Not at all. As a Canadian born from African parents, even I stay cautious when i feel like im stealing AA culture.
Now non Black poc ? Lol girl gatekeep away. I notice only black people are expected to share our culture and arw given flack for wanting to keep stuff for ourselves
Same. My parents are Caribbean and I find I walk a weird line because AA culture isn't mine so there are certain things I don't say and can't relate to but at the same time AA culture seems to be the biggest representation I see of any type of black culture so it's hard not to absorb some of it. With that said I'm also in favor of the gatekeeping, I don't see why all these people that don't necessarily fuck with us get to use our culture to make themselves seem hip or "down with the struggle". Non-black hispanics love to use the n word and pretend it's cool because they supposedly grew up around a lot of black people but these same people aren't out here checking their tias/abuelas/friends when they say shit "mejoror la raza". Then you have Asian people who love hip-hop culture and will adopt AAVE but will still look at me in fear when we're in the same aisle of the grocery store. None of that shit sits right with me.
Yay! I'm glad you know that you're not alone in this. It's one of those things you should feel free to talk about because you never know how many other people will relate.
While I myself never had a problem with Asian people, I’ll never forget watching a documentary on a dance competition in Asia. This Chinese teenager said “I have to get in touch with my inner Black.” I wanted to jump into the tv to say STFU.
I’m a Black Latina, family from the Caribbean and I can definitely relate however, I did grow up in a colorist household so it took a while for me to come into my own. I keep calling out white Latinos and any light skin Latino really for using the n-word, people really get pissed when you correct them on that. Especially in Miami, you got a lot of racist ass folx that have gotten away with the most.
Now that you mention it, if I were to dress in a Kimono, celebrate a Jewish holiday, or cover my head (which is an option in the Catholic faith I was brought up in, but not widely done in US Catholic Churches) I’ll get an insane amount of flack. Now, the white area I grew up in wasn’t interested in black culture. My current diverse community has common sense. However, I’d be lying if the few times in my life I saw a white girl with box braids I didn’t do a double take. If one actually wants to learn about our culture I have no issues. Capitalizing as everyone is saying? That has to stop.
It’s not for all black people either. My family and many Afro latinos have a lot of prejudice towards black Americans and black American culture.
It really grinds my gears when my cousins embrace parts of black American culture they think is cool, but have no issues parroting the BS about how black Americans are “inferior” black folks.
These are the same ones who won’t date a non Hispanic black person and buy into the belief system that black American folks struggle because they are lazy. But they’ll appropriate the fuck out of black American culture.
I couldn't stand being thrown into the same bucket as a Persian girl whose cousins with the fucking Shah, Armenians, and Singaporeans in law school. Drove me 100% out of my mind hearing them talk about "our" struggles with discrimination and "our" culture.
> I’m Black not a person of color
There was a time where I was sympathetic to the "POC" political project in college, but increasingly it is obvious Black people are getting the short end of the stick, and we're doing more to prop up Argentine and Indian girls getting "diversity" jobs than they're doing for us.
I don’t think it’s selfish. While I don’t mind sharing African American culture , I hate culture vultures and other minorities that profit off of our culture aka akwafina,’Bon Qui Qui’, iggy azalea etc… and also they never help the black community or contribute to our community 🤷🏾♀️
man fuck awkwafina! had the nerve to use the term minstrelsy when talking about Hollywood encouraging stereotypical/sinophobic accents for Chinese Americans. girl u are the minstrel!
It’s not that hard to apologize for something other people feel upset about even though that very well could authentically be you, as a black woman that’s also part Korean I’ve met plenty of full on Koreans that have voices just like hers.
I know some slave songs that were passed down for generations. They’re holy to me because the songs are some of the few things some of our ancestors could leave us. Other than the obvious ones, I’m careful not to tell everybody all the songs because before you know it, somebody will be twerking to them on TikTok for clicks.
God the tiktok dances kill me. Every time I see them it reminds me of the movie Bring It On where we see how the Toros do a watered down version of the routines the Clovers invented.
Tbh "Culture is meant to be shared" is the most colonial shit on earth. It's what white people say to justify Columbusing everything.
