Read on Twitter
okay i just woke up and i’ve seen a lot of people talking about cultural appropriation, because of this picture of twice, and i think it would be nice to clarify some stuff since i am a black woman.
Braids are a very important thing in the black community, not only for the “looks” but principally the meaning it carries historically speaking. Back in the slavery days,braids were made in black people hair as map so they could runaway from where they were being kept and be free
It was also a symbol of resistance for black people to show strength and proud of their roots. Nowadays there are also a meaning for the braids beyond the historical one.
Nowadays black people use braids and dreads as a way of resist the society and media pattern of “beauty”. You might be thinking “ oh how’s that”, let me explain, media and society created the pattern of beauty which is being white and skinny, a black person is not in the pattern
even in the countries black people are majority, that’s comes from a racist culture all over the world, and it started with the slavery. Black people were seen as animal, exotic, strong,unhuman, demons and it still is, all of that because our biotype, culture and characteristics
so to bring black people to be accepted by society when it comes to looks, white people created a lot of things to black people looks “less black” it’s what we call “whitening” with products to straight black people’s hair, and methods to make us close to the “european looks”
when a black person wears braids or even their natural black power hair,it’s not well seen by the society, some countries think it’s dirty,ugly,funny black people lose jobs opportunities for having this hair, people don’t take serious because society only wants the european looks
But ofc the same people “white people” who demonize black people’s characteristics also use it for money, that started with the fashion industry, they started using braids for fashion in white people at fashion shows, because it would be well seen and “exotic”
When you use ANY RACE characteristics in white people for fashion and for capital = money, it’s cultural appropriation!!!! It’s offensive, and disrespectful with the culture and the people, and it also helps increase racism towards the ones with the characteristics.
Those are some braids styles in the African culture so you guys have a notion of how it looks because now i will talk about twice and their hair styles
I know we don’t want ours girls to commit mistakes and be disrespectful to any culture, because we already had a case of cultural appropriation in our fandom before when Jihyo wore a costume in Halloween, I’ve seen people talking about how jihyo and change hair were braided
So i will be completely honest, i don’t think they appropriated black culture, i don’t even think their braids suits African style of braiding hair, when you compare their hair style to the African culture for example you see the difference in the braids
It’s a bad picture and i looked the original one on Instagram, and still it doesn’t look like African braids style, their braids it’s not even finished it all loosen just like that
And to be clear i wouldn’t NEVER backlash twice if i felt direspected culturally, you can be SURE I wouldn’t and the ones who know me KNOW that i would never backlash cultural appropriation of any form of racism, i just don’t think it’s the case in here.
here are some idols who used African style of braids and dreads you can see the difference
You can also compare with my braids style and see the difference
i know people in the fandom just wanted to help and educate the girls, with i think it’s amazing, but it’s also important to know the history before you talk about cultural appropriation,ofc i will know the history bc i am a black woman that’s why I explained everything in thread
So for those who don’t know about the history could understand and learn, this space is very important to talk about those things, i am very glad the fandom opened this space for discussion so i could speak about my culture and that the fandom wants to learn and be honest
This is my opinion as a black woman based on those pictures they posted today, if new pictures come out and i see something different and problematic you can be sure i will speak up about it, but by today’s picture i don’t think it was cultural appropriation
If anybody have any doubts and wants to know anything else you feel free to ask me, i am always open for conversation, that’s it hope we can all keep seeking for knowledge and learn :)
