I remember growing up it didn't matter what you dress as when it came to Halloween, but in the last couple of years people have been calling out cultural appropriation. It's one thing if you are painting your skin to resemble a different race, that should never be done, it is disrespectful and racist no matter what race you are.

I see white people getting called out all the time for Black Facing, which they should be called out because it's wrong. But I have rarely seen any other race be called out if they do the same thing. This goes both ways but most people don't want to see that.

When I was a kid most people didn't care if you wore clothes that represented a different country then your own. Most people saw that as though you were learning about other cultures and you like some of the clothes that they wore.

Nowadays if you do that you are called out for cultural appropriation, When I was in 1st grade I was cast as Pocahontas, now I am Irish And Indian, but not Native American, I was cast in that role because I was the only brown-skinned girl in my class. But no one was offended by it.

I saw that Beyonce was called out for cultural appropriation when she wore an Indian-inspired dress when she was in South Asia, people were saying it wasn't right that she was wearing it, but there was one woman that said that Beyonce did not wrong she was attending an Indian Wedding.

She did nothing wrong, she was appreciating the culture and being respectful by dressing for the ceremony. This is where people think it was wrong of her to wear something from a different culture when it wasn't.

This goes the same way when it comes to hairstyles, people get offended when white people wear braids in their hair, but different races and cultures have been braiding their hair centuries if not longer. Dreadlocks date back all the way to Hindu mythology to the Goddess Shiva.

So you shouldn't call out someone for wearing an outfit that is inspired by a different culture or styling their hair a certain way, if they are not being disrespectful or racist such as painting their skin a different color, it should not be considered cultural appropriation.

It's one thing to be inspired by another culture and appreciate it, But there are other reasons, some Asian women lighten their skin because they have been told by their own race that lighter skin is more beautiful, Black women straighten their hair because they have been told that their natural hair is unprofessional in the workplace.

And none of these things are true, natural hair is beautiful, olive skin is beautiful, and this is not cultural appropriation this is them being told by their own race, and that what they look like is not right and they need to change.

So when you see others looking a different way don't call them out on something before you know their story,