"While silly n*ggas argue over who gone snatch the crown
Look around my n*gga white people have snatched the sound," -J.Cole
Culture Appropriation
From durags to twerking popular white culture continually takes aspects of Black culture. Think of the things we see constantly on our television such as Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift “twerking”. Black women have gyrated their butts for decades however it was just recently when white female pop icons started twerking that it became the latest fad. Just because you put blonde hair and blue eyes on it does not make it yours. Black culture is varied and many other cultures see things we do and try to adopt them as their own however it is stealing to claim someone else’s idea as your own. We come up with so many things and receive zero credit because of culture appropriation. Culture appropriation is not a new concept and dates back to before Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry.
While Black women are constantly deemed inferior and inappropriate we are constantly being duplicated. There are many white women in larger cities such as New York and California who take twerking classes to learn how to move their behinds like Black women have been doing for ages. These are also the same white women who feel uncomfortable going to an all Black club. There has also been an increase on the acceptance of curvy women. Black women are also known for being shapely and voluptuous. White women are noticing more and more men showing an attraction to this body type and they go to great extremes to achieve a curvy body. The New York Times "discovered that butts are a thing" (Robinson, 2014). However butts have always been a “thing” in the Black community and at one point we were shamed for having such curvaceous figures. Long gone are the days of white women striving to be model thin they now want to be video vixen thick.
During New York Fashion Week there was an increase in “urban fashion” which included an urban tie cap and urban fashion hair styles. These urban fashions have been around in the Black community for ages and are simply a durag and gelled down baby hair. Many members of Black Twitter were outraged and made comments of the culture appropriation of what has been done for years. Black women are looked down on for wearing their night scarves out of the house because it is seen as inappropriate. So when did it become high fashion for a white model to wear a scarf on the runway? As Black women we constantly have to battle outside forces who try to take parts of our culture. Reality hits us hard in the face it is okay for Beth to do it but not Bria. When we are stripped us our culture what do we have left? When will we draw the line and demand to receive credit for many of the everyday things in pop culture we have influenced?
Over the last few months, corporations have found a new way to gain attention on Twitter: tweeting rap lyrics and other allusions to hip-hop culture (Robinson, 2014). IHOP tweeted “When's the last time you had pancakes? **about a week ago, week ago**” which is in direct reference to Bobby Shmurda an emerging hip hop artist. This one tweet created a big buzz on social media. Some Black Twitter users found the tweets to be amusing while others were upset by IHOP using hip-hop lyrics for promotion. After IHOP came Denny’s and Taco Bell tweeting hip-hop lyrics.
As a Black woman I struggle daily with culture appropriate and find myself questioning why it is so easy to steal our culture. Why do we not put up more of a fight? Why do we continue to let these things happen? The very things that make us unique and colorful as a people are being taken from us. If white culture intends to steal our style the very least they could do is give us credit and respect that we create such powerful trends. Our ideas and culture is stolen from us and we are expected to remain quiet.
From durags to twerking popular white culture continually takes aspects of Black culture. Think of the things we see constantly on our television such as Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift “twerking”. Black women have gyrated their butts for decades however it was just recently when white female pop icons started twerking that it became the latest fad. Just because you put blonde hair and blue eyes on it does not make it yours. Black culture is varied and many other cultures see things we do and try to adopt them as their own however it is stealing to claim someone else’s idea as your own. We come up with so many things and receive zero credit because of culture appropriation. Culture appropriation is not a new concept and dates back to before Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry.
While Black women are constantly deemed inferior and inappropriate we are constantly being duplicated. There are many white women in larger cities such as New York and California who take twerking classes to learn how to move their behinds like Black women have been doing for ages. These are also the same white women who feel uncomfortable going to an all Black club. There has also been an increase on the acceptance of curvy women. Black women are also known for being shapely and voluptuous. White women are noticing more and more men showing an attraction to this body type and they go to great extremes to achieve a curvy body. The New York Times "discovered that butts are a thing" (Robinson, 2014). However butts have always been a “thing” in the Black community and at one point we were shamed for having such curvaceous figures. Long gone are the days of white women striving to be model thin they now want to be video vixen thick.
During New York Fashion Week there was an increase in “urban fashion” which included an urban tie cap and urban fashion hair styles. These urban fashions have been around in the Black community for ages and are simply a durag and gelled down baby hair. Many members of Black Twitter were outraged and made comments of the culture appropriation of what has been done for years. Black women are looked down on for wearing their night scarves out of the house because it is seen as inappropriate. So when did it become high fashion for a white model to wear a scarf on the runway? As Black women we constantly have to battle outside forces who try to take parts of our culture. Reality hits us hard in the face it is okay for Beth to do it but not Bria. When we are stripped us our culture what do we have left? When will we draw the line and demand to receive credit for many of the everyday things in pop culture we have influenced?
Over the last few months, corporations have found a new way to gain attention on Twitter: tweeting rap lyrics and other allusions to hip-hop culture (Robinson, 2014). IHOP tweeted “When's the last time you had pancakes? **about a week ago, week ago**” which is in direct reference to Bobby Shmurda an emerging hip hop artist. This one tweet created a big buzz on social media. Some Black Twitter users found the tweets to be amusing while others were upset by IHOP using hip-hop lyrics for promotion. After IHOP came Denny’s and Taco Bell tweeting hip-hop lyrics.
As a Black woman I struggle daily with culture appropriate and find myself questioning why it is so easy to steal our culture. Why do we not put up more of a fight? Why do we continue to let these things happen? The very things that make us unique and colorful as a people are being taken from us. If white culture intends to steal our style the very least they could do is give us credit and respect that we create such powerful trends. Our ideas and culture is stolen from us and we are expected to remain quiet.