Insults against Houston uncalled for

By Robert Wennagel

Current Undergraduate Students Association Council President
Mike de la Rocha’s comments concerning Elizabeth Houston
after her victory last week display his failure to understand UCLA
and the common student. De la Rocha should reevaluate his opinions
and his words before he decides to classify people solely based on
skin color and without considering the individual or her
circumstances.

As reported in the Daily Bruin (“Houston defeats McCory in
tight finish,” News, May 19), de la Rocha stopped Houston
from consoling Praxis presidential candidate Katynja McCory after
Houston won the election. The Bruin quoted de la Rocha as saying
that, “Elizabeth Houston needs to understand what her
position is … She doesn’t understand student of color
issues or she wouldn’t have come in.”

His absurd comments connote that no person who is not “of
color,” can understand one who is. I find this insulting
because it undermines the very inclusiveness that Praxis claims to
uphold, because it denies my basic right to associate with others
who are different from me, and because it flies in the face of the
diversity that millions of people in this world strive for by
simply saying that they cannot understand each other.

I feel that I need to address de la Rocha’s comments on
several levels because that is the only way that I can make sense
of such unprovoked and ignorant criticism. De la Rocha attacked
Houston personally by denying her the right to simply console
McCory, a perfectly human thing to do. Houston won her victory by
putting an incredible amount of personal energy and emotion into
campaigning.

Consoling McCory probably only came naturally to Houston because
she identified with McCory’s struggle. It was an honest and
felt gesture that exemplifies a good leader who can effectively
represent the UCLA community. Expressing sympathy is also a natural
part of politics and competition, and I have never before heard of
anyone who is so wrapped up in themselves as to prevent a winner
from consoling a loser. In addition, de la Rocha brashly
demonstrated his extreme egotism in assuming that it was up to him
to decide who McCory can and can’t talk to.

I borrow from de la Rocha’s own words in saying that he
should know his own position. He can’t understand the
position of fellow students and political competitors because he
has become so wrapped up in himself. His actions are an unqualified
and unjust insult to both Houston and McCory.

De la Rocha also insults this entire campus by claiming that we
cannot understand each other just because we have different skin
colors. He should understand that he is part of a huge university
that is at the center of a diverse and changing city and country.
Just because one person is African American, white, Asian American
or Latino does not mean that we grow up in completely separate
worlds blind to each other’s pain and suffering. I
acknowledge that de la Rocha’s, McCory’s and every
other person’s life experiences have shaped them in unique
ways.

These patterns and experiences often fall along racial and class
lines because, let’s face it, we live in America. But race is
not the end all and be all of cultural awareness. McCory’s
loss probably affected her just as it would affect a person of any
race who had poured her heart into trying to improve and aid their
community in the best way that she knew how.

As much as I focus on de la Rocha and his negative comments
toward Houston, he is only part of the problem. Praxis’
negative attitude toward those who do not join its crusades share
in the blame. Current Internal Vice President Ramon
Richardson’s comment that “Houston’s getting
herself into something she can’t handle,” as well as
General Representative-elect Cheryl Marie Lott’s criticism
that Houston won in part because she misled the student body,
demonstrate simple irreverent rhetoric. These Praxis leaders, who
represent the UCLA student body, should have more respect for
Houston, who won the respect and votes of students, just as they
did.

My hope is that this same negative attitude that seems to
dominate the leaders of Praxis is not shared by all of its members.
I would like to think that Praxis remains a diverse and and
equitable student coalition that stands by its tenets of reflection
and action.

But the comments of some of its prominent leaders seem to
undermine its claim to promoting diversity. Its own actions have,
of late, proved divisive and narrow-minded. Personally, I have no
stake in Praxis and feel no ties to it whatsoever.

If a governing student body cannot effectively represent the
needs and concerns of the entire student population, not simply a
self-interested minority, then it does not deserve the power that
it has. I believe that Houston’s victory and the growing
opposition to Praxis that I have not only seen in elections, but
also felt when talking to fellow students, demonstrates that the
slate has not been able to fully embrace the concerns of UCLA
students. Praxis’ loss of the presidency should indicate its
loss of touch with the common student.