Culture Appropriation in Today's Society

Now this topic hits home hard. They have normalized culture appropriation so much that people fail to realize that things they do everyday can be appropriating a culture.

Lets start with the basics. Models dressing in the clothes of other cultures is cultural appropriation. Many believe that if, one pays the proper respects that it isn't seen as cultural appropriation but cultural appreciation. The thing is, if you wear something that belongs to another culture just because "it's cute", then in my eyes you are indeed appropriating a culture. And can we talk about the culture vultures in Hollywood. One household name is the Kardashians. these woman are notorious for making money off of black culture. Lets just talk about the braids for now. They wear the braids known as cornrows and rename them "boxer braids" and "Bo Derek braids". The fact that they get praised for these styles while our own black people get fired and suspended from school while wearing these styles, is shocking. The Kardashians aren't the only notable stars who have appropriated styles. Artists like Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, and Vanessa Hudgens have also appropriated braids. The biggest stars in the business have appropriated other culture's styles. Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and many others have done this.

Now that we got some examples of people who have appropriated cultures lets talk about what they appropriated. The black culture can be stolen and shown in many new lights. Box Braids are starting to go around as a new trend and many people of different backgrounds have been wearing them. The trend of people laying down their edges is going around after the idea was stolen from black culture. Black women were seen doing their edges as early as the 1920's. People are saying that other groups are starting to imitate the black way of "dressing". This isn't true because the only thing they are doing is mocking black stereotypes. They love to think of us black people as ghetto but they also love to do what they call ghetto. I'm not saying that all white people do this but its hard to single people out when the vast majority does this. We all can culture appropriate, so the next time you think dressing up as another group is "cool" or "cute" remember the things that those people have been through and experienced. Do you really want to be known as a culture vulture who is insensitive to other's problems and struggles?