Cultural Appropriation: Black Women in America

                      (Picture credit does not belong to me)

Recently there has been a stir with white women and black hairstyles. One of the biggest controversies has been Kylie Jenner and her cornrows. She took to Instagram showing off her hair and a lot of backlash was given due to the fact that when black women wear cornrows it is “ghetto,” “ratchet,” and unprofessional. It is not idea for Kylie to wear cornrows because it is black culture and before you do something that pertains to a culture you are not apart of you need to learn and respect the history from which it came. Trying to make a fashion statement with something you know nothing about is demeaning to those of that culture especially when you are praised for something that you had no hand in creating. Sorry, but you did not "change the game." 

Well, when this ordeal occurred Amandla Stenberg also known as “Rue” in Hunger Games, took to YouTube in "Don't cash crop my cornrows" and laid out education on cultural appropriation pertaining to Kylie and other white women who recreate black culture. In this video she discusses black hair as being apart of hip hop and cultural because black women have always done they hair as a way to maintain growth, expression of identity and the basic need of keeping it looking neat and unknotted. As hip hop became more popular so did black culture because hip hop is an expression of the black community. Stenberg goes on to detail that, in 2013 cornrows (braids) became seen as "new urban hairstyle," yet it has been around for centuries. Although black culture has become accepted the black community has not and thus is where we have cultural appropriation. According to Wikipedia, Cultural appropriation is a sociological concept that views the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a largely negative phenomenon. 

On another account was during the Grammy’s two white rap artist took awards of best rap artist and best rap album of the year. We cannot forget Allure magazines “You (Yes You) Can Have An Afro, even with straight hair” article. This article is aimed towards a particular audience that does not include black women. They are trying to recreate and define the Afro but are not seeing the root of "AFR" into African American. The article uses terms that are demeaning like "rag curls" as if black hair is raggedy. An Allure spokes person released a statement discussing the rich cultural background the Afro has but yet the article fails to incorporate this history lesson before trying to steal something that does not need to be recreated and made as if it came from another culture. Rather than embrace the culture from which it came from they tried to change it. Just to put this out there, it was not one black woman featured. Instead of using this as a teaching opportunity and having a black model it became the ultimate fail.

I do not only think that it is offensive for white women to be able to recreate black culture but even more so when it is received differently because of their race. As a black woman we receive backlash from wanting to wear our hair natural or wanting to wear weave as if we have not been doing so since before we were in America as slaves. The only difference is now since white women do it, it becomes a new trend and fashionable. Too often it is forgotten that these expressions stem from a culture that is fighting to hold on to what it has while it is slowly being taken away through oppression. Allowing white women to recreate black culture and make it seem okay is telling black girls that it is not okay for you to be your natural self or have a culture that belongs to you but for another race (white women) it is okay because they are better than you are and you do not deserve anything regardless if it is apart of you.

Cultural Appropriation has been stealing traditions, culture and customs since before Christopher Columbus. If you did not know “They Came Before Columbus.”