Or, Why Cultural Appropriation Is Bullshit.
Amandla Stenberg, as some may know her as "Rue" in the Hunger Games, “called out” Kylie Jenner’s cornrows on Instagram. Amandla's comment to Kylie was:
"When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter.”
One of the comments said,
"Ima make this clear, anyone NOT of African descent trying to pull off African culture is appropriating it. Point blank."
First off, if you’re mentally stable, you’re probably wondering, what in the fuck is cultural appropriation? Well you white devil, cultural appropriation according to the social justice warriors is the borrowing of parts of one culture by members of a different cultural group.
So why is cultural appropriation bullshit? Let’s start off with a few "rational" examples of cultural appropriators: Korean hip-hop groups, anyone who wants to learn a language, Asians in the American film industry and of course Kylie Jenner.
If you’re still fuzzy about what it is, this is exactly what cultural appropriation says about these people:
Are you Korean and love hip hop, fuck you. You can't learn it because you aren't black.
Are you white and happen to have friends in China? Do you want to get closer to them by learning Chinese to communicate with them and their loved ones? Well, you can’t, because you're not Chinese, so fuck you.
Are you Asian and want to be in the American film business? You can't because you're appropriating Jewish culture, so fuck you.
Are you Kylie Jenner and want to have cornrows, fuck you.
If this sounds stupid, then you're absolutely right. The last I checked, isn't the point of having a free and global society to mix and celebrate different cultures?
No, it isn't?
I guess they should all be separate but equal. That sounds like a great idea.
Maybe Amandla has some better examples of cultural appropriation. That way we can really understand it. So far it doesn't seem to make much sense. Let's go to the one place where this started, Instagram. Let's see what Amandla's done on Instagram to stay within her culture.
If that sentence doesn't sound racist....never mind, let's continue. We're not adults here.
So, by Amandla’s logic, every black woman who has straight hair is appropriating “white culture”. Which, ironically, she did here in this photo.
You don’t understand the oppression my white girlfriends feel everytime black women straighten their hair, it just, #icanteven.
Here are a few more. So as you see here, Amandla is playing a violin. Clearly an appropriation of Italian culture, as violins originated in 16th century Italy.
Or maybe this photo of her with a purse; just another example of her appropriating Victorian culture, as purses originated in late 17th centry England.
Is it just me, or does this sound really bitchy and racist? Hmmm...
But back to Amandla's tweet, what do hair styles have to do with police brutality? Your guess is as good as mine. I can’t seem to see the connection. Maybe I’m just an uncultured fuck. She clearly is very cultured, being the bright 16-year-old she is, teaching the world about segrega–I mean cultural appropriation.
It's odd though, by her photos and her clothing she seems wealthy. But at the same time, it seems like she's categorized herself with a group different from her: unprivileged and poor African Americans. Seems like she's appropriating their culture. She's using them to be a victim.
Also, does Amandla actually think that no attention has been spent on police brutality against unprivileged African Americans? I mean, Amandla says that as a privileged black woman. Yes, she is very much privileged. Does Amandla actually believe she doesn’t have a voice or power? Since I would say privilege and power come with the money–especially when Amandla’s net worth is around the ballpark of a few million dollars, due to the huge success of the Hunger Games film. She’s achieved more than the thousands of people, including white people, who move to Hollywood to pursue their dream of acting before she can even buy alcohol.
If you know the rules you can play the victim game too.
Signing off.