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Krissy Williams
Ms. Yolanda Franklin
ENC 1101
22 July 2015
Cultural appropriation is becoming a huge topic today that can be touchy for some, but
for others, they do not even notice it. There are so many different aspects of a culture as a whole.
There is the cuisine, traditions, lifestyle, language, and style. Style can be interpreted in so many
different ways. Style can be the way people carry themselves, style of music, or style of clothes,
fashion, and trends. The way a culture is viewed is important. It is their dignity, pride, and how
they can earn respect. Is it okay to steal from a culture and try to make it your own? No, it is
definitely not okay. However, unfortunately this is happening a lot today. The new trend that is
being set is to act like you are from another culture! One should be proud of who they are,
embrace who they are, and not try to be something they are not. It is hurtful on both sides of the
coin. The people that are being appropriated are being stripped of the pride and respect of their
culture, and the people doing the appropriation are shaming themselves.
Cultural appropriation goes back to one of my mother and Is favorite films, Gone With
the Wind. What does the audience learn about the African-American culture from this movie?
Nothing. The slaves are portrayed as ignorant workers used as a backdrop to the rich world of
the Southern plantation owners. We love it because of the elaborate Southern Belle dresses
puffed out by petticoats and the extravagant parties where the characters would dress up in their
finest outfits. The backdrop of the plantation is so beautiful to us with its one hundred year old
oak trees and front porch grandeur. My mother would always say how she loved the plantation
house with the grand staircase. But, taking a closer look at the backdrop, beyond the romance

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and glamour, one will see an African-American slave portrayed as a simple-minded woman.
Mammys sole purpose is to take care of Scarletts every need. But, does the audience ever
really learn anything about Mammy the person. Does she retire to the Slaves Quarters at night
or are the slave owners generous enough to give her a room in the grand house (I am being
sarcastic of course)? Hattie would go on to be the first African-American actress to win an Oscar
for her role as Mammy. But, was the degradation of the slave culture worth the price? When I
spoke to my mother about this issue, she said she never noticed the degradation of the AfricanAmerican culture until she read about it in the news and watched it again, for probably the fifth
or sixth time. My mother told me she saw a whole different side of the movie, a dark and
simple-minded side, when she viewed it again looking from the perspective of an AfricanAmerican. She fell into the trap of the romance and high society of the slave owners point of
view.
Growing up in a culture that completely differs from my own has made the topic of
cultural appropriation very touchy for me. The hip hop world, black fashion, rap stars, thug life
are all cultural aspects I grew up being surrounded by. Therefore, when I see some white
celebrity flaunting about these styles and trends as if they are their own, it really gets me going.
The cultural appropriation of fashion trends and black culture is a huge issue of today. I grew up
hearing and admiring stars like the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Tyra Banks, Beyonc, and many
others. Now trends set by black culture are being taken over by Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians,
and Riff Raff in order to commercialize their image and brand. A Kardashian appears tweeting a
picture of herself in cornrows to grab attention and self-promote. Has anyone in the history of
her ancestors ever worn cornrows or practiced this art-form. These people do not know what it
actually means to live on the streets or be a gangsta or living the thug life, but they sure
act like they do. The bigger question, what part of their culture do they bring to the table?

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Tribal prints, gold jewelry, and just prints in general have been staples in fashion since
the dawn of time, but do people who wear them think about where they came from? The history
behind them and the culture it represents? If people thought more about these questions then
there would be way less controversy over appropriation and dishonoring of cultures. Fashion
trends evolve through every season and era. An example of evolution in fashion is from tribal
prints to any elaborate prints with bright colors to geometric prints to graphic prints ranging from
cartoon characters to anything on this planet. So, it is safe to say that prints are of African
descent in the fashion world. Prints are a beautiful piece of art when you know the background
of them. Specifically, the original prints are Dutch wax prints adopted by West Africa from the
Dutch East Indies. Tribal prints are known to have a crossbred cultural background, but are
commonly known to be of African descent. When dyed cloths starting coming out with
imperfections such as, dots, lines, and various repeating shapes, the people of the Dutch West
Indies rejected them for their imperfections. This is when the prints became West African
because they thought these imperfections, later on to be prints, as beautiful creating the trend.
When I think of African fashion, I think of elaborate patterns and fabrics and vibrant colors, not
the black thug look appropriated by many people today. We see many white and black musical
artists sporting a grill or long gold chain with a medallion the size of a powder compact.
Fashionable, I would say no.
As prints have evolved in todays fashion industry the beauty and background of it have
been taken advantage of by many people. Many designers and celebrities are just worried about
profits. Following trends lead to profits. Prints are used by almost every fashion designer out
there because it is what is popular. Gwen Stefani has been seen in traditional African print
clothes and remarked as a trendsetter and into urban fashions of now. Gwen Stefani did not
make that pattern, she did not come up with it herself, so why does she get some credit. That is

