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Originally Posted by salvete
are you familiar with Rachel Dolezal?
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Yes. I wrote about her here when she was first found out.
I was a little offended at first because I felt like she was romanticizing being black and being black in America is no joke.
Rachel Dolezal was trying to be "discriminated" against for being white, then when she lost in court, she decided to become black. It's almost as if she was trying to prove that she knows what discrimination is. Which, she doesn't. Just because she decided to become black doesn't mean she understands the struggle.
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Originally Posted by monstahh`
Also I worry a LOT about cultural appropriation.
One of my friends is all like "omg you should get dreads!!" and my response was "I don't want to offend anyone" and she looked like I slapped her in the face (she is a proud biracial woman who does locking for a living. People travel hours to have their hair done by her).
I was just so worried that someone would accuse me of trying to steal from another culture. That's never my intention. My intention is typically to appreciate. And I can appreciate it from over here, looking at all the pretty/different/historical/etc things these different people want to share on the internet. I don't feel the need to emulate it, its not mine to do w/ as I please.
also talking through this did actually help me understand a little (hopefully the pain meds don't make me forget), thanks for bringing that up, Crimson.
& Ava as well, thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry people treated you differently because of your race :(
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I feel like cultural appropriation is fine to a certain degree...
For example, World Hijab Day. Where women on different campuses wear hijab to support their muslim peers. I mean, technically, it's cultural appropriation, but at the same time, it raises awareness and gives other people the chance to experience what it's like to be in someone else's shoes for a day.
I don't have a big problem with white people wearing dreadlocks, dreadlocks don't belong to any one race, I believe they were technically invented by 18th century India. Then Jamaica took it and made it their own. I also don't have an issue with white people trying to make their hair curly or their skin dark, as long as they do it with the intention to make themselves feel good, and not because they want to spread negative stereotypes about black people.
I guess when I was wearing salwar kameez, that could have been considered cultural appropriation, or wearing henna on the hands or things like that. But I mean, it really shouldn't make anyone upset because I was wearing salwar kameez in honor of India and the salwar kameez I had was made in India, so I never thought it would offend anyone to wear it.
I think cultural appropriation can be okay but it really depends on the intentions.