[Meme]Digital Blackface

No. There are many shades of gray between "hey maybe respect the cultural roots of that" and "let's completely segregate the races." Full disclosure before I begin: I'm not defending what's shown in the video because I think a lot of people cry cultural appropriation" too often and it loses its meaning. There are instances where taking things from other cultures does harm the culture it's taken from. lemme give an example: hair.

Black men and women frequently wear dreadlocks or corn rows. Why? Well that's a complicated question. The short answer is that their hair is much drier and more brittle than white people's hair. When you live in Africa it's no problem because your sweat is constantly rehydrating those follicles, but in Detroit? It becomes a serious challenge. Black people can (and do) straighten it and style it, but their hair is generally unhealthy to begin with, so it causes a lot of damage. Eventually, they're causing unmanageable harm to their hair. Why not just wear it naturally? Because a lot of society doesn't consider natural black hair to look professional or clean. Dreadlocks are a way for black people to look clean and neat without covering their head in gel or straightening it.

So why is this a problem? Because white people largely don't recognize the privilege of having comparatively healthy hair and just think it looks cool. Many black people get upset at it because to them, it's not just a stylish hairdo, it's a necessity due to imposed cultural norms. White people can take out their dreadlocks while black people largely can't.

By not respecting and understanding the root of a part of black culture, white people can inadvertently disregard the struggle that black people are put through. That's what "cultural appropriation" should mean.

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