When I say "dreadlocks," I don't mean the dirty, matted hair that you see on hippies, I mean the many rows of braided hair. Maybe that's just corn rows, idk, that's my bad. Either way, I think it's disingenuous to bring up other cultures who wear that style of hair because for one thing, I never tried to make the claim that black Americans were the first to wear that style. All I was trying to do was point out one example of cultural blending that I think can be harmful. Secondly, Australian aboriginals are not influencing white Americans to wear corn rows. Many rows of braids in white American hair styles is pretty clearly influenced most heavily by black Americans.

I think you're right that black Americans struggle to form a cultural identity, but at the same time, I don't think they're consciously picking and choosing what parts of their culture are "their's" and what no one else can have, the same way you don't choose what you get upset by. They're growing up with certain things forced upon them, and they'll get upset when the way they compensate for those compulsions is used to make a fashion statement. It's the same reason blackface is still so offensive to black people: at the end of the day, white people can take off the black makeup, but black people can't. At the end of the day, white people can take the braids out of their hair, but the cultural norms that pressure black people into wearing them don't disappear.