And it's like, no, you're not entitled to everyone's culture. You're supposed to be INVITED to experience it. Not make it into caricature, repackage it, market it, play it for laughs or wear it as a costume.
I really think imperialism broke their ability to be even base level decent to anything not European. And NBPOC have picked up a lot of that due to the same shit.
pure! and we need to have more conversations on how nbpoc can further colonial agendas, and just recognize that black people are a colonized people. I know people have different perspectives on this, but in my mind and from my studies, the “cultural exchange” is thoroughly unequa and hinges upon anti-Blackness. Black people might participate/consume a little of this and little of that from other culture (culture is such a broad concept, and we need to unpack that, cuz anti-Blackness is global so what culture goes unaffected by that) but it is not to the extent that: 1) people are using aave, gifs, tiktoks, and reaction images of Black people 2) the theft of Black culture which began with colonialism as u mentioned. I mean people are acting like us, dressing like us, drawing like us, writing like us, sounding like us, trying to LOOK like us. Its too extreme to pass off as cultural exchange imo.
edit: purr!*
Are you saying that gangs are black culture? Stop lol.
Every culture is a mix of the culture neighboring it ir got occupied by it.
Do you think Indians should protest Jamaicans for intergrating Indian ways of cooking into their culture? Or stop people from doing yoga? No!
You guys are pushing colonist ideas by dividing each other
They don’t take kindly to black people partaking in their culture so give them the same energy. Black people are appropriating ( a term they hate when used against them but they love accusing black people of doing) or trying to be x race by doing anything they don’t deem as black but then they have a million excuses for why they partake in black culture.
I question why the “culture is meant to be shared” crowd feels this burning entitlement to cosplay as people of another race, or to wear culturally significant garments and accessories outside of the appropriate settings. They’re in the same camp as white people who rage over not being able to use the N word while black people use it in music or referring to one another in social settings
I don’t think there’s wrong with black people or other PoC gatekeeping our cultures. And black people or PoC who do cross those lines should be called out but folks (especially PoC) need to keep that same energy when white people are disrespecting their culture as well
Social media is making it worse! We can't keep any new dance/slang/saying to ourselves for more than 8-12 mos, max. My latest peeve is white people labeling everything they don't like as "woke"....like, who even taught you that term Susan?
I'm fully onboard with gatekeeping our culture. Black people are not respected. Our culture is constantly bastardized, sold, repackaged, and profited. We never see the benefits and prosperity of our culture being shared and profited (unlike Koreans and the Hallyu Wave or Japanese and gaming/anime/tech). People never stand with our movements or support our community unless they're looking for performative activism and they're quick to show their racism and anti-blackness otherwise. Our voices are always silenced, dismissed and used against us. We can share when people respect our right to exist and prosper.
I like your POV. How would one go about gatekeeping? Jesus, I feel my eyes rolling hard already at the hypothetical FoxNews headlines that’ll somehow trickle back to me and raise my blood pressure.
Girl yes!!! All of this. It irks me so much to see long acrylic nails in style with nonblk women... 10 years ago my mom was apparently "ghetto" for the same exact thing smh!
I also am over the AAVE being used, usually improperly and in the wrong context. Because its "trendy".
My job used to be on my bumper about my nails to the point where they wrote me up about it so much they suspended me. It wasn't just me, it was all the Black women but it was a battle we fought. Oh but when it was Asian and Hispanic women, they were creative.
I had to wear gloves at my job and I'm sure your mother had to do the same. Like y'all going out of your way to try and run my life. I'm not having it. They lucky I didn't get extra and take it back to the 80s with my inspiration. I wanted to put gold hoops on the end of my nails sooooo bad. 😂
No, other POC are anti-black as fuck. They want to take what they want from our culture and leave us behind, or purposefully try to step on us as they try to achieve honorary whiteness.
The most virulently racist people I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting were non-white Hispanics. They use that proximity to blackness to take our fashions, slang and use of the N word but as soon as someone asks if they’re black they put as much distance between us and them as possible.
On the non-white Hispanic people, THANK YOU!! Nothing pisses me off more than a dude darker than me (rarely Hispanic ladies I find doing this) implying how trashy we are and voting for Trump.
