Remember Miley Cyrus’s 2013 makeover from Hannah Montana to twerking, grill-flashing, hand signal-throwing, bandana-wearing, tongue-thrusting Bangerz hitmaker? As Dodai Stewart wrote at the time for Jezebel, Cyrus “can play at blackness without being burdened by the reality of it … But blackness is not a piece of jewelry you can slip on when you want a confidence booster or a cool look.” Kardashian more recently wore traditional Indian bridal forehead jewelry to a Sunday church service, prompting one Instagram commenter to remark, “I love how this is from the Indian culture and no recognition given whatsover.” Black people I know were like, “No, these are cornrows or boxer braids! We grew up with this! These are styles we get as kids!”
#BLACK GUY BANDANA I CANT BELIEVE YOUVE DONE THIS MOVIE#
When Kim Kardashian wore cornrows or Fulani braids - a hairstyle with deep roots in the Black community - but called them “Bo Derek braids” (a reference to the blond-and-blue-eyed movie star who wore them in the 1979 movie 10), she was met with outrage. Or, as the Washington Post’s Clinton Yates explained, it’s “showing up someplace and acting as if history started the moment you arrived.” We have a term within the Black community: “Christopher Columbus-ing.” It’s taking something from a marginalized group and renaming it to claim it as your own. It’s demeaning.īeing white and wearing a dashiki might be interpreted as problematic wearing one with cornrows or dreadlocks in your hair almost certainly would be.
But when you wear another group’s cultural signifiers head to toe, it can create the impression that you see them as a costume. In general, I don’t believe those people are malicious or intend to hurt anyone when they borrow the symbols of a culture that isn’t their own. I can’t help but wonder if they see these things as colorful, disposable accessories that can be amusingly donned and then ditched.
I’ve seen blond Caucasian women wearing henna hand tattoos or cornrows with dashikis (traditional African caftans), and American tourists posting selfies while wearing turbans with embroidered caftans in the Middle East. “I would never buy an offensive item or appropriate something from another culture,” you might say. You may think glaringly offensive items have nothing to do with you or your closet.
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