And again, I'm not talking about the little girl anymore, she can shave her head for all I care. I'm speaking WHY people complain about cultural appropriation. The answer while obvious to me is apparently lost on many people in this thread, as they write about these fictious utopias in which all groups are treated equal and complaining about cultural appropriation is stupid.
The MAIN reason any group ever complains about culture appropriation is because that group feels oppressed. If people want minority groups to stop crying about cultural appropriation the answer is simple. Stop being complacent on how America treats minority groups. If said groups were treated nearly as well as so many people's utopic visions...I doubt this thread would even exist.
The little girl did nothing wrong, the argument of hair being exclusive to one group is dumb. Now divorcing ourselves from this little girl, I'm going to explain to people why some people draw issues with something as insignificant as hairstyles. In America the metric standard of beauty has and still is straight luscious hair. It's the standard that all women are measured at. This is doubly damining toward black females as straight hair is not the natural state of black female hair. The various methods to achieve said hair is scarring and expensive. Every day that idea is reinforced to black women by TV, Music, movies, photos and all other avenues. They're often told their natural hair is "ugly and unkempt", "nappy headed" and that they would look better if they straightened it.
Many black women started embracing hair styles more suitable to their hair, and again are greeted with the same negative attitudes towards it. And for just as long as these women have been ridiculed for their hairstyles; magazines and other avenues pour on accolades when the fairer skinned females do the same thing (Bo Derek as an exampled was lauded for it and many found the style refreshing and new, despite the fact at the same time many establishments and news/media were flat out calling black women who had this hairstyle "ghetto" or "unattractive". Or a better example would be Kylie Jenner or whatever her name is when she rocked half braids or whatever and Vogue or whoever stated it was "brand new, bold, and innovative hair style" rightfully black people, females especially were upset with the statements and the magazine and much less Kylie, in fact most people gave two fucks about Kylie herself and drew issue with the magazine perpetuating the idea that white is right and black is wack.
Or a better example check out that NeoGAF thread on Lupita's hair style, many suggesting she grow it out and straigten it, and many more saying she looks like a boy and her hairstyle is ugly. That is what black women face, that is what America says to black women and their natural hair. Or check the NeoGAF thread about the young African American girl who was expelled from her school for keeping her hair natural and the school telling her to straighten it.
The issue shouldn't be with this little girl, the issue should be and is with how American media views the two groups when they do the same thing and the effect it has on members of each group in how they perceive themselves and how they perceive themselves relative to the other group. Much like you and others don't want people judging this little girl for simply doing box braids, the same needs to be applied to these twitter users. They're not representatives of black culture, yet too many people in here are making damning statements about the culture because of what a few bumfucks stated on NeoGAF and that irony is lost on these posters.
Or to make it relatable to anyone with a drop of empathy. Imagine have two sons/daughters; and they both do the same thing. You constantly praise one for it and insult/demean the other for doing the same thing...what is the expected outcome? How do you think it'll affect how they view not only his/herself and you but also the sibling who has done absolutely nothing wrong. Then you have the mother who doesn't care that this is happening. Obviously in my analogy the sibling in question would most likely realize that father is an asshole and would probably try to shine light on their sibling. This too is done in our society you see those people all the time throughout history, whites who rallied with MLK and did the million man march, those who take part in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. You also have the equivalents of mothers in our society, you know these as the "I don't see race" or "It's not happening to me so who cares" type people. And much like in society, mom and dad's voice and influence is so much more powerful than your siblings and will mark you much more deeply.
At this point, most of us aren't talking about the little girl anymore and we're now talking about American society at large (tends to happen with these threads). We've already had a number of people with the usual "Cultural appropriation is stupid because here is my utopia dream of how we treat each other in the US". and other such nonsense that really should be dismissed but we can't help but respond to such nonsense.
Again, divorce yourself from the little girl because it's no longer about her. I'm no longer talking about her, she is an anchor to none of my posts anymore. She doesn't speak for America at large much like any one black person doesn't speak for African Americans at large.
The girl can do with what she wants with her hair, no one should draw issue with that. People should redirect their anger to the massive cog that is American news, media, employment and how they they view and treat the different groups of people when they do the same thing. It is because of that different treatment that we have the cries of cultural appropriation.
A few posters have made the suggestion that blacks are segregating themselves and that they should be trying to assimilate and this is the best way...these people (bless their hearts) clearly speak from a place of either privilege (trigger word!) or ignorance (double trigger!). Black people have been trying to "assimilate" since they were brought here. Blacks are simply responding to the segregation being afflicted upon them, in order for blacks to segregate themselves you have to put forward the argument that segregation has ended....it really hasn't. Segregation ends when racism ends and racism in this country is far from over.
It was called white flight not black flight, black people have been trying to assimilate for fucking ages, too bad the majority group by large doesn't want said assimilation and passes law after law to disenfranchise, imprison and generally keep blacks in a fucked state out of hatred, fear and stupidity, and what's worse is that so many Americans are completely fine with it, and others even blame black people saying things like "earn it first". Black people have "earned" equality 600x over.
I went on a craaaazy bit of tagents but meh.
TL;DR - No one is talking about the little girl at this point, divorce yourself from her.