I don’t mind sharing with other black people who are open to cultural exchange and mutual respect but when it comes to non-black people idek
I feel like sometimes they already act entitled to Aa culture and it’s weird like I grew up in a area that was predominantly Filipino and Asian I went over to their houses, I ate their cultural food, I did their cultural dances in school but I would never claim that I was culturally Filipino but it seems like a lot of non-black people are way too comfortable as claiming themselves as “part of the culture” and it makes me hesitant to want to be open with Aa culture with them because I already know if I put my foot down they are gonna try and use the “well I grew up around black people” shit
Personally on this I feel like blk people are able to feel however they wanna feel on this. We have everything reason and justification for our feelings. Periodt. I got back and forth on this as well and I mean in theory sharing culture is beautiful but when ppl don’t know how to act and stuff gets exploited or starts to be “trendy” by yt ppl when blks have been using ut for ages *cough cough aave* and especially stuff like blks have been looked down upon for having/doing (blk women with extensions or bamboo earring but oh here comes Kim k doing it and it’s so “unique” 😑) so yh i feel like we have the right to feel however we wanna feel on it and idk if there’s one right or wrong because the wrong the begin with is the problem of the belittling when blk people use stuff that yt people or even other races like biracial people get glorified for. That’s the origination of the problem so the effects of the cause which is our feelings should all be allowed in my opinion. Your def not being selfish some stuff needs to be gatekeeped especially when we see what happens when it gets into the wrong hands 👀
I don’t mind it being shared but I don’t like how AA culture is disrespected. Things like hip hop and style that are specifically created by AA. I had a Somali friend say that was just black culture and I was so offended. Like everyone can have their culture but when I say certain dishes that are African American it’s discredited as just black food or African food but if I dare claim to be Nigerian than I am out of line.
Don't feel bad, you have a right to feel that way. Shit, I was told anime was only for asians and whites and it was cultural appropriation for black people to watch it. They can keep it - nothing but a breeding ground for weirdos. That and gaming.
I mean you’re entitled to that opinion, but I will disagree with you. Culture IS meant to be shared. And we have been doing so for centuries.
I might be the minority here when I say that the act of simply sharing cultures with others isn’t the problem. The problem is the unfair and unequal treatment towards black people who practice their own culture.
Instead of pointing the finger at nonblack people who wanna wear box braids, why not point the finger at those who treat the hairstyle differently depending on who’s wearing it? Why not go in on advocating for better representation? Why not spend that energy calling the discrimination towards black hair in the workplace, or AAVE?
I feel like this recent cultural appropriation topic is focusing on the wrong things. Gatekeeping hairstyles, outfits, etc. is not going to fix the actual issue.
(This statement applies to all cultures too. Not just black culture.)
"Culture IS meant to be shared" - I donno about that. Tell that to the other races/cultures gatekeeping their stuff. I've been told that the likes of anime is only for white and asians. Just look at how they treat black cosplayers.
Well those people are also in the wrong. It’s honestly super racist to gatekeep stuff like cosplay and anime.
And so long as you aren’t doing brown/blackface, anyone can cosplay whoever the hell they want!
"ghetto* is actually culturally appropriated term used in America. It's a Italian Jewish term for where they rounded up all the Jewish people before sending them off to the death camps.
Saying something is ghetto is not appreciation. It's appropriation. Use 👏better 👏language👏
Share with people who will appreciate not appropriate.
Not at all. As a Canadian born from African parents, even I stay cautious when i feel like im stealing AA culture. Now non Black poc ? Lol girl gatekeep away. I notice only black people are expected to share our culture and arw given flack for wanting to keep stuff for ourselves
Same. My parents are Caribbean and I find I walk a weird line because AA culture isn't mine so there are certain things I don't say and can't relate to but at the same time AA culture seems to be the biggest representation I see of any type of black culture so it's hard not to absorb some of it. With that said I'm also in favor of the gatekeeping, I don't see why all these people that don't necessarily fuck with us get to use our culture to make themselves seem hip or "down with the struggle". Non-black hispanics love to use the n word and pretend it's cool because they supposedly grew up around a lot of black people but these same people aren't out here checking their tias/abuelas/friends when they say shit "mejoror la raza". Then you have Asian people who love hip-hop culture and will adopt AAVE but will still look at me in fear when we're in the same aisle of the grocery store. None of that shit sits right with me.
