before/after

Dominican baseball star Sammy Sosa’s skin seems to be turning white. His publicist can say whatever… metrosexual skin treatments, bad lighting, lemon astringent… But, coupled with the permed hair and green contact lenses, there’s a pretty complete story. He probably doesn’t like being Black.

Is this new? Heck no. Skin lightening and a million potions for becoming more Euro-lovely have existed for a long time. My grandma used them, I’ve seen them around the world, and I even used them when I was much younger and confused about how I matched what society told me was pretty.

It seems that every country where people are pigmented has an aesthetic caste system based on color. Latin cultures are certainly no different. That’s why I find the concept of the monolithic “Latino” to be so perplexing — as are the generic images of tanned people with straight hair that are universally meant to depict “Latin” in pop culture.

I’m not a Latina. I was just mistaken for one enough times on the streets of New York that I decided to finally learn Spanish. At least then I could give directions to the people asking me for help every day. I spent time throughout Latin America and noticed something interesting:  a heck of a lot of Black people. Then I noticed something else, few of them wanted to be identified as “Black” because that was bad, just about as bad as being identified as indigenous or “Indian.”

To this day, I find it rare to hear a genuine conversation about race and Latinos. If anything, hopefully the fact the Sammy Sosa is being accused of pulling a Michael Jackson might start a dialogue about the reality of skin color and the social invisibility of darker Latinos.

What pops to mind is one of my Latin college professors joking that if you watched typical Spanish-speaking television dramas, you would think that they were cast in Sweden.

Greetings Sharda,

I am disappointed to learn that you were offended in one of our yoga classes on Sunday.  As a regular student I hope you know that our daily goal at *** is to create a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students. In fact this is the first time in 6 1/2 years that I have received feedback like this about a class.  Please know that X’s intent for the class was to honor exploration as a concept, not Columbus as a person or hero, and the fact that the use of Columbus to illustrate the concept of exploration might offend someone did not occur to her.  X often brings themes into her classes, and unfortunately your perception and her intention were incompatible.

I sincerely apologize to you and hope that you will continue to share your yoga practice with us in the future.

Namaste,

After I had a few days to simmer down and get constructive criticism from my friends (some who thought angry asanas and blog posts were passive aggressive), I wrote a letter to my yoga studio about the teacher with the Columbus affection.

I am a customer in this relationship and, at the end of the day, should be offering honest feedback. This is probably more useful than festering with resentment. I’m still glad that I didn’t say anything in the moment.  I was way too upset. Let me know what you think of how I handled the situation. Here tis…

I am a regular student at your studio but never took a class with X until this past Sunday. Please pass the message to her that Christopher Columbus is a sensitive topic for many people. He helped lead the violent conquest of indigenous people and enslaved Africans. Although new nations in the Americas were born from this process, Columbus’ legacy is difficult for those who are also mourning and remembering his brutality.

Ms. X should be more careful about the themes and analogies that she uses in class, so as not to alienate her students or make them uncomfortable. I was extremely disturbed that she chose to decide for us that we would honor Christopher Columbus with our practice. Imagine, for example, asking descendants of slaves to honor the slave traders who brought their ancestors to this continent.

She didn’t just use Columbus once but referenced him throughout class. Even though I tried my best to focus on my practice, it was weird, disturbing, unnecessary and ruined my experience.

Please ask her to be more mindful of her students and remember to be sensitive to the fact that her hero might inspire very different emotions in others. I would not ever choose to welcome Christopher Columbus into my yoga practice in this manner.

At one point, Ms. X congratulated me on pushing myself in class and honoring Christopher Columbus. I can’t tell you how angry this made me. She then asked why people don’t honor him more these days?

Please read below from Columbus’ log and ask yourself how appropriate it is to relentlessly laud this man in a yoga class:

“They brought us barrels of cotton thread and parrots and other little things which it would be tedious to list, and exchanged everything for whatever we offered them…I kept my eyes open and tried to find out if there was any gold, and I saw that some of them had a little piece hanging from a hole in their nose. I gathered from their signs that if one goes south, or around the south side of the island, there is a king with great jars full of it, enormous amounts. I tried to persuade them to go there, but I saw that the idea was not to their liking…They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

Just because it’s a legal holiday, doesn’t mean that I have to celebrate it.

Today I took a yoga class with a teacher I’d never learned from before. She told us that the theme of our class would be “exploration,” in honor of Christopher Columbus. That was a weird moment for me, in the middle of a room where I seemed to be one of few… actually, I might have been the only “non-white” person.

I thought about leaving right then and there. I figured that I’d already been offended, was pretty sure that I would have a tough time concentrating on yoga, and the heated room was not going to help me cool down.

For years, I was self-taught in yoga. I was serious but avoided classes because I thought it might have too many awkward moments. I may be only quasi-Indian (half black American and raised with little or no Indian culture) but it’s still weird to be in a room full of white people chanting in Sanskrit… or having a Western yoga teacher know more than me.

I got over it, and started taking classes – for the most part, really enjoying them and improving my practice. I would have even enjoyed today’s class for the poses themselves, but not for the commentary on Christopher Columbus. The class was well beyond  awkward; it was infuriating to the point of rage. I was practicing enraged yoga, which was paradoxical but motivating. My poses were deeper than usual. I imagined each of them as a big middle finger to the teacher.

You see, Christopher Columbus, was an explorer widely credited with helping Europe find and conquer the Americas. How you feel about him has everything to do with whether you identify more with the aggressors or the people who resisted the invasion. Some look at him and give thanks for the victory and other’s… well, not so much.

