America’s greatest commodity has always been its culture. Our film industry is the envy of the world, our music and arts are known worldwide and American life is all part of our world-wide consumed culture. With that in mind, there is no longer any denying that black culture is the centerpiece of American culture. Nothing is more popular lately than black culture; hip-hop artists are some of the most listened to the world over, black language, fashion, hairstyles and movies have all become integrated into popular American culture.
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All those factors bring up an interesting discussion: when is culture being appreciated and when is culture being appropriated? Culture appropriation is one of the hot topic issues that have come to the forefront of discussion in recent years and for good reason. While America is a cosmopolitan society and we have fought for generations to build a society in which people and their individual cultures are equal, many people have come under lately for “appropriating” another group’s culture.
Appropriating culture is the act of adopting elements of another group’s culture for personal use, usually manifests itself as the dominant culture taking from a sub-culture. But, that definition is very sociological and technical. In reality culture appropriation can be difficult to define in real life.
Some great examples of culture appropriation are seen with our celebrities. Many people were upset when Miley Cyrus, while trying to reinvent herself, began wearing her hair in dreadlocks and twerking at any place with a camera; two obvious elements of black culture. Or, what about when Kylie Jenner started wearing her in cornrows, many people also saw that as a big example of culture appropriation. Like I said, it can be tricky to define what’s appropriation and what’s appreciation. For her part, Miley said that she loved dreadlocks and “hood music”, but does that show she appreciates black culture or just that she has a certain perception about it that she likes? Many claimed Cyrus only adopted these traits because they are seen as more hardcore and adult when compared to her previous child star image.
In my opinion it all comes back to context, if you genuinely appreciate elements of a certain culture, show respect for it, and attempt to pay homage to it isn’t seen as appropriation. But, if the reason behind your actions are questionable, it lends more credence to the idea that someone is simply using culture for their own gain.
But that’s just with celebrities, what about the appropriation we see in everyday life? I’ve always known how much black culture is taken from, but I grew up on the Southside of Chicago, so I really didn’t see it play out until I came to college.
It was everywhere; everyone was playing rap, sagging their paints, wearing their hats backward and saying words that came from black culture like G, dog, and watup. It didn’t really dawn on me why black culture was so popular to so many people until my junior year when I worked as an R.A. I would hear a group of white students playing Lil Wayne and Fetty Wap while saying all of their lyrics word for word on a daily basis, but it was more than that. They would get excited about it and say things like “Yeah, I’m in the trap with my n****s bro”. When they listened to our music and said our words it was more than just music or simple words to them, for them it was a lifestyle. They felt that they knew what it felt like to black or to live in the hood without any actual knowledge about either of those things.
It can be argued that they felt they appreciated and knew about black culture, but I don’t think that’s the case. They have never been to “the hood” and seen drug addled people be pushed to by drug dealers because if they had, they would know what a sad, dangerous place it can be. They said words like the "n" word and other black slang without having any respect for what they meant or knowledge of where they came from.
Like I said, for them it was a lifestyle that they could buy with music, clothes, and a pair of Jordan’s. I’m not saying that only black people can use certain words or that some things “belong” to certain racial or ethnic groups. Instead, my main point is that culture appropriation is a problem because it doesn’t take people’s culture seriously. Culture is important and it helps define some people’s identities, but appropriation just makes it seem like a small, set of elements than anyone can replicate.
Appropriation is not the same as appreciation, it treats different groups and their cultures like interchangeable identities people can choose to where or not. So, if you’re going to use elements of another group’s culture make sure you take time and pay respect to that group and what their culture means. Take it seriously or you risk being insensitive. Simple right?
