NOT THAT THOSE KIDS WOULD BE AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL...:

Attentive readers will notice that "culture" is a euphemism. The objection is not to participating in a culture but to doing so when you're not of the right genetic ancestry. Usually that's a group currently regarded as subject to discrimination or derogatory slurs. But there is a certain historical myopia at work here. Other groups have also suffered from discrimination and ridicule over long periods of American history, and still are in some quarters. Shouldn't they be included?

Take one of which I am a member, Italian-Americans. The National Italian American Foundation estimates our numbers, based on Census and other data, at around 16 or 17 million, 5 percent of the nation's population. NIAF celebrates their achievements and welcomes others to join in. The first time that all four major-party nominees for president and vice-president appeared on the same stage was at NIAF's 1984 annual dinner -- though only one of them had Italian ancestry.

But what if Italian-Americans started objecting to cultural appropriation? By, for example, complaining that Americans of non-Italian descent were appropriating Italian culture by consuming pizza and pasta?

The logical corollary would be to stamp out this hijacking of cultural heritage. At school lunchrooms, pupils would be required to show proof of Italian ancestry being getting a pizza slice. Supermarket checkout counters would require similar proof from putative pasta purchasers. Similarly for paninis at Panera Bread, chicken parmesan at Olive Garden, etc.

If appropriation of one culture is wrong, then appropriation of any culture is wrong. Isn't it? [...]

Actually, American history is the story of one cultural appropriation after another, from English law to Thai cuisine, to our great mutual benefit. You shouldn't have to submit a DNA sample to partake.

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