and whining changes nothing in the real world. Responding to perceived or actual prejudices/insults with hate and vitriol only serves to make YOU feel better. If you want to accomplish a true change of heart on the other side, respond with love. Love is the answer, not hate.

  40. Ms. Kachadoorian, Would you be ok with a group of Turkish students hosting a keeping up with the Kardashians party and wearing costumes that emulated and made fun of Armenian culture?

    The slave trade and the denigration of black communities was a form of genocide. As Halloween approaches, you will also see Native American communities organizing to end the wearing of their culture as a costume. Also, they are organizing to end the use of their spiritual images as sports mascots. I recommend you have a conversation with some of the people who were offended and hurt by this party to learn more about our history and context to better understand why we would find this offensive. These types of parties and displays cause real pain, and require real action of the campus to help educate people like you.

    Bringing up violent crime outside of UCLA has nothing to do with this issue, and also shows that you are not aware of the work the Afrikan Student Union is already doing for the community.

  41. For the record, this is not a free speech or first amendment issue. If it were im sure the administration would have been sued when it imposed a moratorium on similar theme parties in 1985. Free speech does not give any organization the right to violate the university’s Code of Conduct which regulates such organizations.

    1. The Code of Conduct can no more impose content-based restrictions on speech than it can require attending Catholic Mass on Easter Sunday.

      1. What i spoke to was a de facto moratorium imposed by the university in 1985 and i asked a question regarding when it was lifted. If you cant answer the questioin please refrain from replying to me with out of context remarks. As i stated before, this is not a free speech issue. Its an issue of appropriate or inappropriate student CONDUCT.

  42. This is a very much expected  ignorant opinion of white privilege
    Everytime Afr!cans/Blacks refuse to tolerate white racism, white wannabe intellectuals attempt to condemn those who dont accept the disrespect & justify the racists’ right to engage in their behavior

    As far as the detraction to the issues in Afr!can/Black Communities this also illustrates the ignorance in this opinion as to the Root of many of those problems stemming from systematic white supremacy

    This is why white ucla students engaging in this type of behaviour must be called out & confronted as many of these same students are now training to move forward into positions in society where they may further engineer their positions of white superiority which the World is now condemning

    Billion GODSun
    BLAction365.com

        1. You have to be more specific than that. Did she receive this privilege from UCLA? The LAPD? The U.S. Department of Education?

          Which person, this organization, provided where with this white privilege, and what is the nature of this privilege?

          1. This is why many of you should refrain from jumping in conversations of racism until you gain a more thorough understanding
            You either dont understand that racism itself & white privilege are both systematic

            All of the institutions you questioned have played a role in addition to the environment of her upbringing, mass media, etc.

            One of the aspects is white privilege cultivates false beliefs that disrespect & disregard for People of Color is acceptable

          2. The privilege to disrespect others comes from the First Amendment. Since the First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S., it is not white privilege.

          3. Your eagerness to argue is exposing your ignorance to the true nature of how business is conducted

            1st Amendment Rights on paper are granted to “All” but in practice it is granted or denied by whomever is in a position of power to do so

            The True Narrative of the Afr!can/Black experience is controlled, edited, silenced by those who make executive decisions

            This is why you consistently get non Blacks attempting to speak on whats goin on in Communities they’v never been to

            More specifically you rarely see, if ever, an Afr!can author writing on how white or any other people should or should not handle or even feel about business that is exclusive to that group of people

            The pathological conditioning of white privilege is what you cant comprehend

            The fact that you’r even putting this much energy into this matter expresses the base nature behind imperialism

            Narcissists who feel obligated to dictate to other People what they should or should not do in affairs that dont concern them

          4. The True Narrative of the Afr!can/Black experience is controlled, edited, silenced by those who make executive decisions

            By who, and how so?

            More specifically you rarely see, if ever, an Afr!can author writing on how white or any other people should or should not handle or even feel about business that is exclusive to that group of people

            So what is stopping them from doing so?

            The fact that you’r even putting this much energy into this matter expresses the base nature behind imperialism

            Is not humanity imperialist?

            Narcissists who feel obligated to dictate to other People what they should or should not do in affairs that dont concern them

            They are just exercising their First Amendment rights.

          5. 1st Amendment Right or not the act of trying to impose others vs their W!ll is a social ill which is ONLY tolerated when it is done vs People of Color

            On 1 hand the author claims white kids had a 1st Amendment Right to carry out their kanye western

            However the same author criticizes Afr!can/Black Students for using Their 1st Amendment Right to Object to bein disrespected!

            HYPOCRISY!
            WHITE PRIVILEGE!

          6. That is not white privilege. She was disagreeing with the Afrikaner Student Union, as is her right.

            Just as it was their right to disagree with the Kanye West theme party.

