Lawmakers demand probe of ‘Compton Cookout’

Lawmakers demand probe of ‘Compton Cookout’

Posted on 18 February 2010.

About a dozen California lawmakers condemned and expressed outrage Thursday for the mocking of Black History Month with invitations that asked participants to dress “ghetto” for an off-campus party allegedly organized by students of the University of California, San Diego.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, demanded that UCSD determine what students and fraternities were involved, whether any public money was used, and to impose sanctions that could include revoking fraternity charters and expelling student perpetrators.

Hall called the “Compton Cookout” a “blatant and hurtful act of racism, sexism and hate” that cannot be condoned, cannot be ignored, and is intolerable to Californians who bankroll the state’s UC system.

Members of the UCSD Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity have been linked in published reports to the event, whose invitation urged male party-goers to dress in white T-shirts and urban gear, while females were encouraged to display gold teeth, cheap weaves, nappy hair, use a “very limited vocabulary” and “start fights and drama.” Chicken and watermelon were among refreshments.

Lawmakers who attended Thursday’s news conference to protest the off-campus party as racist, sexist and offensive included outgoing Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and incoming Speaker John A. Pérez, both of Los Angeles, as well as representatives of the legislative women’s, Latino, Black, Asian Pacific Islander and other caucuses.

Jeff Gattas, UCSD spokesman, attended Thursday’s Capitol event to assure lawmakers that the university shared their anger and would investigate circumstances surrounding the off-campus party. He declined to comment, however, on whether UCSD supports the notion of expelling students for offensive or racist speech that is not necessarily illegal.

[Source: From The Capitol]