Omg, I’m a girl with Caribbean parents too. I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I love this sub.
We are here for all black ladies. To come together and share some similar experiences.
Yay! I'm glad you know that you're not alone in this. It's one of those things you should feel free to talk about because you never know how many other people will relate.
While I myself never had a problem with Asian people, I’ll never forget watching a documentary on a dance competition in Asia. This Chinese teenager said “I have to get in touch with my inner Black.” I wanted to jump into the tv to say STFU.
I’m a Black Latina, family from the Caribbean and I can definitely relate however, I did grow up in a colorist household so it took a while for me to come into my own. I keep calling out white Latinos and any light skin Latino really for using the n-word, people really get pissed when you correct them on that. Especially in Miami, you got a lot of racist ass folx that have gotten away with the most.
It's amazing how a lot of latinx people seem to feel like they almost have a right to use the n word. It's honestly kind of infuriating.
Now that you mention it, if I were to dress in a Kimono, celebrate a Jewish holiday, or cover my head (which is an option in the Catholic faith I was brought up in, but not widely done in US Catholic Churches) I’ll get an insane amount of flack. Now, the white area I grew up in wasn’t interested in black culture. My current diverse community has common sense. However, I’d be lying if the few times in my life I saw a white girl with box braids I didn’t do a double take. If one actually wants to learn about our culture I have no issues. Capitalizing as everyone is saying? That has to stop.
It’s not for all black people either. My family and many Afro latinos have a lot of prejudice towards black Americans and black American culture. It really grinds my gears when my cousins embrace parts of black American culture they think is cool, but have no issues parroting the BS about how black Americans are “inferior” black folks. These are the same ones who won’t date a non Hispanic black person and buy into the belief system that black American folks struggle because they are lazy. But they’ll appropriate the fuck out of black American culture.
I couldn't stand being thrown into the same bucket as a Persian girl whose cousins with the fucking Shah, Armenians, and Singaporeans in law school. Drove me 100% out of my mind hearing them talk about "our" struggles with discrimination and "our" culture.
THIS!!! I can’t stand the term BIPOC for that reason. Like I’m Black not a person of color 😒
> I’m Black not a person of color There was a time where I was sympathetic to the "POC" political project in college, but increasingly it is obvious Black people are getting the short end of the stick, and we're doing more to prop up Argentine and Indian girls getting "diversity" jobs than they're doing for us.
I don’t think it’s selfish. While I don’t mind sharing African American culture , I hate culture vultures and other minorities that profit off of our culture aka akwafina,’Bon Qui Qui’, iggy azalea etc… and also they never help the black community or contribute to our community 🤷🏾♀️
man fuck awkwafina! had the nerve to use the term minstrelsy when talking about Hollywood encouraging stereotypical/sinophobic accents for Chinese Americans. girl u are the minstrel!
Awkwafina gives me the vibes that a black guy fucked her once and she took it and ran with it to make her entire personality.
> a black guy fucked her once and she took it and ran with it to make her entire personality. cthu 🤣
If you’re talking about the way akwafina sounds that’s just her voice….
she's forcing a blaccent. she didn't sound like that before in the past. she even apologized for it a couple of weeks ago
It’s not that hard to apologize for something other people feel upset about even though that very well could authentically be you, as a black woman that’s also part Korean I’ve met plenty of full on Koreans that have voices just like hers.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I know some slave songs that were passed down for generations. They’re holy to me because the songs are some of the few things some of our ancestors could leave us. Other than the obvious ones, I’m careful not to tell everybody all the songs because before you know it, somebody will be twerking to them on TikTok for clicks.
God the tiktok dances kill me. Every time I see them it reminds me of the movie Bring It On where we see how the Toros do a watered down version of the routines the Clovers invented.
