Me and White Supremacy : Day 13 Journal Questions
I’m leading a group discussion circle on “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad. I’m taking the journaling challenge daily throughout February even though I’m not white. If you happen to be white, why not take the challenge? If I can do it, you can do it too.
Day 13 Questions (from the text):
1. How have you or do you appropriate from nonwhite cultures?
2. What actions have you taken when you have seen other white people culturally appropriating? Have you called it out? Or have you used your white silence?
3. Have you been called out for cultural appropriation? How did you respond?
4. How have you profited (socially or financially) from cultural appropriation?
5. How have you excused cultural appropriation as being “not that bad”? How do you feel about it now having done thirteen days of this work?
- — -
“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”
- undetermined source
Upon seeing the art of Africa he immediately became obsessed with it. His famous “époque négre” (translated: “black period”) was simply his use of the images he saw from the African continent. From this influence came “cubism”, and the rest is history.
He went on to accept accolades and a lifetime career of prosperity for his “groundbreaking” work. In the meantime, people still viewed African art as ancient, primitive, tribal, unsophisticated. And at first, he just kinda let that happen, which is bad enough. But then later he went as far as to deny the influence African artisans had on his rise to fame.
This is an extreme example of appropriation on a large scale. But there are numerous other examples we see on much smaller scales and much closer to home.
Saad cites yoga as a practice that’s been highly appropriated in the western world. She’s even written about it in her now famous posts “I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy”. So when I see something like this:
I won’t immediately jump to conclusions and assume that this person is appropriating, however I do ask myself:
- How is this person financially compensating or bolstering this culture? Are they aware of local organizations that represent the culture that they might donate to? What are they taking vs. what are they giving back to the culture?
- Are they honoring the culture and its history? Are they in a position to answer that question for themselves?
- Did this person need to dress this way? What if they didn’t — would it detract from their practice? Were they invited to do so by a member of the culture they are trying to “honor”? Even if they were, why are they willing to risk even seeming appropriative?
Again — it’s about
- Power histories
- Double standards
- Reciprocation
And ultimately risking taking elements you like from a people while minimizing said people.
As the author points out, appropriation is hard to define. As an artist I accept that people, cultures, and other artists can influence one another. I think this is natural and unavoidable, often beneficial. But, I do think it is important that those that risk appropriation be aware of this as a concept, and be sensitive and open to any criticisms that might arise as a result of the actions they take and possibly profit from. And I think it needs to be examined on a case by case basis.
Ultimately, in my opinion, while appropriation needs to be called out and examined, in the absence of power structures based on race, it would not be an issue. So while we need to be aware of this as a practice and curtail it where it makes sense to do so, I see it as a symptom of much larger societal issues that need solving first.
This is just my opinion — subject to change without notice.
I also want to point out that the mask in the image at the beginning of this article recently sold for 4.6 million dollars, and being that it was likely originally acquired through colonization theft, there are a lot of people upset over this.
