Opinion: Cultural appropriation, negative stereotyping are a global danger
For decades cultural appropriation and stereotyping are problems that have been creating multiple issues for minority groups to face. Cultural appropriation is when a majority group takes a minority cultures and disrespects it, not caring to learn anything about it.
Cultural appropriation was first called cultural colonialism and was only called cultural appropriation when popular culture, music, the fashion industry and other industries started using other peoples culture for personal gains. Negative Stereotyping is an untrue and disrespectful belief or characteristic that people have about certain ethnic groups. Stereotyping was first discovered in 1922 by Lippmann.
These two topics go hand in hand because stereotypes were created based on cultural appropriation. For example, Native American war bonnets and clothing are used as “costumes” for Halloween every year.
This is bad because those Halloween costumes created some scary and dangerous stereotypes towards native women and girls, which resulted in sexual violence and human trafficking. Native Americans aren’t the only ones affected by the cultural appropriation and stereotype dynamic. African Americans are also affected by this, for instance, black people have been oppressed and enslaved for decades.
They would use their hair to hide things, make maps to escape their plantations, and transfer messages by creating different braiding patterns, now black people’s hairstyles are being used for “fashion” and profit. A TikTok was posted of a white guy doing his baby hairs which in black culture is called edges. Even though he googled what the hairstyle was called, he decided to try and take the credit by calling them “sticky Bangs.”
When it comes to stereotyping, black people are most likely going to be a part of that topic. African Americans are usually categorized as aggressive and this can sometimes lead to unnecessary deaths. African Americans make up about 34% of unarmed civilians who were shot and killed by police which is twenty two people per year.
When it comes to stereotype “jokes” and slurs, Asians are the second largest group that comes to mind. The term “Asians eat everything” created a lot of problems for the Asian community in America during COVID-19.
About 31% of people from the Asian community had said they have experienced racial slurs just because they are Asian. That same term also created the controversy that all Asians eat dogs which is actually not true. In 2016 a survey was taken that 69.5% of people in China and 87.5% of people in South Korea have never tried or eaten dog meat, and 56% of people in South Korea support the ban on eating dog meat.
Due to cultural appropriation being around for so long, it has changed in the way it presents itself. Usually, you would see cultural appropriation in fashion shows, tv shows, games, etc. But with the evolution of the internet and the world itself, cultural appropriation has shown itself way more. For instance, social media, with apps like TikTok and Instagram being so popular, it’s way easier to spot disrespect towards other groups. There is a trend on TikTok called “Blokeface”, It’s where people would style their jerseys for sports games, but this style was long discovered in black hip-hop and Latino cultures.
Cultural appropriation and stereotypes don’t just affect different races and ethnic groups. But it also affect people who are biracial /multi-racial. When talking about these topics it can put these people in an uncomfortable situation, especially if they have the white race as a part of them. biracial/multiracial people are usually told they are culture-appropriating another race if they don’t “look” like their other race enough. It’s even more uncomfortable when you’ve only been around one side of your family and the other side of your family is a whole other race.
Sometimes they grow up knowing so much about one race but know nothing about the other race that’s a part of them, it feels like they’re missing a part of themself. There are times when mixed people might never feel enough for either side and are always looking for validation. It’s hard when one of their ethnic groups does something wrong or says something wrong to their other ethnic group, it makes them feel like they are trapped between themself and don’t know how to respond.
Choosing sides on these topics is hard when you’re mixed. On one hand, you feel bad for that one ethnic group that’s a part of you. On the other hand you don’t know what to say or do no matter what side you choose you will get looked at weirdly or “hated” on.
Mixed kids get hated on just for trying to learn their other ethnic group especially if their family is not supportive of it. So most mixed kids choose to not choose sides in certain situations unless the situation has a simple answer. Sereotyping and cultural apporpiation affects everyone no matter who you are, so we need to come together and shed light on this topic.
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