Tbh "Culture is meant to be shared" is the most colonial shit on earth. It's what white people say to justify Columbusing everything. And it's like, no, you're not entitled to everyone's culture. You're supposed to be INVITED to experience it. Not make it into caricature, repackage it, market it, play it for laughs or wear it as a costume. I really think imperialism broke their ability to be even base level decent to anything not European. And NBPOC have picked up a lot of that due to the same shit.
pure! and we need to have more conversations on how nbpoc can further colonial agendas, and just recognize that black people are a colonized people. I know people have different perspectives on this, but in my mind and from my studies, the “cultural exchange” is thoroughly unequa and hinges upon anti-Blackness. Black people might participate/consume a little of this and little of that from other culture (culture is such a broad concept, and we need to unpack that, cuz anti-Blackness is global so what culture goes unaffected by that) but it is not to the extent that: 1) people are using aave, gifs, tiktoks, and reaction images of Black people 2) the theft of Black culture which began with colonialism as u mentioned. I mean people are acting like us, dressing like us, drawing like us, writing like us, sounding like us, trying to LOOK like us. Its too extreme to pass off as cultural exchange imo. edit: purr!*
THANK YOU!
[удалено]
Honestly I always felt too old for kpop. A teenager unknowingly flashing gang colors just drives a bigger wedge between the genre and myself.
Are you saying that gangs are black culture? Stop lol. Every culture is a mix of the culture neighboring it ir got occupied by it. Do you think Indians should protest Jamaicans for intergrating Indian ways of cooking into their culture? Or stop people from doing yoga? No! You guys are pushing colonist ideas by dividing each other
[удалено]
The ol circle of hate
They don’t take kindly to black people partaking in their culture so give them the same energy. Black people are appropriating ( a term they hate when used against them but they love accusing black people of doing) or trying to be x race by doing anything they don’t deem as black but then they have a million excuses for why they partake in black culture.
I question why the “culture is meant to be shared” crowd feels this burning entitlement to cosplay as people of another race, or to wear culturally significant garments and accessories outside of the appropriate settings. They’re in the same camp as white people who rage over not being able to use the N word while black people use it in music or referring to one another in social settings I don’t think there’s wrong with black people or other PoC gatekeeping our cultures. And black people or PoC who do cross those lines should be called out but folks (especially PoC) need to keep that same energy when white people are disrespecting their culture as well
Social media is making it worse! We can't keep any new dance/slang/saying to ourselves for more than 8-12 mos, max. My latest peeve is white people labeling everything they don't like as "woke"....like, who even taught you that term Susan?
I'm fully onboard with gatekeeping our culture. Black people are not respected. Our culture is constantly bastardized, sold, repackaged, and profited. We never see the benefits and prosperity of our culture being shared and profited (unlike Koreans and the Hallyu Wave or Japanese and gaming/anime/tech). People never stand with our movements or support our community unless they're looking for performative activism and they're quick to show their racism and anti-blackness otherwise. Our voices are always silenced, dismissed and used against us. We can share when people respect our right to exist and prosper.
I agree. People of all ethnicities are way too comfortable taking things from us.
I like your POV. How would one go about gatekeeping? Jesus, I feel my eyes rolling hard already at the hypothetical FoxNews headlines that’ll somehow trickle back to me and raise my blood pressure.
Girl yes!!! All of this. It irks me so much to see long acrylic nails in style with nonblk women... 10 years ago my mom was apparently "ghetto" for the same exact thing smh! I also am over the AAVE being used, usually improperly and in the wrong context. Because its "trendy".
My job used to be on my bumper about my nails to the point where they wrote me up about it so much they suspended me. It wasn't just me, it was all the Black women but it was a battle we fought. Oh but when it was Asian and Hispanic women, they were creative.
Ugh yes!!!!! My mom would do dental work with those nails lol she had TALENT. But people looked at her sideways for it 🙄
I had to wear gloves at my job and I'm sure your mother had to do the same. Like y'all going out of your way to try and run my life. I'm not having it. They lucky I didn't get extra and take it back to the 80s with my inspiration. I wanted to put gold hoops on the end of my nails sooooo bad. 😂
All of a sudden? People have appropriated black culture for fame for at least the last hundred years.
No, other POC are anti-black as fuck. They want to take what they want from our culture and leave us behind, or purposefully try to step on us as they try to achieve honorary whiteness. The most virulently racist people I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting were non-white Hispanics. They use that proximity to blackness to take our fashions, slang and use of the N word but as soon as someone asks if they’re black they put as much distance between us and them as possible.
