Ok, somebody needs to examine the race relations over in SoCal, because there’s stupidity and then there’s outright hate. Take for instance last week’s Facebook invitation a bunch of UC San Diego fraternities sent out for a Greek barbecue in honor of Black History Month.

“The Compton Cook Out” was described as “a time to celebrate and in hopes of showing respect,” but what it really entailed was a bunch of people dressing up ghetto style and enjoying a fine array of food and drink including “40’s, Kegs of Natty, dat Purple Drank- which consists of sugar, water, and the color purple, chicken, Kool-Aid, and of course watermelon.”

Obviously school officials weren’t happy when the local press got wind of it and put it on blast – they’re currently investigating the incident and trying to do as much damage control as possible (they’ve since posted a Race Against Hate program on the official university website). Meanwhile, the NAACP is pretty heated about the whole thing and is asking UCSD to punish all the students/fraternities involved. “This event was intended and did expose the true feeling of a group of people, who either are racist, who acted out their beliefs, or people who say they are not racist, but engaged in acts that were racist,” said Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles NAACP in a statement.

But what’s really shocking is that those UCSD students who have spoken about it don’t seem to think it’s that big of a deal. In an editorial in the school’s paper, one student argued it was the school that needed to “take a step back and gain some perspective,” and that getting all bent out of shape over a bunch of stupid frat boys wasn’t worth the time OR energy the story had generated.

This is point where I scratch my head and wonder what kind of learning environment UCSD is perpetuating. Would it be ok if the frats involved had a “smack that bitch” barbecue instead? Or maybe a “Homo hot dog eating contest?” Because really, hate is hate, and no matter how you spin it. It’s offensive not only because it’s aimed at outdated stereotypes, but also because it’s thinly-veiled aggression towards another race that’s totally unacceptable and holds no merit.

Forget serving Kool-Aid – it’s obvious the kids over at UCSD have already drank it (Jim Jones style).