Responding to culturally appropriative white people

Heidi Klum dresses as the Hindu deity Kali for a Halloween party in 2008.

What is Cultural Appropriation?

Everyday Sexism: “In short: Cultural appropriation is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that’s not their own. But that’s only the most basic definition. A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. That’s why cultural appropriation is not the same as cultural exchange, when people share mutually with each other — because cultural exchange lacks that systemic power dynamic.

It’s also not the same as assimilation, when marginalized people adopt elements of the dominant culture in order to survive conditions that make life more of a struggle if they don’t.

Some say, for instance, that non-Western people who wear jeans and Indigenous people who speak English are taking from dominant cultures, too.

But marginalized groups don’t have the power to decide if they’d prefer to stick with their customs or try on the dominant culture’s traditions just for fun.”

“But these other people of colour said it was okay for me to wear this outfit.”

This is a common response and a complicated one to tackle. Variants of, “but my black girlfriend said it was okay” or “I showed it to my Indian friend before going out and they loved it”.

Just because some people of colour, and yes that includes people of colour from the specific culture you are appropriating, think that something is okay that does not still give you permission to appropriate that cultural element.

If you gained that permission because you are part of a dominant group (e.g. White British people) from a marginalised group (e.g. Indian people), then you have to consider the inherent power structures within gaining that permission.

But also consider that there is a history, especially in the example above, of a dominant group continually taking elements from a marginalised group. The impact of colonialism in this specific example is a serious one — because we know that its desirous for many communities of colour to try and assimilate with white communities so as a result, people of colour are often going to tolerate more exploitation of their culture.

Secondly, people of colour are also perfectly capable of appropriating other people’s cultures. We see this all the time from cultures of predominantly lighter skinned people appropriating cultural elements of those that are darker skinned than them. For example, an Indian person appropriating AAVE (African American Vernacular English). That still does not make it okay and is highly damaging to the marginalised group.

And finally, people of colour are exhausted of trying to educate white people all the time. It’s incredibly draining. And sometimes, when your white friends comes up to you dressed as a “cholo” for halloween, it’s easier to smile and ignore it, than it is to engage someone you love in a difficult conversation. Especially when you might not have the energy, resources or support to be able to have that conversation with someone

“But I don’t see colour or race! We’re all just human.”

Socialchangelab.net: The topic of race makes people anxious, and it doesn’t help that talking about race also evokes social disapproval. To protect ourselves from all this angst, we use different strategies such as avoidance, pluralistic ignorance, and denial. One particularly preferred strategy, is called strategic colourblindness. Strategic colourblindness is the avoidance of putting race on the table. It is the avoidance of talking about race, noting racial factors as influencing anything, or even acknowledging racial difference. The purpose of this is to avoid the appearance of bias, or avoiding potential misunderstanding, or the avoidance of discomfort that comes from considering the issue of race.

We know that people of colour particularly hate this statement when it comes from anyone — because its a denial of the current state of play. When young black men are being shot in the street by authoritarian police officers just for the colour of their skin, or Latinx women are one of the lowest paid group (at 53c to white women’s 77c), we can’t say that race and colour don’t matter.

The majority of the world does see things like race, colour, accent, culture — and they act on it to the detriment of those from marginalised communities. Well meaning white people talking about colourblindness feels like a deliberate ignorance over all of those issues, so that white people feel more comfortable in social interactions.

Not only does colourblindness evoke a deliberate ignorance driven by the need for white people to feel more comfortable in social interactions, but its continues to perpetuate the status quo — keeping the system of racial hierarchy and oppression-justifying beliefs going.

“But my intentions were good because I respect and love that culture.”

Intention definitely matters, and its great that some white people are so enamoured by cultures of people of colour. But intention is only a part of it — the other is the impact.

If your intention was good, but the impact of your action is that

You are perpetuating harmful stereotypes about a culture
You are upholding the status quo (i.e. racial hierarchy)
You are ignoring the inherent power structures that keep marginalised communities down
You are reducing a culture to a costume
You are being disrespectful about where you are wearing the outfit (for example, wearing a burqa to a fetish night)
You are being disrespectful about how you are wearing the outfit
You are wearing the outfit or using the cultural element in a way that a person from that culture would not

Then it’s clear that just because you intended to show respect, it’s not enough. The outcome of your actions matter more.

“Stop trying to censor me!”

The freedom of speech and expression argument is often invoked by white people to shut down legitimate concerns and ignore the responsibilities that come with that freedom.

That’s not even considering how flawed a theory freedom of expression and speech actually is — and that the incredible problematic inherent power structures that uphold that particular freedom for white people over the exploitation of an entire culture continue to disparage the needs of people of colour.