cultural appropriation
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Dear Miley Cyrus: Hip-Hop Culture Never Needed You and It Won’t Miss You
We often see celebrities evolve before our very eyes, for better or for worse, especially if we have been exposed to them since childhood. Beyoncé, for example, went from creating mainstream pop music to making music more reflective of black women’s lived experiences in her critically acclaimed Lemonade. Then there are celebrities like Miley Cyrus.…
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So So (Tone) Def: Kendall Jenner Needs to Get a Clue With This New Vogue India Cover
All we can do is roll our eyes. Even if Kendall Jenner doesn’t have the wherewithal to recognize that this might not be a good idea, her people should know, after that Pepsi fiasco, that they might want to pump the brakes on every. single. thing for a minute. But maybe white folks just don’t…
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Cinco De Mayo Is The Super Bowl Of Cultural Appropriation
“It’s that time of the year again.” (In my Jay Pharoah voice) The biggest celebration of cultural appropriation is about to go down. Unless of course you had an early start like Baylor University’s chapter of Kappa Sigma, which threw a “Mexican-Themed” party this past weekend. “Cinco de Drinko” was the kickoff event for what…
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I Tried to Read Nbecki’s, I Mean Rachel Dolezal’s, In Full Color so You Didn’t Have to, and I Failed
“Because I felt black, I liked being seen as black.” —Nkechi Amare Diallo … or Nbecki text I feel rich and I like being seen as rich. So am I rich? Is that how this works? Maybe it was because my eyeballs have never rolled to the white meat so many times, rendering me unable…
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This Is What Happens When People of Color Appropriate Other Cultures
Everyone knows we do not hesitate to call out cultural appropriation at The Root. So what happens when someone reports a person of color to the fashion police for engaging in that misdemeanor? Will that person use their nonwhite privilege to excuse their behavior? Will they push back against the accusations? Will they shuffle the…
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White People Are So Happy They Can Now Drink Rosé Out of a 40 Ounce This Summer
When it comes to trolling “the blacks,” white folks collectively employ a “can’t stop, won’t stop” approach. Enter, the latest way to pour salt on our wounds and mock us: 40-ounce rosé. I know what you’re thinking if you’re a Negro: Since when is a 40 the move in the mainstream? After all, the idea…
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Responding to Pepsi Ad, Whoopi Goldberg Says Wearing a Weave Is Cultural Appropriation
Whoopi Goldberg shared her views about Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner commercial on The View Thursday afternoon, saying she doesn’t understand why people are calling the commercial “cultural appropriation” in their critiques of it. “I think they thought they were deeper than they were,” Goldberg said. “If you’re 19 or 21, you think it’s a great thing…
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Iron Fist Is Too Annoyingly And Inappropriately White To Be Any Good
Iron Fist, for all intents and purposes, is televised gentrification pre-equipped with its own heroin addiction. It is painstakingly everything I hate about Williamsburg, Austin, San Francisco, and anywhere else hipsters meet & breed like drugged addicted rabbits in chinos. Honestly, I can break down many issues with the show like this without spoilers: It’s…
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When Being Black Gets Real: Rachel Dolezal Reportedly on the Brink of Homelessness
Racial perpetrator Rachel Dolezal is reportedly unable to find work and lives off public assistance these days. Perhaps she’s now getting the downside of being black in America.* But the infamous cultural appropriator seems to be taking it all in stride. “I’m not going to stoop and apologize and grovel and feel bad about it,”…
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The Last Black History Month
After Donald Trump issued a statement that refused to acknowledge the 6 million Jews slaughtered by Nazi Germany during the 1940s on International Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday, black America should prepare ourselves for what may be the last Black History Month. I’m sure many of you doubt that the Cheddar Comb-Over could erase a tradition…