Last year, Kylie Jenner posted a mirror selfie on Instagram of her hair braided into cornrows with the caption “I woke up like this.” She faced immediate backlash; some fans called her racist, while African American Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg accused Jenner of appropriating black culture. Heidi Klum, Justin Timberlake, and Lena Dunham also have received criticism for donning cornrows. This controversy surrounding hairstyles such as cornrows and dreadlocks, often associated with modern African American culture, raises many questions. Is it cultural appropriation to adopt hairstyles often associated with people of another culture? Who possesses the authority to denote it as cultural appreciation or appropriation? Does fighting against cross culture adoption hinder or promote racial progress? According to The Atlantic writer Chris Weller, “we define who we are by the elements that stick with us---people, stories, places, memories---- and we measure ourselves in relation to them;” for many African Americans, these hairstyles represent a vital part of their cultural identity (Weller). Historical implications, double standards, and societal trends continue …show more content…
While the historical precedents certainly calls for sensitivity, does it warrant name calling and ridiculing those who adopt hairstyles from a culture different than their own? How will criticizing and trying to prevent white people from wearing dreadlocks and cornrows improve race relations and promote cultural appreciation? One important piece to understand about cultural adoption focuses on the understanding that integration will not always be smooth. More importantly, shunning and banning cross culture adoption is hypocritical because it exacerbates the issue it intends to solve and would hinder rather than alleviate racial tensions, which have increased significantly in the past few