Don't count out the young people -- they just might teach you something. A couple of days ago 16-year-old "The Hunger Games" star Amandla Stenberg spoke out about cultural appropriation for her history class, explaining how White America has taken hairstyles from Black culture and made them their own.
Defining cultural appropriation in her video "Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows: a Crash Discourse on Black Culture," Amandla states it is "when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it was originated, but is deemed as 'high fashion,' 'cool,' or 'funny' when the privileged take it for themselves." The high schooler used examples like actor James Franco imitating Riff Raff's style in "Spring Breakers" and Katy Perry's "This Is How We Do" music video where she uses Ebonics, eats watermelons with cornrows in her hair, and adds a picture of Aretha Franklin to represent "respect."
"Braids and cornrows are not merely stylistic, they're necessary in order to keep Black hair neat," expresses Stenberg. She also delves into the hip-hop realm, showing how rappers like Iggy Azalea "adopt Blackness" but fail to show respect for the culture when it comes on hard times.
Watch her viewpoint above and let us know how you feel about cultural appropriation below.
Source: HypeHair
