It’s so hard being the prototype isn’t it?
Turning on the television and logging into social media daily has become the perfect centrifuged mix of memes, artist slander and race baiting. Even better, although we have the typical crooked cop videos or slander from Donald Trump, the reinforcement of how much African Americans and African American culture is disregarded almost always appears in a colorful culture vulturing display from a racially ambiguous/ ‘boxer braid’ wearing-non-black-woman appropriating black culture. It’s almost become hammered into our everyday lives. Even a few months again, our fellow HerCampus sister Cassie compiled a 10-item (and then some) listical of all of the black culture staple pieces that have been ‘made fashion’ that open the eyes to all things stolen. (Don’t keep reading without checking out Cassie’s article below!
First, if you don’t know what Black Fishing or Culture Vulturing is, lets ‘put you on’. Think of all the things that well-known influencers and artists like YesJulz, the Kardashian/Jenner clan, Bhad Barbie, Rachel Dolezal, Ariana Grande, etc have in common. They’ve taken small culture staples like feed-in braids, baby hairs, and bamboo
earrings that are considered “ghetto” to us
and have made it “high-fashion” and fetch.
They continually profit off the culture, without credit and without the proper allied relationship. Moreover, they use these staples and wear them loud-and-wrong, as if they created them as they tote their favorite black boyfriend on their arm. So, how can we stop this?
To destroy this system of appropriation it’s important to understand our role as a culture that is being appropriated. How much of what we do is fueling the narrative, and making it “ok” to use our culture relentlessly and recklessly without remorse? Here are some questions to think about as we delve into destroying this hierarchy.
Are we too forgiving when it comes to culture vulturing?
We know that as African Americans there is a stealth history stacked up against us that consist of a long history of oppression and habits that have turned us against each other. There is also a feeling of need for our culture to simply be accepted by other people. This need of acceptance can potentially cause the inability for ‘we’ as a culture to put our foot down and establish boundaries; half because the “white ally” can give more of a voice to a culture to groups of non-blacks than we ever could. OR, in lamest terms, if we let Becky with the good hair come to the cookout more people might accept the cookout altogether.
Does the overpromotion and oversexualization of racially ambiguous women make profiting off our culture easy?
The idea of mixed raced or “not fully black” women has been a stepping stone for culture vulturing. It has made it excessively easy to take clothes right off the mannequins of black entrepreneurs, but them on a racially identifiable woman and sell it for 10-fold. The want and need for an exotic ‘look’, model, or representation makes it easy to use the ideas established and profit. Kylie Jenner is known for stealing the designs of many small entrepreneurs and selling those clothes for a much higher price without recognizing the irreversible damage. Remember, there is a difference in operating in black culture and perpetrating it. We have to remember that in order for the success in white womanhood to exist freely within the culture we’ve established, the degradation of black womanhood has to exist because the two are not mutually exclusive. AND we are letting our culture be broken down before our eyes.
Are we ‘championing’ non-black people in black dominated spaces and perpetuating the idea of culture vulturing?
Speaking back on ‘the cookout’, we allow anybody to come. All they have to do is show us that they can dress like us, dance like us, be hip like us, without saying the n-word. The standard for the cookout is way too low. At what point does being so accepting into our sacred spaces, even inferentially, causing people to feel comfortable enough to no longer imitate, but steal what we have built to make it seem cool? We are letting them cash in on our culture. Unfortunately, they’re cashing in more than the creators of culture are.
Do we excuse this vulturing when it has a black spouse?
Marriage has proved itself to be one of THE finest lines in this debate. There so many of these vultures that are receiving a pass for their behavior because of their marriage. The perfect example is Kim Kardashian. She’s profited off of exploiting black men, but also off our taking what we’ve established (without credit), giving it a new name, and making it fetch. The endless amounts of people that will still stan Kim because of her marriage with Kanye makes it easy for her to feel no remorse or guilt when conquering lands that have been conquered. There should be no excuse to use our men and be able to profit off of having them on their side.
The obsession with culture, especially black women has risen in stout amount, but not in a positive way. These people are showing themselves to be ruthless, and relentless as they have no problem jumping over a black man to destroy a black woman. All in all, we appreciate the imitation, but in the long run that imitation has become disrespect to our culture. Considering that we are the only prototype (and the best at what we do) it is our job to take the stance in protecting the culture that we do have. We should be charged with educating ourselves on the different culture aspects to first, understand where these trends established themselves and why, and using that education to promote our culture in the best way we know how.
Ignorance is no longer an excuse to retract and detach.