Monday night, I sat down with Sam and some other students to talk about the problem that is cultural appropriation. We first talked about famous rock and roll musician Elvis Presley and how he borrowed a lot of his sound from black culture and reaped all the benefits when the country did not allow black people to be heard on the radio. We also talked about a sculptor’s piece of art that was thought to be an honor, but was really a rip-off of Native American history. The sculptor stopped constructing the painting as complaints occurred, and made the wood available to be burned.

We then talked about where the line is drawn when it comes to what is and is not appropriate. Some things we agreed were very obvious, such as Halloween costumes. We often see people dress up as Native Americans, which is a very clear sign of cultural appropriation and should not be tolerated. However, as a group, there were some things that we just did not know how to clarify. For example, someone brought up hair braiding, and how her white friend from home started braiding her hair. She agreed that this was not a big deal, but when she thought about her whole white community from home doing it, she realized how bad it could be.

I think cultural appropriation is a very important thing to acknowledge to make sure every culture is respected. Cultural appropriation can never be good, regardless of the intention.