So you think you know the definition of a racist. They are the people who stand in the doorways of schools to prevent minority children from attending. They stop minorities from being served in restaurants. They make people sit in the back of the bus. Sometimes they turn into a lynch mob.
But in this crazy world of identity politics, there is a new definition of a racist. In today's steamy political climate a racist is someone who wears yoga pants and attends yoga classes. Or maybe it is a non-Asian chef who cooks Asian cuisine. And it could be a non-Asian who eats in a Chinese restaurant.
A University of Michigan professor named Shreena Gandhi had this to say about racism: The modern day trend of cultural appropriation of yoga is a continuation of white supremacy and white colonialism. White people who practice yoga are contributing to "white supremacy" and to a system of power and oppression.
Who knew that performing the "downward facing dog" position was so evil?
Matthew Terrell, a journalist who writes in the Huffington Post, recently said, My soul weeps every time I smell the waft of mall court Chinese food...the only way to solve the dilemma of culinary appropriation is to ban all ethnic food that is not 100% authentic, and people can only enjoy food of their own race.
After reading these pronouncements, I am not sure if I want to laugh, cry or choke on an egg roll. After decades of listening to sermons and lectures about the evils of segregation, I was under the impression we were all supposed to come together in the brotherhood of man. Was Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK all wrong?
Absolutely not. It is people like Shreena Gandhi and Matthew Terrell who are revealing their intellectual shortcomings by embracing a new segregation. We need to open up our lives to the banquet that is humanity, not build barriers between ourselves like members of some prehistoric tribe. The more we taste, the more we hear, the more we feel, the more we explore vastly different cultures, the richer and fuller our lives become. We sift through and filter out the bad so as to gain better access to all that is good and uplifting.
To be free to sample what the world offers is the definition of freedom. To open our minds to differing viewpoints is to better understand ourselves. Eat what brings you nourishment and pleasure. Listen to the music that brightens your day.
Let no self-proclaimed cultural watchdog narrow your vision, or darken your life, or make you a prisoner of cultural traditions that confine you like a straightjacket.
To reject the dictates of race, culture, religion and ancient traditions is to liberate your mind, heart and soul. Always strive to be you.
Everything else is bullshit.
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