          7. White privilege stems from all the institutions you listed & then some
            It is conditioned in the environments people grow up in, mass media etc.

            One of the aspects of white privilege cultivates the idea that disrespect & disregard for People of Color is tolerable

          8. You claimed that the author received white privilege from UCLA. What are these white privileges that UCLA gave her?

          9. “One of the aspects of white privilege cultivates the idea that disrespect & disregard for People of Color is tolerable”

            The idea that disrespecting People of Color is to be tolerated

          10. The state can not punish mere disrespect of People of Color.

            Neither does it , nor could it, require tolerance, let alone acceptance, of such disrespect.

            Thus, there is no privilege in this context, let alone that exclusive for white people.

          11. Stay focused!
            UCLA is not the state
            It is an institution of the state

            When one talks about the invalidity of those who call themselves jews not truely bein the real jews, they get BLACKLISTED & censured from publicly speakin in many venues

            When People speak vs anything that is not popular to white culture they are condemned & ostracized to different degrees

            Yet white People, such as donald trump & many others, can repeatedly use popular platforms to offend whomever they choose w/out consequence

            This is white privilege!
            Yeah the constitution claims equalities for all but in 2015 this is still not the case in practice

            Regardless of what the laws say white people know they can do pretty much whatever they choose to a Black Person w/out any real accountability

            Thats why zimmermonkey felt confortable stalking Trayvon & then k!lling him
            This is why the racist p!g who k!lled Walter Scott thought he could plant a weapon & get away w/ murder

            This society which was created by & continues to be engineered by white sociopaths cultivates a pathology in white people that they are superior to all other races & breeds a sense of privilege over non whites that they can disrespect, disregard, rape, exploit & even murder non whites w/out consequence

          12. UCLA is not the stateIt is an institution of the state

            As an institution of the state, it can not force acceptance or tolerance of disrespect any more than it can forbid disrespect per se.

            When one talks about the invalidity of those who call themselves jews not truely bein the real jews, they get BLACKLISTED & censured from publicly speakin in many venues

            The law does not require such blacklisting.

            When People speak vs anything that is not popular to white culture they are condemned & ostracized to different degrees

            There are hundreds of millions of people.

            Of course some of them would disagree.

            Yet white People, such as donald trump & many others, can repeatedly use popular platforms to offend whomever they choose w/out consequence

            What sort of consequences are you writing about? Last time I checked, plenty of people disagree with Trump. People are still free to express offense, as you are doing right now.

            This society which was created by & continues to be engineered by white sociopaths cultivates a pathology in white people that they are superior to all other races & breeds a sense of privilege over non whites that they can disrespect, disregard, rape, exploit & even murder non whites w/out consequence

            What are interracial rape rates?

          13. At this point you’re simply arguing for the sake of arguing

            You keep referring to what the state and/or law does or does not do

            The Day to Day reality of business, politics, social interaction is not restricted to laws, policies etc.
            Laws set a precedent to be followed & a means to address issues after the fact

            However History shows Us many of the same white people who draft these laws neither obey them & use them as a means to control others

            What you continue to ignore, evade, deny is the fact People’s pathologies & in turn their behaviors are cultivated through many other influences besides laws

            It is illegal to unjustifiably take a Human’s life but the same officer’s who are authorized to protect people have lately become the main abusers of this basic Human Right

            Why!?
            Because of their PATHOLOGY which has NO regard for a Person’s Life, especially one of an Afr!can/Black Person

            This is the similar pathology that has been cultivated in white people in general in regards to non white people

            Until you can grasp that any further back n forth W!ll be fruitless

          14. Until you grasp that you’re a pu$$y and that you’re not a special snowflake, people in the real world will still not give a sh*t. In the real world no one is concerned with “microagressions”. Get a life and get a job.

  43. Why limit yourself too only the past three years and why only criminal activity? What about drunk drivers? Before the abolition of slavery, what was the percentages then? Further back let’s say the Congo genocide? The fact of the matter, or essentially as you put it, is that you can’t just down play something serious as rampant racism as well as indirect racism by using such vocabulary as “triggered” a word that has been so overused that holds no true value, reacted fits this bill as for the run around with “go fix yourselves” is outright embarrassing. The struggle and hardships the community has gone through is unfathomable, you must understand this, just to have a situation like this trying to be swept under the rug? I wouldn’t see it like all of a sudden they are trying to attack your freedoms, merely defend what the community has worked so hard to acomplish. For every action has its reaction the as of late frat and soro could have thought that one through.

    Peace and love
    J.c

  44. Brilliant letter. As a professor, I’m pleased to see not every student is following the herd and believing every accusation groups like ASU throw around to gain publicity and sow the seeds of division. There was absolutely NOTHING RACIST about this party. ASU posted 10 pictures and none showed any racism. If there is any justice, ASU should be sued for slander. I would certainly do that if my picture was used in such a malicious way to harm my reputation.

