“2015: The Year Everyone Got Offended,” is something many people like to use as a combatant when people spoke up about their feelings. One of the big offenses of 2015 was cultural appropriation and it was introduced to us in a video by actress Amandla Stenberg but was popularized after Kylie Jenner posted an Instagram photo of herself sporting cornrows. While I applaud Stenberg and others out there for "introducing" the term cultural appropriation, it's time for a new approach to really understand the problem with it and why it is so offensive.

First, I am not condemning all White people for cultural appropriation (I wrote an article about the problem with generalizations if you want to hold me to my word). Let’s get the definition of cultural appropriation absolutely clear. Many like to claim that cultural appropriation, by its broadest term is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that’s not their own.

Everyday Feminism says that cultural appropriation “refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture takes elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group." According to Susan Scafidi, law professor at Fordham University and the author of "Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law," cultural appropriation is "taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission..."

"This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc...

"It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.”

In layman's terms cultural appropriation is members of a dominant group "borrowing" from the cultures of minority groups and then claiming it as something new or for their own. Now here comes the hard part to grasp; all throughout history, the dominant group has been those of White ancestry and that privilege still exists today.

The underlying anger about culture appropriation and hair is the tip of the iceberg. It represents the oppression that White people have inflicted through the use of media and advertising throughout the years. People of color have been told that they were ugly, that they should cover their hair, unlearn their original languages, lighten their skin, adopt new religions, and wear different clothes provided by Western settlers for thousands of years. Cultural appropriation is not just "skin deep."

So when you want to praise dreadlocks, braids, Bantu knots, cornrows and other ethnic hairstyles, just realize that while it may look "trendy" to you, it means so much more to others who actually have to maintain and take care of the hair you spend hours to prepare for just a strut on the catwalk.

Headdresses, moccasins, bindis and saris, are not fashion accessories and actually have deeper spiritual meanings.

As another example, Asian culture is a victim to cultural appropriation, as explained by David Yi of Mashable. He claimed that the red carpet at the 2015 Met Gala's China: Through the Looking Glass perpetuated passive and active racism. While many will question whether this is plausible or not, the fact that it bothered people means something wasn't right. Just consider the scene, China is so much more than chopsticks in hair, dragons, cherry blossom trees, and incorporating kimono-inspired dresses is definitely not appropriate (kimono's are Japanese).

2016 is a new year for new experiences and understandings. Cultural appropriation can happen subconsciously as well as purposefully. When you have to ask whether this is okay or not, chances are you need permission from people who actually know about the culture you are admiring. Admiration is okay, I'm pretty sure if more people knew about the symbolic meanings for different hairstyles and clothing, it would be okay to wear them on catwalks and on red carpets. But, the underlying problem is no one gets the appreciation and credit they deserve, it's all whitewashed and has been for thousands of years. The missing piece to understanding why cultural appropriation is so real and can be offensive is there are historical contexts that prevented these "trendy fads" back then and are still demonized today towards people of color.