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Campus bigots' racist stunts

By Nicole Colson | February 27, 2004 | Page 2

COLLEGE REPUBLICANS at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island found a disgusting way to mock Black History month. The bigots decided to hand out a whites-only scholarship.

The $250 "Students of Non-Color Scholarship" called for applicants to be of Caucasian descent, write an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and provide a recent picture to "confirm whiteness." "Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," the application said.

College Republican President Jason Mattera smirked that this particular line was a "joke," but that the scholarship itself was a serious attempt to highlight the "disparity on college campuses" where "those who come from white (descent) are left to find scholarships on their own."

What a hypocrite! Mattera himself is of Puerto Rican descent--and received a $5,000 scholarship from the Hispanic College Fund. Disgustingly, Mattera claims that since the controversy erupted, the College Republicans have received donations and pledges of $4,000 for more "whites-only" awards in the future.

This award is the latest in a series of anti-affirmative action stunts pulled by college conservatives. In Texas, California, New York and Washington state, students have held "affirmative action bake sales," where brownies or cookies were offered at reduced prices to whites.

Affirmative action was a direct result of the civil rights movement's successful effort to force the federal government to recognize the systematic racism that thrived in U.S. society. Now, the bigots want to turn back the clock--by targeting affirmative action.

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