Unless you’ve lived under a rock
for the past year (or worse, without wifi), you will no doubt have heard the
words ‘cultural appropriation’ thrown around relentlessly. Whether they’re in
reference to Kylie Jenner wearing dreads or cornrows or Miley Cyrus’ various
marijuana references at the recent Video Music Awards, it seems that debates on
intersectional feminism and racism are more ubiquitous than ever. Surprisingly,
it seems that the industry’s younger voices are the ones tackling the issue honestly,
intellectually and, on the whole, extremely impressively. The first concise
explanation of cultural appropriation came courtesy of 16-year-old Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg, who
published a video on YouTube entitled “Don’tCash Crop my Cornrows”. Amongst other topics she talks about the use of
cornrows as an “urban fashion trend” and the wave of white rappers (Iggy
Azalea, Macklemore etc) that dominated the rap charts by incorporating pop
sounds thus making rap more palatable to a mainstream audience.
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| Amandla Stenberg looking incredible @ prom |
