TOW #3 - What is Cultural Appropriation and Why is it Wrong?

Vanessa Hudgens appropriating the Hindu culture.

While watching snapchat stories yesterday, I saw something that made me extremely upset. A Caucasian girl wearing cornrows. Why does that make me upset? It makes me upset because it is one of the many ways that people can appropriate my African heritage, which is better known as cultural appropriation. Now what is cultural appropriation? According to Race Relations Expert, Nadra Kareem Nittle, “it typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups - often with little understanding of the latter’s history, experience, and traditions.” In this article, Nadra Kareem Nittle’s purpose is to educate and explain to American teens why cultural appropriation is wrong.

Cultural appropriation is used often by artist in the music industry. To name a few, figures like Gwen Stefani has been accused of using cultural appropriation due to her obsession with the Harajuku culture from Japan. Another artist is Miley Cyrus. At the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Miley stunned the audience and people at home by "twerking." Twerking is a dance style that traces back to the African American community. In her music video "We Can't Stop," she is seen twerking again but this time uses black women as her background. "On stage as well as in her video, she used the tedious trope of having black women as her backing singers, there only to be fondled by her and to admire her wiggling derriere," said Hadley Freeman, writer of The Guardian. I agree with Freeman because not only is Miley Cyrus making an imitation of black music, but she is using black women as sex objects. Cultural appropriation can range from music to wearing traditional or ceremonial attire as a fashion statement.

So why did I get so upset when I saw the Caucasian girl wearing cornrows in her hair? I was upset because I begged my mom not to give me cornrows because the other little girls told me that they were ugly; but now they are suddenly fashionable? I am upset because black features are praised, but only when they are not on black women.

http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/fl/What-Is-Cultural-Appropriation-and-Why-Is-It-Wrong.htm

TOW #2 - Tim Kaine, American Dad, Makes His Pitch to Millennials

Author for The New Yorker, Ben Wallace, shared that last Thursday, Senator Tim Kaine traveled to New Jersey to speak to Millennials and try to convince us to vote for Hillary Clinton. During his speech, he showed Donald Trump’s book, Crippled America, and his and Hillary Clinton’s book, Stronger Together. “We’re both smiling,” he pointed out. Trump, he said, had contrived to look both condescending and sour in his, “sitting in a penthouse, looking like he’s sucking on six lemons.” As recent polls have stated, it shows Millennials voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein or Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. In my opinion, I feel that this election is a joke and will lead up to the worst four years in America’s history. No one wants Hillary because she is a “liar” and “untrustworthy,” but no one wants Donald Trump because… well, he’s Donald Trump. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are great candidates but us Millennials know most of our information from social media. Donald Trump has 11.6 million followers on twitter and Hillary Clinton has 8.8 million followers. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein do not even reach 1 million followers, which leads me to think that even if millennials voted for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, there wouldn’t be enough votes for them to win because they are not as well known as the Democratic and Republican candidate. I think the author of this article is trying to explain why Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton need the Millennial vote. Tim Kaine knows that there are more Millennials voting than Baby Boomers, or those in Generation X.

I frankly do not know how I feel about Tim Kaine. Before Hillary Clinton chose a running mate, she was talking all about diversity. The twittersphere was suspecting that she would pick someone other than a straight white male. But, her running mate ended up being exactly that. Tim Kaine seems to have had a successful run as Virginia’s senator, but to us millennials, he just doesn't seem to be enough. I just think that we were a bit disappointed with her selection because we were hoping for more diversity, perhaps a Vice President that was a person of color. I do believe that the author reached his purpose because, although I can’t vote, it made me realize that if millennials do not vote for Hillary Clinton, then we will end up with Donald Trump as president, which makes me cringe even thinking about his presidency.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/benjamin-wallace-wells/tim-kaine-americas-dad-makes-his-pitch-to-millennials

TOW #1 "I Hate Them Too."

It’s that time of the year again, when the whole nation is mourning. Americans and people all around the world remember the tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001. The well known terror group, Al-Qaeda, committed 3 terrorist attacks. One on the Pentagon in Washington D.C., the second crashed in Pennsylvania, and the third at the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. Just 5 days after 9/11 MSNBC’s Daryl Cagle released this cartoon to the American public. In the cartoon above, we see two children. They both carry a sack lunch in an identical bag and wear the same shoes, but one child is different than the other. All though they don’t look the same, they are the same on the inside. One of which is dressed as the “typical american boy.” The other child is seen in traditional Islamic apparel. Because the attacks were committed by an islamic extremist group, it made many Americans have a prejudice against muslims. This political cartoon in a prime example. The little boy is giving the girl a disgusted stare while she says simply, “I hate them too.” Americans always say “Never Forget” when speaking about 9/11. I believe that Americans haven’t forgotten but they certainly haven’t forgiven. I’m not saying that what Al-Qaeda did wasn’t completely awful, but I am saying that not all muslims are bad. Islam is a religion that revolves around peace. “In Arabic, the word ‘Islam’ means submission or surrender – however, it was derived from the root word ‘salam’. From this root word, you can also derive the words peace and safety.” (muslimvoice.org) I think the author's purpose for drawing this political cartoon was to show that after September 11th 2001, all Americans were grieving. All races, religions, and ethnicities were mourning. From my point of view I believe that Daryl Cagle achieved his purpose. He did make me and others realize that all Americans were affected by this brutal terror attack, including Muslim Americans. Some Americans do not realize the prejudices and dilemmas that Muslims and Muslim Americans face everyday just because Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups put the islamic faith in a bad light; but if more people around the world would see this cartoons and cartoons similar to this one, then maybe islamophobia would not be such a problem in the world.

IRB Intro Post #1

In 2005 Jeannette Walls published The Glass Castle. This book shows how her and her siblings were neglected by their parents and were forced to look out for each other. I chose this book because Jeannette Walls tells the story of her struggle and her eventual prosperity. The Glass Castle helps readers find that if you work hard, you will always get the result that you want in the end.