When Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg insulted Kylie Jenner for wearing cornrows, it became very clear just how difficult it is to distinguish between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. 

Many people will say that Jenner may be appropriating because of past appearance issues. She’s had dreads and likes to have bigger lips. Now, she’s into cornrows. These styles are commonly associated with black people.

I feel that if people were more accepting of the features from black people, it wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is that when Zendaya wore dreads on the red carpet, she was criticized for it. Jenner, however, gets praise.

It seems like people who are not black get to do whatever they want with their looks, but blacks have to try to fit in. Black women don’t think that they can wear braids to a job interview, and in the past, blacks were talked down upon because of their big lips. This makes it seem like Jenner’s style changes are an appropriation; there is not an acknowledgement of the past and the biases that blacks face.

However, I do think that people should not be so quick to call everything cultural appropriation. They should be flattered when people take things from their culture. Culture is shared. Everyone takes something from someone. And it’s like that time-transcending idiom: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

It’s great that Stenberg spoke up about the way she felt. Cultural appropriation doesn’t get addressed that often because people like to pretend it doesn’t exist. It does. I didn’t even know what it was until my freshman year of college, so I’m glad that younger generations will now know.

It’s crazy that Andy Cohen called Stenberg’s feud with Jenner a “jack-hole move.” It’s hard to know someone’s intentions. Matters like these are always touchy because people take others’ comments differently. Although Cohen didn’t mean any harm, people were offended. It led to people tweeting to fire him and/or boycott Bravo.

Some people also compare cultural appropriation to cultural exchange. The difference is that cultural exchange occurs between two equals. People appropriate when they don’t understand a culture and try to take from that minority’s culture. So many things can be seen as cultural appropriation. Some examples can be people wearing dots or jewelry on their foreheads and not knowing what it means. It’s a part of Indian tradition, but people do it for fashion. That’s when it becomes appropriation.

Doing something because it looks cool or seems cute and fashionable is not appreciation or exchanging. It can be highly offensive. People should just be aware of what they’re doing and think about how they may effect others.

Katrice is a junior in Media.

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