(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here).
Canceling college loan debt isn’t enough!
You heard me. Confiscating money from people who never went to college, as well as those who foolishly paid off their own college loans, to give the booty to those who knowingly agreed to pay back their loans isn’t enough.
Why? Well, duh — it doesn’t memorialize acts of violence perpetrated in the name of social justice!
If you had a modern college education, you’d understand that.
Colleges and universities around the country should follow the lead of the University of Colorado and give out scholarships in the name of domestic terrorists.
I survived CU Boulder in the 1980s, and even then it was a propagandist arm of the socialist movement. But now it is literally celebrating acts of violent terrorism by awarding scholarships in the name of those who bombed buildings in Boulder in the 1970s.
The university just celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Los Seis de Boulder.” Even with my CU degree I know that means the “The Boulder Six.”
The celebration included artifacts, artwork, music, speakers, and a full retrospective of these heroes in much the same way Hamas glorifies its suicide bombers who after killing the infidels have gone to heaven to claim their 72 virgins.
But the biggest part of the celebration was the announcement of a $750,000 scholarship fund administered by the university to provide six separate $5,000 scholarships each year to students who are “actively engaged” in social justice.
We can only assume the scholarships are given in hopes recipients will grow up and emulate the fine careers of the domestic terrorists for which its named. These six brave martyrs were killed in Boulder in two separate car bomb explosions in 1974.
Officially, the deaths are still unsolved. Unofficially, they accidentally killed themselves with their own homemade explosives while running around Boulder on a terrorist rampage. Police investigators believe the deadly explosions were caused accidentally while transporting bombs.
“The Six” were active members of the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) at CU Boulder. They were protesting what they believed negative treatment of Mexican American students as well as the perennial fan favorites of police brutality and U.S. support of the Vietnam War.
At the time of their martyrdom, UMAS activists were occupying a building on campus. I include that tidbit only to encourage college officials today to continue supporting student occupation of their campus buildings in hopes of similar teachable moments.
The University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database reports these same martyrs were likely involved in at least 10 other bombings in Denver and Boulder, other than the two that made them martyrs.
Two months before their own poor quality-control likely cost them their lives, they are believed to have exploded bombs in the Boulder police station as well as the courthouse, causing extensive damage but no casualties.
While statues of evil white men are being torn down across the country, enduring works of tribute have been created to glorify these terrorists. Beyond documentary films, there are permanent monuments to “The Six” on the CU campus and Boulder’s Chautauqua Park.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m as thrilled to see homegrown political violence as the next guy. And I can hardly wait for the permanent monuments and scholarships in memory of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Rioters, or as future generations will know them, “Los Alborotadores de la Capitol.”
But, on some level deep down inside, there’s a little voice that says maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t be encouraging this kind of thing, even if it is just violence against Whitey. But it could be just me.
Individually, there’s not much we can do about having our tax dollars siphoned to state-run higher education like the University of Colorado to indoctrinate the young into hate, violence, and socialism — I mean, social justice.
But you can steer your children to better schools. And those good people who wish to invest in scholarships for future generations should consider to whom they’re entrusting their wealth and what it will promote when they’re gone.
To those individuals who value freedom and free markets might I humbly suggest they consider investing in the Independence Institute Liberty Scholarship which was the brainchild of funders Bob and Elaine Collins who care deeply about helping young people get an education, not an indoctrination.
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.
