Cultural Appropriation? Try Cultural Sharing
As a fan of Mother Jones magazine, I don't often disagree with the progressive monthly's editor in chief Clara Jeffery. But she asked for it with this breathtaking tweet after President Donald Trump fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase:
"That the missiles are called tomahawks," she tweeted, "must enrage a lot of Native Americans (sic)."
Or maybe not? I suspect fewer Native Americans were upset by the Tomahawk reference than other Americans who were upset by Jeffery's presumption, judging by their snarky responses to her tweet.
Yet her concern is widely shared these days under the heading of "cultural appropriation." It means what it sounds like, the appropriation by a privileged group of an oppressed group's culture without permission.
It used to be discussed in terms of black music, for example, which was appropriated by white performers back in the day when opportunities and audiences were strictly separated by race.
Unfortunately, when taken to extremes the fight against cultural appropriation can turn into a divisive fight against one of this land's most underappreciated opportunities: cultural sharing.
A surprising example recently came out of Pitzer College in Claremont, California, in a dust-up over -- of all things -- hoop earrings.
Yes, some Hispanic students accused white women who wear hoop earrings of appropriating Latina culture, according to Inside Higher Ed, an online publication covering news on higher education. Three Latina students reportedly started the controversy by writing "White girls, take off your hoops" on a campus free-speech wall.
When the story boiled over into the conservative blogosphere, the young Latinas predictably received a wave of nasty emails from off-campus. Some sounded threatening enough for the college's president, Melvin L. Oliver, to issue an open letter headlined "Hate Speech is NOT Free Speech."
I agree with that. But the more reasonable conservatives raised a fair point, too. We all should be wary of the thin line between racial pride and racial supremacy.
...continued
(c) 2017 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
