You probably heard about the recent Young Conservatives of Texas offensive "immigrant hunt" at the University of North Texas. Not to be shown up on any test of bad taste, the local chapter is now planning their own event:
Well, the YCT (Young Conservatives of Texas) are at it again. This time they've organized a so-called "Immigrant Hunt" for this Wednesday, March 2nd on the West Mall on campus-- they have reserved the space from 11:00am-1:00pm. They recently organized a similar event at the University of North Texas (http://www.yct.org/illegal.htm) and appear to be emboldened by the post-9-11 anti-immigrant climate. They plan to wear color-coded anti-immigrant shirts and "hunt for immigrants" who will be YCT-ers dressed in brown for Latina/os, yellow for Asians, etc. and offer rewards.
As offensive as this is, I'm secretly glad that these kids are showing their true stripes and proving once and for all just how sophomoric and marginal their politics really are. With friends like these, the future of the Republican party in Texas doesn't look good.
UPDATE: Thanks to national embarrassment, the grace of God, or an elaborate hoax, it sounds like the hunt is off. Here's a funny update that was passed along to me from a friend:
> The information you received is false. Somebody made this shit up,Posted by sarah at March 1, 2005 8:29 AM
and I'm
> extremely pissed off. We're having a friggin' Texas Independence Day
> Celebration tomorrow....AND THAT'S IT!!! Cakes and Cookies and
Lemonade!!! I
> got a hold of the original email that I'm guessing you received, and
it was
> all
> lies. Email whoever sent you your information, and ask them to research
> their
> information before they sent it ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES!!!
> > Lauren E.Conner
> Chairman
> Young Conservatives of Texas - UT Austin
> Lauren.Conner@bba02.bus.utexas.edu
> Cell: (337) 540-3485
> http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/yct/ <http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/yct/>