As we have been growing as a society, Americans have been encouraged to become more aware of the cultures surrounding them and to truly understand thy neighbor, if you will. Something that comes along with this, however, is cultural appropriation.

Nadra Kareem Nittle says in this article for Race Relations on About.com that “...cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups — often with little understanding of the latter’s history, experience and traditions.”

Think about it this way: cultural appropriation is like the bully on the playground who takes everyone else’s snacks, who comes and steals from you once they see something of yours they like. The bully does not ask, nor apologize, and will come back time after time, checking for more things they like that they can rob you of. This bully does not care about your feelings, or the fact that you brought that snack for yourself. Once they want it, it’s gone. And you, of course, won’t get any thanks or credit.

Cultural appropriation is white people (the oppressors) taking things like cornrows and bindis and turning them into fashion statements at the expense of the oppressed.

Cultural appropriation is white boys calling their girlfriends “mami,” and white girls proclaiming how “ghetto” they are while wearing their hair in sh*tty white versions of a twist-out.

Cultural appropriation is white hippies walking around with dreadlocks that look like the Grinch’s fingers and being seen as “bold,” and “daring,” but when any black woman wears her natural hair, she’s seen as “lazy,” and “unkempt.”

I can go on and on, but we are obviously aware of cultural appropriation and its effects on minorities. We have seen, time after time, how white people love to steal from the ones they have oppressed, yet don’t want to acknowledge the origin of “their styles,” or even the fact that yes, whites are oppressors.

A huge argument for whites donning appropriated objects, styles and language is "It's not appropriation, it's appreciation!" But, there’s a huge difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation. Cultural appreciation, for example, is going to a Muslim country and wearing a hijab out of respect for the culture and the people around you. Cultural appropriation, rather, would be ripping off Chonga culture to be considered “unique,” and “individual,” instead of just boring old white bread.

A lot of the times, when cultural appropriation is called out, the appropriator is held accountable for their actions. Minorities even go to the extent of educating the appropriator on the meaning of the things they were taking as their own, because they genuinely want everyone to understand their culture, not just use it to their own advantage and throw it away.

So, if we know cultural appropriation is toxic and should never be condoned in any circumstance, why does America as a whole give the Kardashian-Jenner klan pass after pass while they continuously appropriate black culture and offend black people nationwide?

Recently, Khloe Kardashian posted a picture on Twitter captioned “Bantu Babe,” which pictured her in a Raiders shirt with (terribly done, slightly unraveling at the base) bantu knots. Bantu knots are an African hairstyle for women with natural hair, and African-American women lately have been bringing them back and wearing them proudly more often. Khloe, realizing her mistake, quickly took down the photo, and tweeted out another with a different caption a few minutes later.

So far, every person I’ve seen call Khloe out has been a person of color. Why don’t white people have a problem with the Kardashian-Jenners constantly appropriating black culture and further marginalizing an oppressed group, yet they cry and complain when someone makes a meme about white people thinking the air is spicy?

Of course, Khloe isn’t the only one in the family who’s guilty of wearing black hairstyles. Kim, Kylie, Kourtney, and Kendall have all worn cornrows at one time or another. In some cases (cough, Kylie, Kim) the appropriation has been repeated over a number of years, which you can read about here.

There are a lot of people who will say, “Who cares, it’s just hair,” and “We all belong to one race, the human race,” and, surprise surprise, they people aren’t people of color. White Americans don’t understand what it’s like to have your cultural identity ripped away from you and paraded up and down the street. White people will never know what it’s like to be taken advantage of, used, and thrown aside like POC do. It's disgusting that to this day, people of color are still being subjected to this treatment.

So, listen up. Stop stealing their culture. Educate yourself. Educate your fellow white folks. Do your part to put an end to the terrible disrespect of people of color in our country.

White people, if you really love everyone like you claim you do, get mad. Take a stand against cultural appropriation and racist actions. Don’t let people get away with this.

Just because someone’s famous doesn’t mean they can’t be held accountable. Just because someone’s your friend doesn’t mean they can’t be held accountable.