When conservative alumna Michelle Malkin, OC ’92, returned Wednesday to deliver her lecture “ Exposing Liberals Unhinged” to an overflowing crowd in West Lecture Hall, C-SPAN and Safety and Security stood by and pamphlets on civil discourse were handed out.

Delivering the first lecture in the Ronald Reagan Political Lectureship Series, Malkin spoke about how “liberals see racism where it doesn’t exist, fabricate it when they can’t find it, and ignore it within their own ranks.”

The lecture series is sponsored by Steven Shapiro, OC ’83. The Alumni Association and the Young America Foundation, a group that promotes conservative causes on college campuses, also contributedfunding to this particular event. The Oberlin College Republicans were also responsible for bringing the speaker to campus.

College senior Barry Garrett, president of the OC Republicans, introduced the syndicated columnist, blogger, Fox News contributor and former Competitive Institute Fellow as the obvious choice to start off what he described as a “sorely needed series” that would seek to “shatter political homogeneity.”

Malkin, who is perhaps best known for defending Japanese internment in WWII, drew her lecture from the chapter entitled “One Sick Gook” in her new book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild. Malkin took the chapter name from hate mail she receives, and she said that the chapter “exposes the dirty little secret of liberal bigotry.”

Reading from her notes, bodyguard standing in front of her, Malkin recounted tales of Oberlin students seeing racism in situations that to her were not racist at all. She told the audience about one situation that created what she described as an “armageddon” eruption across campus.

When an Asian student was told to lower the blinds in the art library, the girl apparently perceived the comment as racist. Malkin disagreed.

“There was probably a rule that said the blinds had to be lowered,” she said.

Before continuing, Malkin took time to refute past accusations that she “[is] not sensitive to the plight of minorities.”

“I mean, look at me,” said Malkin, of Filipino descent. “I’ve been called a Jap, Chink, Gook, Dog-eater.”

She told the audience that once, in kindergarten, she came home crying because she was called a racist name.

“My mom wiped my tears...and told me everyone has prejudice,” she said. “I am eternally grateful for this [lesson].”

Malkin went on to raise the issue of hate crimes that are committed by the supposed victims of the crimes. She pointed to Kerri Dunn, a psychology professor at Claremont McKenna College, who she said vandalized her own car by smashing the windows and drawing anti-semitic epithetson it.

Citing many similar events, Malkin said that since 1997 there have been 20 hate crime hoaxes on college campuses. In these cases, she said, the “truth didn’t matter much” and the perpetrator-victims were let off with a slap on the wrist.

In the question-and-answer session, a student asked Malkin if these hoaxes she described were representative stories.

“For every one that is faked, dozens are true,” the student said.

“There’s a lot less than you might think,” Malkin responded. “A lot of stats are hyped.”

She added that a lot of “under reporting” occurs with regard to fake hate crimes.

Asked for a percentage on exactly how many hate crimes might be fake, Malkin said, “I can’t put a percentage on it...This is about a psyche. It deserves greater scrutiny...I wish a sociologist would take up this field.”

Malkin said the same psyche that is responsible for the fake hate crimes “hits you” when you walk onto college campuses.

“It encourages you to define everything by race and ethnicity,” she said, pointing to dorms and departments that are devoted to this categorizing. She added that liberals, even with their race-awareness, ignore racism among themselves. She shared some of the racist and misogynistic mail she had received to prove the point.

Malkin then addressed cartoonists Ted Rall and Jeff Danziger, who she said have used Condoleeza Rice’s skin color to ridicule the Secretary of State.

“Would liberals stand for a conservative mocking any famous black for having straight hair?” she asked. “Rall, Danziger and their ilk can run from their inner Klansmen but they can’t hide,” she said.

Malkin criticized the media for creating spectacles out of Republican screw-ups. Few paid attention, she said, when Senator Tom Daschle mixed up two black reporters.

She added that Civil rights leaders “shrugged” when Democratic Senator Chris Dodd said that the once-active Klansman Robert C. Byrd would have been a great senator at any moment in American History.

Malkin contrasted these events with what Trent Lott endured after praising Strom Thurmond.

“I needn’t remind you of the uproar that led to Lott’s resignation,” she said.

She drew consternation from the crowd, though, when she said that Hillary Clinton’s 2004 joke that Ghandi used to run a gas station was ignored by the media.

College junior Angad Singh said that the liberals’ comments Malkin mentioned could easily be found on Wikipedia.

“What’s important is that they were not splashed on the front page...You only noticed it because it affected you,” Malkin said in response.

When Singh commented by saying that the media was currently attacking Hillary Clinton for her recent “plantation” comments and Ray Nagin for his “chocolate-city” comments, Malkin responded that this was because there was finally an alternative media.

While some students focused their questions for Malkin on what she had said in her lecture, others came with pre-written questions and others used the time to discuss their own feelings about race.

When college junior Jason Serko appealed for a bipartisan effort to end racism, the audience erupted in applause.

One girl, a self-described Asian, said that she often felt like she couldn’t share her beliefs in class. She said that Malkin’s talk had made her consider joining the OC Republicans.

Backstage, Malkin said “[this girl] was the best part of the whole evening.”

About the rest of the crowd, Malkin said, “Not much has changed since I went here.”