Is ejecting a man from a yoga class because of the color of his skin color a racist act?

It looks like one of the lead organizers of Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County kicked a Hispanic man out of the yoga class he leads at Fort Worden because the Hispanic man’s skin was not dark enough to meet some racial standard and he did not choose to label himself “BIPOC.”

Here’s what happened. It involves Cameron Jones, one of the two or three leaders of Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County.

Mr. Jones teaches a yoga class for the Mystic Monkey Yoga studio in Port Townsend. The class is entitled, “Yoga for BIPOC: Mindful Movement for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.”  To participate in Mr. Jones’s class you book a spot and pay through the Mystic Monkey website. Then on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. you look for Mr. Jones at Fort Worden State Park where he holds his class outdoors.

On this particular Sunday, a Hispanic man new to the group spread his yoga mat on the ground and sat down. Mr. Jones in an August 7 Facebook post described what next occurred:

“I didn’t know this person and one of the other students commented on their approach with…apprehension…and why’d they be coming to class because this person was very, very light skinned….The person who came to class, an apparently cis-white male came ‘in’ (we were outside) placed their mat down and was ready to begin. Not that I expected this, but there was no preamble, no prior connection, seemingly no awareness as to the discomfort of others present. So I asked them their name and if they knew this was a BIPOC class. They responded yes. So I asked if they considered themselves BIPOC, they said, ‘well, my dad was Mexican.’  Ok. Cool. At this point there was still a low level of discomfort, so I asked if they identified as BIPOC. Their response was, ‘I really don’t believe in labels.’ This, for lack of a better word, triggered me. And I asked them to leave. They were visibly frustrated at always being perceived as a cis-white man and ended up leaving in frustration and anger. As they were leaving I attempted to invite them back so we could all sit and talk about what transpired, but they were too upset. Understandable.”

Understandable? What an understatement. Is this not an overt, rather aggressive display of bigotry that resulted in injury to a man who only wanted to participate in a yoga class?

Mr. Jones actually blames the victim for having helped “incite the event.” The “event” was that Mr. Jones and others did not approve of the color of this man’s skin, and it took off from there.

Nobody would or should tolerate a commercial enterprise offering a service only to White people. Nobody would or should tolerate a White instructor grilling a customer because of apprehension about  their skin color. Nobody, regardless of who they are or the nature of their business, is entitled to treat any person differently because of the color of their skin.

The right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and color is one of the most fundamental and protected civil rights under Washington law.  Our state guarantees the “right to full enjoyment of accommodations, advantages, facilities, of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage or amusement.” This law was enacted in 1890 as the result of the efforts of a towering figure in Washington state history, William Owen Bush, a Republican and the first Black elected to state public office. (On a side note, Democrats opposed this bedrock civil rights law and Democrat legislators continue to defeat periodic efforts to honor Mr. Bush by naming an area of the Capitol after him.)

Perhaps the Mystic Monkey business is unaware that its teacher excludes and gives a hard time to anyone who does not have the right skin color. But there is no need to wonder. The owner of the Mystic Monkey business applauded Mr. Jones for his actions. The very first comment to Mr. Jones’ account of how he ran this Hispanic man off came from Jason Caslyn, who owns the business:

The Jefferson County Board of Health is expected today to declare systemic racism to be an emergency in Jefferson County. The preamble to the proposed resolution does not set forth a single instance of racism in Jefferson County among the justifications for their declaration. Maybe they’re looking for racism in the wrong places and among the wrong people.

Jim Scarantino

Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our “About” page for more information.