    1. I’m genuinely surprised a professor would laud this op ed piece as brilliant. Nowhere near every student believes what the ASU is claiming. The summarizes a common rebuttal from partygoers and other concerned students (i know because I asked). She then finishes with a misguided suggestion for the ASU that makes me question her knowledge. What brilliance am I missing here?

      1. I don’t work at UCLA so I don’t know the culture there. I agree by the end she went a little astray. This OpEd should have been about how this party wasn’t racist and how quick people were to accuse and tarnish reputations. ASU is not obligated to fix every problem in the African American community, but should be careful in their accusations.

  45. Everyone is blowing this way out of proportion. Caterina is right. If a party happened where people dressed up as Asians or white people, NO ONE WOULD CARE. If there was a Japanese themed party where black and white people wore kimonos and put chopsticks in their hair, would you guys really take offense to that?

    People paint their skin colors for performances. Is that racist too?

    What happened to freedom of speech and expression? Why is everyone attacking Caterina? Why isn’t she entitled to her opinion?

    Quit being so sensitive.

    1. There is a comment above that provides some examples of when people in fact *do* care. Just because you are apathetic does not mean the rest of us are oversensitive.

      1. So are you saying themed parties should not exist because they would all be considered racist? Are you saying non Asian people aren’t allowed to put chopsticks in their hair and wear kimonos? Are you saying Halloween shouldn’t exist because if I dressed up as Kanye West I would be offending everyone?

        I’m not apathetic towards racism. I know it exists. You guys are all being oversensitive about this. They weren’t being racist. They were just dressing up.

    2. I really LOL’d when I read this. Black people (the ones I know) do not participate in these sort of parties where they dress up as other people’s cultures. We have a hard enough time dealing with our own identity. A Japanese party? I’m sure you’ve participate in something like this. Also, as a performance artist (who was also educated at NYU Tisch/Performance Studies), I can give you a bunch of reading materials that will deconstruct your entire argument. I mean, decimate! The way I see it, Caterina attacked (opinions-freedom of speech) and now, we’re dealing with the reaction (more opinions-more FoS).

          1. You went there, really? I suppose we can bring up Triumph of the Will as an example of how female directors support fascism in modern times?

  46. DB, YOU DID NOT!!!!

    this sounds like an angry, confused Facebook status!!!

    my questions:

    why did DB let this happen?!

    are these her feelings or the thoughts of someone else?!

    1. Also, as a past ASU staff member (2009-10, Administrative Coordinator), the op-ed title: Afrikan Student Union should focus on problems within the Black community is unnecessary to demand because that’s the main objective of the organization. We ARE the Afrikan Student Union so what other issues would we be working on?! The protest/rally following the racial incident is in direct reaction to that attack on the community. As a result, the community clapped back.

  47. I’m embarrassed and disappointed that the Daily Bruin gave a platform to this ignorance. This writer shows a complete lack of understanding of how racism works and just how grave and unacceptable racism is at UCLA.

  48. Are all of you bighead pseudo-intellectual critical thinkers (what a paradox!) proud of yourself? So you really like to insult, threaten, shut up dialogue and break sincere, pure and well intentioned heart like Caterina! What don’t you like about her piece? Her call to factual reality or her message to disregard self pitying and silly parties in order to get to work on the serious issues she is just as concerned as any Americans? Take a good look at yourself! Here you had a chance to recognize the pure voice of logic and unspoiled common sense of a very sensitive and intelligent person that has indeed been discriminated herself many times in her young life and could not conceive racism in a million years and …YOU BLEW IT!!! What a bunch of self-serving, pompous, empty narcissistic heads you are! She gave you a chance to see through your thick stereotypes and indoctrination and, of course, YOU BLEW IT! Hers was a taste of factual reality and spontaneous care that came about after been verbally attacked and spat on while walking on campus with a fellow student just because she was white while the protesters hanging by were black. It was a wake up call to help all of you refocus the attention on the bigger issues other than silly parties. Now on top of the spitting and the verbal discriminating attack, she has been verbally assaulted, insulted and threatened for brilliantly and innocently listing facts and speaking the truth! YOU made her cry, YOU scared her , YOU want her shut up, and YOU broke the trust she had in her new campus experience! CONGRATULATIONS you petulant MINUS-HABENS! I have only this reminder for you: “VERBA VOLANT, SCRIPTA MANENT”. I advise you to be very careful with your verbal assaults, insults and threats because everything is documented together with the spit. That “old paper” called the Constitution is very much at work here and some of you better remember it.

