You Cannot Pick ‘n’ Mix With Your Race

*Gifted – To know more about my policy regarding gifted items featured on my blog you can read my disclaimer.

This was not the post that was supposed to be posted today, but I felt like sharing my two pence on the matter. I said a little on my Instagram stories and you seemed to respond well to it.

I really didn’t want to get involved in this conversation because I feel like it such a pointless one. In a world where we are still having the “first black…” I really don’t think we are in a position to be offering parts of our culture to those who benefit from the same system that created racism.

Photographer: @Sittindux // *Earrings: Oluwaseun by @Omololajewellery

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Understanding Cultural Appropriation

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The black community right now, is in no real position to be saying trans-racial is a real thing. When we can end the damaging issues within our own community first, and even then we would not even be having this conversation because black people having what is their’s will be a norm. Talking about whether beth can wear braids and medically enhance her body to fulfill her wild racially ambiguous fantasy wouldn’t even be up for discussion.

There are black women who still hate parts of themselves, because of the European beauty standards that were forced upon us. But we are supposed to “share” parts of our culture and physical features with others because “we live in a tolerable society?” and “what’s the harm?“.

Ask the emotionally, physically and mentally affected black women who bleach their skin, self hate, partake in negative self talk, reject and feel ashamed of their race and culture. Ask them what’s the harm?

Until we are in a place where black women, the originals are not taught to hate their skin, bodies and behaviors. We cannot be out here pretending that white women participating in black face (yes it’s black face) and playing into racially ambiguous stereotypes is not harmful.

It is extremely harmful, we have spent generations unlearning self hate and taught ourselves to embrace the same things we continue to be taught to hate. But all of a sudden it is okay for white women to profit from looking like she could be black whilst not having to deal with anything that comes with it?

Photographer: @Sittindux // *Earrings: Oluwaseun by @Omololajewellery

If it doesn’t offend you, that is fine, but what you’re not going to do, is tell the very people who will be affected most by the wave of trans-racial acceptance that they are being too sensitive.

White Women will never have to deal with the years of self care that we have had to do to get to a point where we are at now. Self care for black Women isn’t all bubble baths and incense, it’s therapy to deal with the microaggressions and in some cases the abuse. Self care for black women is the process of unlearning self hate, learning self love and discovering what it means to be a black woman. We have never controlled what it means to be a black woman, we were just born into it, expected to stay strong, support everyone else around you and to look a certain way in order to survive.

It’s always progressive, cool and acceptable to be black when it’s on a white woman, but black women are ridiculed, abused and constantly told to change themselves.

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