Don’t Appropriate, Appreciate.

On November 20th, 2016, a Blackhair beauty magazine stirred up quite the controversy when the cover page featured Emily Bador, a white model, providing tips on how to maintain curly and frizzy hair. The problem there was that Emily Bador is a white woman attempting to convey the true beauty of an element of African-American culture. This issue led to an outpour of displeasure, which died down after she took her Instagram as a platform to apologize for the blatant cultural appropriation.

But the world didn’t stop appropriating: Fuller House committed an equally serious blunder with another culture. News that Netflix would refresh the TV family sitcom “Full House” with the same cast was cause for rejoice for many. When Season One finally aired in February 2016, all seemed well. Then came the eleventh episode, in which an Indian-themed party was thrown by a character named Kimmy Gibbler. You may be wondering what exactly the issue may be in this instance. To begin, there was not anyone of Indian descent even present at the party. It was just white males and females dressed in traditional Indian clothings such as “sherwanis” and “saris.” Furthermore, the show had the temerity to jokingly place a cow in the party and dress it up solely for use as a comedic prop. I [Deep] witnessed this example of cultural appropriation firsthand as I watched the episode and, to say the least, I was simply baffled. Thousands of years of heritage and tradition were diminished to a party unrepresentative of Indian culture as a whole and solely present for the enjoyment of individuals who have held more privilege in society.

Anecdotes like this are just one of hundreds that grace the covers of newspapers every year. But the sad, blunt truth is that we haven’t. In its simplest form, cultural appropriation is when one group adopts elements from another culture without either acknowledging its cultural significance, or even going as far as claiming it as their own–hence, mocking it to an extent. A common counter used by many perpetrators of cultural appropriation is that they are simply participating in cultural exchange: a trading of elements of a different culture for the sake of emphasizing each one’s value. That, as seen from the anecdotes above, is nowhere near what we so often wrongly do. We must understand that it is not wrong to borrow elements from another culture. However, we must be willing to learn and understand what exactly we are “borrowing” from their culture. We must note the cultural relevance and have an open-mind in experiencing all aspects of it. It is imperative to let individuals of those cultures show how that element is to be implemented and most importantly, how it is a significant reminder of the unique beauty originating from that culture.