The aave discourse is making me fucking insane. Obviously we have to be aware of the ways that things like cultural appropriation take shape in our lives but cultural appropriation can't be addressed on the level of culture
Obviously, we live in a political-economic system that steals from and exploits black people, and our culture (and even language) reflects that.
You can tell people to stop acting a certain way at the cultural level but it won't stick without a change in the way production is organized bc the shape of our culture is informed by our economic conditions
Cultural appropriation is a problem, but approaching the problem from a purely cultural level won't work, and the only ways people try to make it work is by trying to do woke segregation where everyone can only say words from "their own culture". That's not how culture works.
The only way to really address these problems is by attacking the economic base of the systems that steal from and exploit all marginalized people, and the only way to do that is with the broadest coalition possible aligned against capital.
If you're trying to address rich white people using aave you can either scold them on Twitter and try to cut it out of your vocabulary yourself, taking the social role of a cop and reinforcing cultural segregation that works against solidarity, or
you can be aware of the way that cultural appropriation plays a role in our lives and be around different kinds of people and build solidarity and understanding where we can. You can do both!
This isn't a thread about how the aave discourse isn't good or about white people are upset about not being able to use the n-word or whatever. Obviously there are cultural lines that are off-limits and that's okay. Trying to stop cultural transmission at all tho seems misguided.
This thread is just about how cultural issues have to be addressed. If you try to address cultural issues at the level of culture it'll never work, it'll turn everyone into thought cops and the only way to make it stick would be to make segregation, but woke this time
If you want to address cultural issues you need to attack the bases that generate culture in the first place. Obviously the economy comes first. You worry about paying rent before you enjoy music. Organization has to be on that level and directed at those forces first.
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