Drawing The Line: Culture

Introduction

Culture is a beautiful thing to share amongst us. I personally can take a few things from each continent that I admire, from the rest.  But as far as that, I believe that there is a limit of admiration towards them, where passing the line could become a bit of a problem.

Where Do We Draw The Line?

Why should there be a limit? Well, I’ll give you an example from my perspective. I am an

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African American. My parents migrated to have me. My skin is dark. The history of people who share the same melanin as I, has a lot of blood and tears shed within each generation. In these modern times, we are embracing our color more than ever. We are dominating music, fashion, slang, etc. At the end of the day, we are the least loved diverse group. To cut things short, we stick together and turn shame into pride- like with the N-word, for instance. Yet for some odd reason, Other races want to carry that word because they are overly obsessed with our culture. Not just that, our box braids, our sagged jeans, our AAVE. To an extent, yes, it is okay to appreciate our culture. Black/African Americans need that love more than anything. Stripping away something we suffered through, feeling belittled by, since ancient times, and deeming it as a word that can be said by anyone just because someone said they could say it, is beyond disappointing. Unfortunately, this is a reality that hides in the shadows daily.

More Than Just a Trend

 Another example: there has been an increase in love for the Asian community- more specifically, Korean/Japanese. Personally, I myself have grown an interest in their music and fashion as well. I think their culture is very intelligent and wise. It is no surprise that their media is skyrocketing, especially in the United States. That is a good thing. We should be celebrating such a cool culture. Now, if you look around social media, you can see Lists of fans who are overly enjoying the community, almost as if they’ve lost their own identity.

*This TikTok by @no1s3 gives a better example of my claim.

Now I cannot speak for other cultures, but I am sure there are plenty of stories about how childhoods felt humiliating and sick because of the food that had to be shared at a friend's dinners, the natural hair that'd rather be straightened out and carried to school, or the embarrassment felt when there was traditional music being played at a party full of unfamiliar people. The list continues on.

Country Covered In Ink

Now I want to touch on something that might be a little off topic, but it still kind of ties to my argument. Native Americans. For centuries, these people have lived freely and peacefully on America's land. They prevailed over hardship with their touching kindness towards Nature and value for humanity. Europeans have almost erased their culture. They have removed all the merits we lack today: a clean environment, love for one another, and compassion towards animals. These ground rules made the United States a land worth living in. Now, there is always another breaking news report about how the world might explode. We advocate about these sorts of things all the time, but at some point, it was the least of our worries. To an extent, the United States is well known for taking tradition and claiming it as it’s own. It feels like the country robs other people's identities, writes its name all over them, and never reflects on the beauty it serves (If that makes sense).

Conclusion

To conclude, I want to say that, YES, it is totally okay to wear culture, learn the languages, sing the songs, but stealing the value of what makes them, them is crossing the line and more of an offense. I believe we, the people, on this planet, can come together and call ourselves brothers and sisters. I believe we can sit at a table and share our food, sing our tunes, and learn a thing or two about our diversity in a respectful way without overstepping.

**Then again, These are just my thoughts. I may be overthinking about the whole thing. What do you think about sharing cultures? Should there be a line?