  49. Caterina, thank you for showing some courage. Your article made sense to me for the first three paragraphs. It was nice that you acknowledge that the party may have “triggered” some people. It seems that discussing new-ish theories such as social Marxism and micro-aggression in a student newspaper has given many particles of opinion to over-analyze — as it has and always will.
    You lost me when you started to opine on what black people should give attention to. Asking black people at UCLA to address national black on black crime and murder statistics is akin to asking me to address bigotry in South Carolina. Frankly, I don’t care to; it’s not my responsibility.
    I respect those students who chose to defend Kanye and what he represents to them.I personally don’t see how that automatically should be extended to black people or “black culture”. I am also sensitive to anyone who was upset by or “triggered” by the event. With this awareness, one can look at the personal sources of those triggers. It’s the “experts” and participating in protests that can heighten those trigger effects.
    Oh, and I am thankful that it wasn’t a Taylor Swift Western party, because I think she’s over-rated and a little too sweet.

  50. the reality is that the reason why white people resort to subtle and passive aggressive ways of attacking black people is because they can no longer physically attack them, hang them, put them in slavery etc. all the things whites used to do to blacks.

    ” in the old days we’d hang these n words from a tree. We can’t do that anymore but let’s attack them as best as we’re allowed via some passive aggressive tactics like throwing a party that we hope will trigger them and hurt their feelings. Who knows it might even cause them to be distracted, get sad, get angry, all of which would cause them to perform less well at school, which would be hurt their life which is what we were trying to do all along anyway. We can’t lynch them anymore, but let’s emotionally cripple them via all these little passive aggressive triggers so that we can hurt them as much a society will allow us to . Oh and if they protest in any way, tell them to fix the murder rate in their community ”

    F&$k y#&.Caterina

  51. Its a Good thing the ASU broke up that “Kanye Western”
    white frat parties tend to have a lot of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, incidents of date rape & spreading of venereal diseases
    Who knows w/ all the college shootings happening lately the ASU may have prevented another school masacre

  52. Let’s just keep the façade that black neighbors hoods are not the most violent places in America, and businesses don’t open there because white folk be racist. Let’s keep the spotlight of the violence. Let’s not talk about the fatherless epidemic.

  53. Firstly I can agree with the author on one thing. This issue is blown way out of proportion. However I am disappointed to see yet another attempt to redirect the frustration of the African American community away from institutions and back onto itself. It was instiutional racism and its subsequent tolerance of racist behavior that precipitated this oversensitivity in the first place. The clearest target for scrutiny and easiest avenue to effect change is both now and historically a direct engagement of organizations (even if it may be overkill in this case).

    Suggesting that the ASU (Afrikan Studion Union) focus its efforts on black crime and education sounds more like a callous dismissal than an empathetic suggestion. The ASU is a UCLA student organization which means it is naturally concerned with issues affecting the students here. Although it also aims to serve the community at large, rebuking perceived microagressions seems to be a significant priority alongside the nationwide criminal issue.

    Are these crime statistics a more important issue? Certainly. But the countless organizations and persistent effort of individuals (some of which are in the ASU) whom are fighting socio-economic inequality, disproportionate policing, and deficiencies in urban education don’t garner the same media buzz as a protest about racism. The author is scandalously naive in her criticism of the “availabile heuristic” by undercutting her own narrative with the same flaw. She is recognizing the sensational protests and ignoring the ASU’s hard work in the areas she suggest they focus.

    1. She knows what the ASU does and she commends them for focusing on those issues. The reason why she chose to use those statistics (which she also realizes are a bit of a non sequitur) is because she felt like if she didn’t have any empirical evidence to back up her claim (that there are issues within due to the fact that African American communities are basically indentured servants to the government), that she would be attacked even more for not providing any concrete evidence. But Gabriel, thank you for being one of the only ones that didn’t attack her morale, didn’t threaten her, and actually provided a respectful argument.
      -from a friend

    2. The thing is, there was no racism to protest. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian were the people being mocked, not any ethnic group in general.

  54. “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

    Voltaire

  55. So now we have people on campuses arguing for the censorship of notable feminists, such as Germaine Greer.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/world/europe/cardiff-university-rejects-bid-to-bar-germaine-greer.html

    For those saying only those who are have no academic value to add to a discussion deserve no protection, it’s clear that the social justice censors don’t care about that either. Greer’s speech had nothing to do with her past thoughts on transgender women.

    Welcome to the new age at schools – if you don’t like the speaker, they should be allowed to speak.

  56. Woooooooooooow your insensitivity and pompous arrogance toward a race you know nothing about is remarkable. Until you have walked in a persons shoes, be careful…..

    p.s. You watch Fox News don’t you? It figures. That’s who told you about Black on Black crime? You are aware that the media CHOOSES the strories they highlight. And they do so for a reason. Have you ever lived one week in a Black community? Didn’t think so. So until you have, kindly STFU.

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