Raising Kids Who Culturally Appropriate

We Appropriate in this House!

My own children are a mixed bag of ethnic backgrounds. I’m mixed, and their dad is too—though from different roots than mine—and because of this, they’re able to draw from a wide range of cultural traditions without immediately being accused of cultural appropriation. However, if they’re interested in exploring, participating in, or borrowing from traditions not their own to create something new, they’ll be encouraged to do so. In my house, we think cultural appropriation is awesome.

So what exactly is cultural appropriation? It’s often described as someone adopting elements from a culture that’s not their own—a hairstyle, a piece of clothing, a way of speaking, or even a form of exercise (like yoga).Everyday feminism takes this a step further, explaining that cultural appropriation happens when a dominant group borrows from a culture they’ve historically oppressed. It doesn’t matter if you personally haven’t oppressed that group—only that someone of your race or ethnicity has. I've seen more recent definitions go even further, saying appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of another culture’s elements. It seems those qualifiers were added to make sure the people understand that cultural appropriation is capital B, BAD.

But here’s the thing: America is a country built on shared values, not a shared ethnic background. So, in my opinion, being anti–cultural appropriation is anti-American. The logic behind cultural appropriation doesn’t hold up. If taking something from another culture is wrong, then you can’t participate in anything your culture didn’t invent.

By that logic, white people invented tap dance. If you know the history of tap, you might say, “No way, that was created by Black Americans in the South.” And you'd be right—but tap was actually an appropriation of Irish clog dancing. Poor Irish immigrants and poor Black Americans lived in close proximity in the South. Both groups faced discrimination and deep socioeconomic struggles.(Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals explains this in more detail.) The two communities ended up borrowing quite a bit from each other. It’s just a fact: Black Americans appropriated Irish clogging to help create tap—and I’m glad they did. But by cultural appropriation nazi standards, that would mean only the Irish should be allowed to tap. If Black dancers couldn’t participate in tap, we’d never have had Savion Glover, arguably the greatest tap dancer of all time.

Ballet isn’t part of African culture—so say goodbye to Misty Copeland. If hip-hop is a Black American invention, then someone better tell those Korean dance teams to stop. Classical music doesn’t come from Asian culture—so forget about Yo-Yo Ma. Opera began in Italy—so if you’re not Italian, don’t even bother. Flutes originated in China, so apparently every kid in my high school’s flute section was way out of line.

The arts are an easy example, but you can apply this logic to nearly every aspect of human creativity. If people weren’t allowed to cross cultural lines, we’d lose so much of our shared progress. Weren’t we all told growing up that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? If someone uses something from your culture to create something new, they probably do respect your culture. Why else would they use it?

Now, if a white person makes a dream catcher and claims, “Hey, I invented this,” I could understand the outrage. But that’s rarely, if ever, what happens in these supposed cases of cultural appropriation.

But the woke think they got ya on that second definition of cultural appropriation—that only oppressors can appropriate—meaning white people can’t borrow from any other culture, while “the oppressed” can borrow freely.

This definition backfires. Instead of empowering marginalized groups to preserve their culture, it ends up harming minority entrepreneurs. If white people are only allowed to wear jeans and eat Italian food, then that amazing taco stand is going to take a hit. Black rappers? You’ve just lost 70-75% of your audience. The UFC? They’d see a huge drop in ratings—and not just from viewers. They’d lose athletes too. Dana White himself would be out. His name is literally White! How much more offensive can it get??!!

I knew the idea of cultural appropriation had gone too far when some friends admired a dress I own. It’s a beautiful, colorful, handmade piece I bought from an online shop selling garments made by African artisans. My friends raved about it, so I asked one of them why she didn’t get one too. She told me she was afraid people would get mad—because she’s white.

And sadly, she’s probably right. Someone might get mad. But the person who gets mad that a white woman supported a black designer is, frankly, a fool.

Why would anyone want to discourage 77% of Americans from buying goods made by minorities? Do you want minority cultures in the U.S. to vanish? Because without the economic support of white Americans, many culture-based businesses would fail. And do we not want white consumers helping lift artisans in developing countries out of poverty by buying their work? It breaks my heart to think about the income those African dressmakers are missing out on because white women have been bullied into silence—into fear of appreciating something beautiful that isn’t “theirs.”

So appropriate away, I say. Without cultural appropriation, we wouldn’t have tap dance or the blues or MMA—or ice cream cones—or me! I’ll be teaching my own children to follow a few simple rules:

1. Give credit where credit is due.
   Don’t claim you created something you didn’t.

2. Don’t wildly misrepresent a culture.
   Don’t claim you’re giving props to Native-Americans when you’re in a skimpy outfit with feathers and just want to dress provocatively.

That’s pretty much it. Be respectful but be a sponge. If Ethiopian-Texas BBQ fusion isn’t proof we need more cross-cultural appropriation, I don’t know what is.