So. Over on feministe (http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/08/22/and-about-tattoos/), a POC mentions the not-radical notion (much discussed by those who live not under rocks) that white people with dreads are appropriating a hairstyle worn by generations of black people.
Well, wouldn’t you know that a bunch of people clutch pearls and proceed to whitesplain about how it’s NOT appropriation because the CELTS HAD DREADS and STOP LUMPING WHITE PEOPLE TOGETHER etc etc call the freaking wahmbulance.
Here’s her totally mean and unreasonable point:
My natural hair texture will easily form into locs, which is how I choose to wear my hair. As did many of my foremothers and ancestors further back. It’s part of my ethnic identity and I embrace this as a piece of living heritage. But somehow, what is natural and traditional for me gets lumped in with what is punkish and counterculture in the larger sphere… which hasn’t even existed for near as long.
I’m going to be honest and say, I don’t typically like what I encounter when I see a white person with “dreads”. The majority that *I* have met seem to conflate wearing them with lifestyle choices that many black folks who wear locs don’t want any association with. I’m employing a big bad stereotype about “dread heads” right here, but try and convince me that any bit of this same stereotype doesn’t impact the perception of PoC more heavily when it’s lumped on them too.
And here are some of the choicest bits of whitesplaining:
You need to study your history a bit. Dreads have been worn by dozens of cultures, many (most?) of which have not been African (Maori, Indian and Tibetan Buddhists and the ancient Irish, to name a couple. There’s some evidence Incan preists did this, too, for what it’s worth). Dreadlocks are not inherently ‘black,’ they are what happens to hair if you don’t brush or cut it over a long period of time (though to be sure there are other methods of getting ‘locs). Calling dreads on white people appropriation is silly.
…..dreadlocks also come from the Torah (Numbers 6:5) so I could be a jackass and ask that everyone stop appropriating Jewish culture, but I’m not gonna go there cause that sucks. Instead I will say that since Torah is for everyone on Earth, everyone gets to have dreads.
Also, please stop seeing white people as some monolith.
And this one is especially cringe-worthy and full of WTF:
I’m a white woman with dreadlocks, and I have in the past considered that it might seem like a cultural appropriation to black folks. My question is: what if my hair began dreading after my first night in the woods? Am I supposed to find a place to wash and brush my hair in order to avoid appropriating someone’s culture? I do feel shitty that it makes people uncomfortable to see my dreadlocks, but I am uncertain what to do at this point.
WTF white people. Really?
Here is a link about the whole Celtic dreads thing: http://wtfwhiteprivilege.tumblr.com/post/16007896832/but-the-celts-wore-dreadlocks-tattoos-body.
Listen, white people? Yeah. We have been appropriating for freaking ever. If you are totally seriously new to the idea that white people would ever appropriate anything ever, please put your pearls down and go read Edward Said’s Orientalism right now. Here’s a link for you (http://www.amazon.com/Orientalism-Edward-W-Said/dp/039474067X). I don’t actually want to talk to you about this until you have a working definition of the term.
For further education, some more links. There are tons more, but I only have five minutes right now, so here:
http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation
http://www.womanist-musings.com/2011/06/unbearable-whiteness-of-being-part-iii.html
http://jezebel.com/5905291/a-complete-guide-to-hipster-racism
http://www.racialicious.com/2012/05/02/a-historical-guide-to-hipster-racism/
http://feministing.com/2009/10/22/when-cultural-appropriation-goes-too-far/comment-page-1/
Read. Think. Read some more. Then we can talk about this like adults.
Untied 