I guess it had to happen, but UCLA has initiated separate victim group graduation ceremonies. There are now individual ceremonies for gays (sorry, members of the “LGBT community”), Iranians, Asian Pacific Islanders, Latinos and, of course, blacks. At the All African People’s graduation, they have dropped “Pomp and Circumstance” in favor of the theme from the “Panther” movie soundtrack. They also sing the Black National Anthem and have a libation ceremony for their racial ancestors. Yes, they can all go to the main graduation ceremony as well – and these do not replace the big one. But this is a sad development – a version of separate lunch-tables taken to a logical conclusion. No word yet on whether white students want their own ceremony as well. But I see no reason why not. They’ll be a minority soon in California. Come to think of it, if you’re going to have separate graduations, why not just have separate colleges altogether? Or separate high schools? Didn’t they once have that in this country? Oh, never mind.
AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA: Guess what the opposition groups in South Africa are now campaigning for? They want the Pretoria government to abolish taxes on HIV medications. First you’ve heard of such taxes? Well, the Western media would rather demonize the manufacturers and inventors of such medications than criticize African governments. It turns out, in fact, that in some cases, taxes amount to 60 percent of the shelf price of medication, according to Kobus Gous of the opposition Democratic Alliance. Of course, this would be relevant if the government had actually allowed the medications even to be distributed – but Pretoria is remaining firm in its emphasis on HIV prevention rather than expensive treatment. Don’t expect to read much about that either. It would be off-message in the war on the life-saving pharmaceutical companies.
The Dish 