Cultural Appropriation A Child's Face Black For Halloween

Cultural appropriation often times can be described as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture. Many times, certain situations like painting your child’s face black for halloween is not appropriating but, it is. Now why exactly does cultural appropriation happen? One of the leading causes for cultural appropriation is how profitable it is. Objects and traditions of the “other” cultures are seen by dominant culture as the “exotic other.” It is viewed as a way of being edgy which then translates into profit. This then spirals into assimilation, the process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas. Marginalized communities lose

Now it may not seem wrong to dress your young daughter in a hula girl costume but, it is. As for hula dancing “[E]very movement, expression and gesture in the hula has a specific meaning, from representing plants, animals, and the elements to listening, searching, sailing and so much more. The hand movements are of particular significance, with a good hula dancer watching their hands at all times and not the audience. Chants accompany the dance and assist in telling the story.” (Lakainapali) Although it may seem acceptable and cute, it bashes a ritual performed by Pacific Islanders who believe than dance originated from the gods. As for Native American halloween costumes, we can assume those of the culture don’t want to hear the word sexy in the same sentence as their culture. And lastly, one of the most important examples of cultural appropriation- black face painting. At Arizona State University, a fraternity threw a themed party called “Martin Luther King Black Party” and took photographs drinking from watermelons, throwing up gang signs with black paint on their faces hashtagging ‘#ihaveadream’ on them. Another instance was a “blackout” party where students and affiliated greek life members hashtagged ‘#blacklivesmatter’ on their photos. (Shrayber) For both of these examples, painting your

In 2016 alone, 16 billion dollars was spent on plastic surgery ranging from nose jobs to brazilian butt lifts, to lip injections. Black womens bottoms were scorned until plastic surgery and prehistoric urges “...made them desirable” said EBONY. You would assume that if the definition of beauty and nice traits were shifted towards Black women that you would see black models, actresses, movie stars, etc. more popular in media, but that is not true. The white woman is praised for her stolen features rather than giving credit to where they originated from. When considering a “booty boom” it is attributed to Kim Kardashian for having a big desirable butt, when realistically hers is fake and she appropriated that from African American culture features she viewed as desirable. In social media, you can view challenges such as “Kylie Jenner Lip challenge” where people are trying to plump their lips. However, Kylie didn’t even have a top lip one year ago. She appropriated big lips from Black culture and is being praised while the culture itself is being