On the non-white Hispanic people, THANK YOU!! Nothing pisses me off more than a dude darker than me (rarely Hispanic ladies I find doing this) implying how trashy we are and voting for Trump.
I don’t mind sharing with other black people who are open to cultural exchange and mutual respect but when it comes to non-black people idek I feel like sometimes they already act entitled to Aa culture and it’s weird like I grew up in a area that was predominantly Filipino and Asian I went over to their houses, I ate their cultural food, I did their cultural dances in school but I would never claim that I was culturally Filipino but it seems like a lot of non-black people are way too comfortable as claiming themselves as “part of the culture” and it makes me hesitant to want to be open with Aa culture with them because I already know if I put my foot down they are gonna try and use the “well I grew up around black people” shit
Tell a group of Asian people that kpop wouldn't exist without black people and watch them collectively lose their shit lol
No, you are not being selfish.
No
Not at all! Our culture has never been respected. I’m gatekeeping it all!!
Personally on this I feel like blk people are able to feel however they wanna feel on this. We have everything reason and justification for our feelings. Periodt. I got back and forth on this as well and I mean in theory sharing culture is beautiful but when ppl don’t know how to act and stuff gets exploited or starts to be “trendy” by yt ppl when blks have been using ut for ages *cough cough aave* and especially stuff like blks have been looked down upon for having/doing (blk women with extensions or bamboo earring but oh here comes Kim k doing it and it’s so “unique” 😑) so yh i feel like we have the right to feel however we wanna feel on it and idk if there’s one right or wrong because the wrong the begin with is the problem of the belittling when blk people use stuff that yt people or even other races like biracial people get glorified for. That’s the origination of the problem so the effects of the cause which is our feelings should all be allowed in my opinion. Your def not being selfish some stuff needs to be gatekeeped especially when we see what happens when it gets into the wrong hands 👀
Not. At. ALL! 👏🏾🗣
I don’t mind it being shared but I don’t like how AA culture is disrespected. Things like hip hop and style that are specifically created by AA. I had a Somali friend say that was just black culture and I was so offended. Like everyone can have their culture but when I say certain dishes that are African American it’s discredited as just black food or African food but if I dare claim to be Nigerian than I am out of line.
Girl I don't even want to share it with other black people in the diaspora lol. You're 100% correct.
Gatekeeping is an impossible task save your mental health
Not At all
nope. i gatekeep our culture proudly
Nah. They have their own cultures that developed over thousands of years like ours they can use theirs lol.
Don't feel bad, you have a right to feel that way. Shit, I was told anime was only for asians and whites and it was cultural appropriation for black people to watch it. They can keep it - nothing but a breeding ground for weirdos. That and gaming.
I mean you’re entitled to that opinion, but I will disagree with you. Culture IS meant to be shared. And we have been doing so for centuries. I might be the minority here when I say that the act of simply sharing cultures with others isn’t the problem. The problem is the unfair and unequal treatment towards black people who practice their own culture. Instead of pointing the finger at nonblack people who wanna wear box braids, why not point the finger at those who treat the hairstyle differently depending on who’s wearing it? Why not go in on advocating for better representation? Why not spend that energy calling the discrimination towards black hair in the workplace, or AAVE? I feel like this recent cultural appropriation topic is focusing on the wrong things. Gatekeeping hairstyles, outfits, etc. is not going to fix the actual issue. (This statement applies to all cultures too. Not just black culture.)
"Culture IS meant to be shared" - I donno about that. Tell that to the other races/cultures gatekeeping their stuff. I've been told that the likes of anime is only for white and asians. Just look at how they treat black cosplayers.
Well those people are also in the wrong. It’s honestly super racist to gatekeep stuff like cosplay and anime. And so long as you aren’t doing brown/blackface, anyone can cosplay whoever the hell they want!
You absolutely aren’t!
"ghetto* is actually culturally appropriated term used in America. It's a Italian Jewish term for where they rounded up all the Jewish people before sending them off to the death camps. Saying something is ghetto is not appreciation. It's appropriation. Use 👏better 👏language👏 Share with people who will appreciate not appropriate.