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appropriation. Now the question is, how do we go from beautifully elaborate African prints to
graphic print hoodies with cartoon characters all over it. That is evolution of the times and
fading of fashions.
Now it is a stretch to say that the origins of graphic prints on clothes today are African
tribal prints, but it is safe to say that the origins are of black culture. LL Cool J, Biggie, Tupac,
Jay Z, Kanye West, Tyra Banks, and Beyonc
are just a few names that come to mind when I
think of trendsetters in black culture. Graphic
prints, gold chains, and overly stylish clothing
are the stereotypical highlights of black cultures
street style. What they are known for and their
mark in the fashion world. The New York Times states, this generation emphasizes the basics:
great fabrics, aggressive tailoring, thoughtful accessorizing. Its a return to style as a source of
dignity, a theme that has run through generations of black American style, from Reconstruction
to the Harlem Renaissance to the civil rights era to the mixed messages of the hip hop era. This
is black American street style. But wait theres a plot twist, what I have seen in the media for
quite a while now is that black American street style is becoming what the whole hip hop
industry is diving into. Making a mockery of it.
Miley Cyrus. For the majority of people all I have to do is say that name and they
know what I am going to say. She has taken a turn for the worst. Her bad girl faade has caused
a numerous amount of problems. Her We Cant Stop video has multiple appropriated
messages from her wearing a gold grill to twerking and using black womens bodies as props.
Twerking has a connotation of being a highly inappropriate, sensual dance move. Well this
connotation is due to some significant influences in the hip-hop world today, including Miley.

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Twerking at the rawest form is just shaking ones hips up and down (aka shaking what your
momma give you). This dance move is profoundly influenced by the New Orleans bounce music
era and can be traced back to traditional African dances. This style of dance is unique to the
African culture because of the physique of the women. African women tend to have more junk
in the trunk. It is just naturally how they are, therefore, they execute this dance style flawlessly.
It is unique to their type of people and their culture. Every culture has certain dances particular
to it. Latins/Hispanics have dances ranging from salsa to bachata, white people have swing and
the Charleston, and Africans have dances such as, Moribayasa, which is for specifically for
women. Dance moves like twerking have been derived from traditional African dances that
actually have meaning and depth behind them. African women can perform these moves
effortlessly because of their body type, and they should be proud of that because it is unique to
their culture and background. Miley stole this right from under their feet. In her video she
twerks surrounded by black girls, using them as props, and then she smacks their butts and acts
like they are learning from her. After this video went viral, Miley started the trend, Mileys
Twerk Team. This exploded and become a whole new teenage fad. The new style for teenagers
became any clothing item, mainly crop tops and short shorts, with the any combination of the
words Miley, twerk, and team. She took acclaim for this and plastered it all over her social
media. Now this white privileged, all American girl from Tennessee takes ownership of this
dance continuously using black girls as props in shows and live performances smacking and
licking their butts like they have to dance for her. What kind of image does this put on black
girls dancing and their physique? Is all black girls are good for is being used to shake their butts
on stage for Miley to use because she claims to have invented twerking? You know where she
got this idea of twerking and utilizing African womens physique, Amy Lacount confirms in her

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online article that Miley says word for word to her songwriter, I want urban, I just want
something that just feels Black.
There are so many situations where celebrities just want to feel black. What does that
even mean? To feel black Black is now being made into a style, a way to act, and a way to
dress. It is no longer a culture or people. Imagine how black people feel having their identity
stripped from them. This new view on being black erases any pride in the history of the
African culture. All of the beautiful celebrations and traditions, elaborate garments, dazzling
gold jewelry, and enchanting culture is being erased and replaced with an act and ways to look.