"If only they loved us as much as they loved our culture..."

The above look was from the recent Marc Jacobs' show and was featured on the Mane Addicts Instagram profile with the caption "Sun's out, (mini) buns out..."

And I immediately asked "What the heck is a 'mini-bun'?" I've never heard of those before, but I've definitely heard of a Bantu knot, and that is what I'm seeing at the Jacobs show. 

This is what we call cultural appropriation. Cultural Appropriation, in a basic definition, is defined by Wikipedia as "is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of a different cultural group, especially if the adoption is of an oppressed people's cultural elements by members of the dominant culture." And Bantu knots aren't the only example. Autostraddle has 10 big ones by celebrities (if you needed a few more examples).

So, why is cultural appropriation even bad? Surely the acceptance of a minority culture by the dominant culture is a good thing right? 

Well not so much. There is a difference between learning from and accepting of a culture (also know as mutual exchange, where the cultures are on a level playing field) and taking elements from that culture as your own while disregarding (and continuing to oppress) the culture that these elements came from.

It is burning the library of Alexandria and saying that you created algebra, medicine and modern faith.

It is wearing religious headpieces as edgy fashion.

It is wearing a bindi (without any concern or research for the actual meaning of it) for a sexy exotic flair. 

It is taking the most popular stereotypes of a group and donning it as if it's stylish.

It is making sports mascots or mockery out of Native American culture. 

It is wearing hijabs in a desperate attempt to be avant garde in your music video or stage performances.

Adrienne Keene, Ph.D. said it best, "You are pretending to be a race that you are not, and are drawing upon stereotypes to do so."

Cultural appropriation is very simply theft, theft of racial uniqueness, theft of diverse heritage, theft of identity, and theft of cultural respect. 

It's not just about hair. It's about identity. And stealing identity is something that our majority culture has been doing to minority culture since before America was America. The sad thing is that cultural theft is perfectly avoidable, but the majority culture (for whatever reason) has yet to avoid it 

Think about how the above post would be different if it read: "Bantu Knot Tutorial" instead of "Mini Bun Tutorial". Think of the respect that would have been given from both sides of the cultural divide if anyone had acknowledged the choice in hair style for this fashion show was an ancient African method of styling hair.

But, instead of saying that, we fake creativity and call them "mini buns", thus continuing the cultural theft and disrespect. 

It taps into over 400 year of institutionalized oppression. It is seen as an echo of forced cultural loss. It is a pain felt deep into the ethnic psyche of a minority that attributes its own creation from a globally traumatic event; when human beings were stolen from their families, clans, societies, even their continent and were treated as chattel. It is an anger that resounds every time another frat boy sings a racist song or confederate flag flies high or someone else decides to wear black face for Halloween or cornrows (or Bantu knots for that matter) for their fashion shows. Each of these reverberate in the black conscious as the dominate culture saying "Hey, we still don't want you. But we will gladly take your culture." 

Amandia Stenberg's "Don't cash crop on my cornrows" sums it up perfectly when she ends her cultural appropriation lesson (yes, be schooled by this 16 year old.) by saying "What would America be like if we loved black people as much as black culture?"