June 30, 2015
Source: Shutterstock
While acknowledging that there is an ethnic group in Sri Lanka that uses the term “neutrally,” Slate confirms that “everywhere else, the epithet is as injurious as they come,” quoting cookbook author Garrett McCord: “Much like the Brazil nuts, racially nicked named [sic] ‘nigger toes’ due to their dark color and their”to some”unappealing appearance when in the shell, the kaffir lime is similarly named to reflect attitudes towards a certain group of people. Kaffir limes are bulgy, mottled, and supposedly not as pretty as the smooth and glossy skins of other varieties of lime.” Slate concludes, “Given that the name kaffir lime contains a word that hurts people and has a horrible past, I don”t intend to refer to the limes by that designation any longer.”
The Seattle Times was more direct, proclaiming, “Hate speech doesn”t belong in the produce department.” Veronica Vinje of the Vancouver weekly The Georgia Straight put it bluntly: “Saying “kaffir lime” is like saying the n-word before “lime.” Stop a racial slur before it becomes embedded into our lexicon.” Vinje started the #KaffirNoMore campaign on Twitter.
A year ago, Peter Gelling and his wife were contacted on Twitter by the Ethnography, Media, Arts, and Culture network at Royal Roads University in British Columbia, which politely asked them to substitute “makrut” for “kaffir.” They bluntly refused. Gelling, this man who sees racism everywhere, was asked to stop using a word in his food-service business that means “nigger.” An easy favor for an antiracist to grant, no? But here we see leftist hypocrisy at its finest. In essence, Gelling is saying, Everyone must modify their behavior to appear non-racist except me! In 2014, Gelling tweeted a GlobalPost piece calling Canadian author and activist Ezra Levant “racist” for suggesting that Gypsy immigrants come to Canada as “false refugees.” Yet Gelling won”t stop trumpeting his “nigger limes.”
I”m sure Gelling’s wife probably sees the word only in terms of its “neutral” Sri Lankan usage. But come on. We all know that “niggardly” isn”t an epithet, but if there were a type of lime that contained less juice than other varieties, and was thus “stingy” with its extract, earning the name “niggardly lime,” do you think that would fly for a moment in the U.S.? And you can bet it would be Peter Gelling, GlobalPost, and NBC News screaming for the name to be dropped.
To be clear, I”m not in favor of using politically correct language. I”m simply pointing out the leftist hypocrisy of a man who self-righteously accuses others of racism, but who refuses to alter his own behavior when he’s accused of racism. And indeed, I have sympathy for Gelling’s Jakarta-born wife, who I”m sure is only using “kaffir” in the non-racist way her parents and grandparents and great-grandparents did. And why should someone be forced to surrender a beloved part of their heritage merely because, to others, it carries weighty racist baggage? Peter Gelling and Retno Pratiwi are standing up for their right to use a word that they don”t interpret as racist, even though many, many others do.
Good for them. I wonder how they feel about a certain flag that’s been in the news recently…
