Amandla Stenberg, the 17-year old nonconforming black woman, once said in a YouTube video labeled, “Don’t Cash Crop On My Cornrows:” “Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed as ‘high fashion, cool, or funny’ when the privileged take it for themselves. Appropriation occurs when the appropriator is not aware of the deep significance of the culture that they are partaking in.” (Workneh) With this being said, cultural appropriation is defined as the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture.

Hip Hop, cornrows, gelled down baby hairs, vernacular language: clear examples of how the ignorant privileged smudges an actual culture that was only created to celebrate and uplift oppressed people. As difficult as it may seem to some people, African Americans are and always have been cultural influences around the world. In this day and age, our generation has been attempting to adopt aesthetics originating from ethnic cultures without recognizing their origins. Although this is a trend at the moment, the issue is a vast majority participating in disrespectful actions, and act as if nothing they have done is intolerable. All people should appreciate other cultures, not appropriate them.

As the privileged partake in such actions, they begin to depress an entire culture by intertwining into the prevailing American culture. When did it become so hard to be original? To misappropriate a culture’s icon of identity while having zero interest in understanding why it is in fact relevant is without a doubt inappropriate and discourteous. For black people, hip hop is a one of the most innovative and revolutionary outlets to not only express their personal self-love for the culture, but also as a way to address dire situations concerning the lives which are being targeted for demise, especially by the ones who are given the authority to protect. As this genre flourished within the black community, it soon began to fuse into pop culture, which led artists outside of the community to emulate black culture for more attention. Kendrick Lamar took advantage of his audience and music with his past single, “The Blacker The Berry” by speaking on the topic of racism in America despite the allusion that we live in a post-racial society.  At the same moment, America is  being introduced to Iggy Azalea; the white, Australian hip-hop artist who has topped Billboard charts six consecutive weeks, which so happens to be the longest time for a female rapper. So what does Iggy do with all of this attention? She creates songs such as “D.R.U.G.S.” where she states, “when the relay starts I’m a runaway slave master” following her pretending to crack a whip. Apropos of  this, for black people, braids are a practical option to take care of hair while still having it look appealing and alluring. Stunning stars such as Beyoncé, Zendaya Coleman, Keri Hilson wear these protective styles, and overtime, this too, it has become less unusual to see white people with braids simply as a prop to appear more fashionable and edgy, such as the Kardashians, Gwen Stefani, and Miley Cyrus. As this occurs, white people are being praised exactly how they intended, but on the other hand it seems “unprofessional” and “ghetto” for Africans to wear the style that is a part of their culture. Considering this, the Black Lives Matter movement is as relevant as ever with people’s requests for innocent black lives to truly be deemed worthy just like any other race on this planet. As pressing as this movement is, many appropriators have never touched on the issues affecting black lives, but still wish to continue to borrow the culture.

As much as equality is a wonderful goal on this Earth, the topic of cultural appropriation would be irrelevant if systematic oppression didn’t exist, but it does. Once minorities have greater opportunities to express prejudice against their oppressors and begin to have the institutional power to protect themselves (which should already be provided), then everybody will be equal. We all share cultures within our society, which is amazing, but when people decide to partake in different cultures, without acknowledging the significance, then it becomes a problem.
As a whole, the unavoidable fact is that appropriation has become a big factor in pop culture. This world will finally become peaceful once we all start to appreciate and respect each other. Everyone wants to be accepted, but this should not be an excuse for imitating something without taking the time to understand the cultural relevance. People will begin to appreciate and improve their relationships and their respect with each other.