In the path of his conquest, many indigenous and African people were killed. A good number of us in the United States count those massacred among our ancestors or we empathize with their plight. True, we are also descended from Europeans and have a new national identity as part of the U.S. But we’re still connected to the memory of the atrocities.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a scholar and author of several books related to Columbus, including “1492: The Year the World Began,” said in the Associated Press recently, “Every hero is somebody else’s villain.” Part of me knows that my life is the legacy of Columbus. But that part is overwhelmed by sadness over the bloodshed caused by his “discovery” of the new world.

Even if my yoga teacher meant no harm–and it was just a coincidence that she happened to look right at me when she referred to Columbus being “open” to the “natives” — it still felt painful and humiliating to be in that situation. I was not getting any kind of bliss.

I imagined myself marching out in disgust, maybe slamming the door on my way out. But this was a yoga class. That would look extra crazy, as would cursing, spitting or any of the other things I felt like doing. Maybe this was just some sort of cosmic test for my ability to concentrate and continue with my practice.

After all, she wouldn’t bring up Christopher Columbus again would she? Yup, she did. Again and again. Among the most difficult moments, she said:

- to squat and reach our hands in an offering, like the native people to Columbus
- explore our poses like we were exploring the new land
- lift our knee up high like we were posing at Plymouth Rock
- do three versions of camel and the boat pose in honor of the Nina, the Pinta and Santa Maria
- when I did the full camel pose, “Good for you. Really pushing and honoring Christopher Columbus. People don’t celebrate him much these days. I wonder why…” (I eff you not)

Anyway, you get the picture. It went on and on… for the entire class. I would have been annoyed at seeing any analogy pimped this gratuitously but Columbus? The Indian killer, apologist for slavery, and ruthless opportunist? Really? In a yoga class? At the same studio with this quote in the women’s bathroom: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. – Jimi Hendrix”? Yoga class isn’t supposed to make one leave in serious need of a stiff drink.

Racial representation is something that I am certainly not afraid to call people out on. From Jar Jar Binks to “Soul Plane,” there are many offenders who have more than earned a wallop. Sometimes I feel like the Geico cavemen when I turn on the television or sit down to watch a movie.  But with all the racial critique being leveled against “District 9,” I have to say that I like this movie. I would actually see it again.

I realize that although it was set in South Africa, “District 9″ didn’t address apartheid, nor were there strong Black characters (the witch doctors and warlords were not exactly NAACP “Image Award” material). Nigerians got a bad rep, the aliens got more dimensions in their portrayal than Africans but even then only through two characters, etc.

The film had a few legitimate shortcomings and Nigerians are more justified than anyone in being ticked off. But, in the my opinion, the film created compelling challenges in re-thinking what people think about the “other” on a universal level, not just in the context of race. Could it have gone further? Yes. Might the original message in the filmmaker’s vision been simplified by Hollywood? Possibly.

Yet, there were powerful analogies for South Africa (for instance the real life District 6 story) and beyond (favelas, refugee camps, ghettos, immigrant detention centers, prisons, work camps, etc.). In fact, one the most compelling comparisons to make from the film in modern South Africa is not about race but ethnicity and nationality, in the form of how Zimbabweans who have been driven to leave their homeland are being targeted and mistreated.

While I think “District 9″ race dialogue is worthwhile, this film could be putting race in the background for a reason. The fact that people are responding so passionately means there must be some impact.

It might not have been perfect but “District 9″ made me think and also generated non-stop adrenaline. For that, I am grateful. These are the reasons that I have loved science fiction since I was a tot. Then again was all the scifi that molded my formative years perfect in their representations? Star Trek broke racial and gender barriers but what’s up with the miniskirts on Uhura? How come Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian was the only visible Black character in the original “Star Wars” (albeit with an Armenian-sounding name… but I digress) and why is he basically a hustler? Why are there often so few ethnicities in the “future?”

My point is we can all keep our racial critic caps on when we watch and appreciate these and other popular media. We should always want them to be better. However, that doesn’t diminish the impact and power of these films. And if “District 9” pushes your buttons and/or you thought parts of it were profound, that is a testament to its success as art.

I’m all for free speech. I like to exercise it regularly. The thing is that all this “death panel,” “communist,” and “birther” conspiracy stuff is reminiscent of other progress-fearing protests in U.S. history. We’re a young country with a diverse population but have long had a significant faction that doggedly resists change (particular as relates to equity and human rights), even when the time has clearly come and it makes logical sense.

If we could put the birthers and Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the random screaming people at the town halls in a time machine and plop them out in the sixties, it’s not hard to imagine them holding one of the these placards. I’m just saying that he/she who screams the loudest and the angriest is not always on the side that is most just. While these voices deserve to be heard, their volume should not be mistaken as a representation of the greater public.

So now President Obama regrets his comment about the Cambridge Police acting “stupidly” in the arrest of Professor Gates.

• a) The press conference where this comment was taken from was about health care and this question was bait. Focusing on his response is an irrelevant distraction,

• b) Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of being at the wrong end of law due to their race would agree that there is a great deal of stupidity in the experience, and

• c) Anyone still naive enough to think that there is no such thing as racial profiling in the US has lived an extraordinarily sheltered life.

This is probably a shock to many people in my corner of the world (the United States), given that some are still getting used to not calling all people from East Asia “Chinese,” but there is ethnic diversity in China. Unfortunately, this has become evident as a result of the recent violent clashes between Uighur demonstrators and Han Chinese.

The Han Chinese, the ethnic group that pretty much sets the standard for what is typically thought of as Chinese, make up the overwhelming majority. They are estimated as 92% of the Chinese population. Yet, considering the massive population of China,  the 8% ethnic minorities are over 100 million people. That’s more than three times the population of Canada.