No, Mia Michaels is not a racist, people!

I can't agree with the folks calling Mia Michaels a racist because she said some of AdéChiké Torbert's movement during his Bollywood routine of July 7, 2010, had an African vibe. It did have an African feel in parts, but I'm not sure having an African feel in parts is necessarily wrong. Nevertheless, I especially cannot agree with one commenter on Twitter who said Michaels is always harshest on black male dancers. Maybe that's because I've never missed a season of So You Think You Can Dance and know that she tends to gush over black male dancers sometimes. And who can forget how Mia nearly worshiped African-American choreographer Desmond Richardson and fawned over Will B. Wingfield in 2008? I think she was rude and her saying during her criticism of AdéChiké that she missed Alex Wong was truly bad form, but racist? No. If AdéChiké wants to improve and succeed, he'll have to toughen up anyway. Some professional choreographers he may work with will slam him with words harder than what Mia Michaels said. Still, Mia, what were you thinking?

But would people be calling her reference to African dance evidence of racism if the dancer, AdéChiké, were not black? Is it Michaels who can't separate dance critique from race or is it the audience who can't do so?

As I've already told one commenter, the knee-jerk reaction to call it "racist" when someone is rude or highly critical of a black person along with the weeping need to shield a black person from brutal criticism is paternalistic racism, the assumption that black people are like children who must be protected from everything. Mia Michaels is not a raicst; she's an equal opportunity offender.

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