New Mexico college bake sale charged prices based on race
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KRQE) – A group of students at the University of New Mexico put on a bake sale Thursday afternoon, charging students based on their race.
They served up baked goods with a message not everyone wanted to hear.
“The sign is supposed to be racist because it’s showcasing what affirmative action means,” William Witt said.
Witt and the rest of the group are part of the youth conservative national organization known as Turning Point USA. On its website, the organization states its mission is to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.”
Individual chapters are popping up at universities across the country. Witt is a field director for the organization, but he’s not a student at UNM. However, he helped the small group of UNM students, who identify with the organization, coordinate the bake sale.
“We want to educate people on what is going on with affirmative action on their campuses,” Witt said. “Certain groups get different opportunities than other groups and we believe it doesn’t give equal opportunity.”
So, the group drew a parallel between Thursday’s bake sale, that having different standards for minorities out in the real world is as ridiculous as having minorities pay different prices for muffins.
The sign read, “Asians $1.50, Caucasians $1.00, African American and Hispanics $0.50”
“We had tons of people who wanted to have great conversations, but once people start yelling, destroying stuff and breaking everything on the table, it makes it tough to have good discussions,” Witt said.
Some students started to gather around the bake sale, just to watch.
“I think they were getting at the unfairness to Asian Americans and whites in this country, which I don’t agree with but that’s their opinion,” Benedict Talley said.
However, not everyone felt that way. Some students said the group was targeting minorities and programs on campus for them.
According to Witt, the group set up the bake sale around 11 a.m. By 1:30 p.m., some students who didn’t agree with the group’s message started to get rowdy.
“The people that I was with decided that they were hiding their bigotry and prejudice behind their civility, and we decided that our voice was going to be louder than theirs,” Ryan Sindon said. “We exercised our free speech to the point where they felt that they needed to leave.”
UNM said the students with Turning Point USA are not an official group on campus, but confirmed they have applied for a charter to be one.