Group Open Letters: Cultural Appropriation

5 thoughts on “Group Open Letters: Cultural Appropriation”

1. Mikayla, Alexis, Ever, Yelitza
   Prof. Choi
   English 1101
   Cinco de Mayo Open Letter

   As diverse as America is, it’s culture is mainly made up of the appropriation of other cultures. It deprives other countries of their lifestyles and traditions to create holidays that are celebrated for the wrong reasons, with no knowledge of the countries they’re appropriating. This can be seen in America’s way of celebrating the Mexican holiday: Cinco de Mayo, where Americans use the incorrect date as an excuse to consume large amounts of hispanic-themed food and alcohol, all while creating a negative image of Mexican heritage.
   One of the many problems surrounding this American turned holiday is that it’s not celebrated on the right day. The day is supposed to be honoring Mexico for gaining its independence from Spain. However, that didn’t happen until September 16th, 1810. Cinco de Mayo, or “fifth of May” is the date of a battle that took place that helped achieve independence. It was on May 27th, 1862 that La Voz de Mexico, a spanish newspaper, wrote about Spain’s victory in defeating the French. This publication led to “an impromptu celebration of gunshots, speeches, and singing bu Mexican miners in the gold-country town of Columbia, California” according to Bill Esparza in his article titled “Cinco de Mayo Is as American as Apple Pie”. Celebrating this holiday became a big hit in America along with many other holidays that originated in other countries. This opened doors for Americans to change it around and find different ways to go about celebrating the event.
   Cinco de Mayo is one of the top five drinking holidays in America. But apart from using this day as an excuse to show off their favorite “Mexico” alcoholic beverages, most Americans don’t know what they are actually celebrating. The way of celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the United States and Mexico is different. In the 1960s, Mexico saw Cinco de Mayo as a way of respecting their culture; the celebration is more focused on the military win. The history behind Cinco de Mayo is not the happiest, which makes the celebrations in the United States seem inaccessible because many Americans give themselves an excuse to drunk in the name of “Celebrating Mexican Culture”. This form of cultural appropriation because most Americans don’t know what they are celebrating, what they do was host large-scale festivals, and people of all backgrounds celebrate the festival through parades, parties and traditional Mexican music, dance, and food. They don’t understand the background history of Cinco de Mayo. This will mislead many people into thinking that Mexico also celebrates Cinco de Mayo like America.
   For Americans Cinco de Mayo seems to be a holiday to celebrate Mexico’s drinks, eat traditional food, and wear costumes to work. Otherwise for Mexicans Cinco de Mayo is to celebrate their victory over France at the Battle of Puebla. However, Americans have stereotyped this holiday by going to parties wearing traditional costumes, drinking Tequila and Coronas, and eating traditional food, disrespecting the actual meaning of Cinco de Mayo. There is nothing wrong celebrating Cinco de Mayo, but those who do should be informed on the education regarding the holiday. Important facts such as where it originated and how it came about are part of the reason the day exists. Know the history behind the holiday, and why is celebrated. Let’s ditch the sombreros, fake accents, and fake mustache and celebrate honoring Mexico’s heritage.
   Americans usage of other cultures through appropriation gives off a negative image of that culture. Americans don’t know the history of Cinco de Mayo so they mold the culture into their own. Americans believe that Cinco de Mayo is a day that Mexicans gaining its independence. They also believe that Cinco de Mayo is a day that Mexicans drink alcohol and get drunk. Americans then believe that it is fine for them to to drink and eat Mexican food, trying to show appreciation not knowing the history of Cinco de Mayo but they came up with stereotype that Mexicans do these thing on Cinco de Mayo. There are numerous ways Americans can show their appreciation for the culture without disrespecting the creators of it. One way is do some research of the holiday. Another way is to see how the people of the culture celebrate holiday and compare to how we celebrate it. Lastly, avoid disrespecting the culture by wearing costumes and trying to act like them not only is it a disrespect to them but your making fun up of the culture altogether.

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2. Jean-Louis Catiouceca
   Khan Waqas
   Sharpe Ricardo
   Alghazali Yasmin
   Prof. Choi
   English 1101
   Group Open Letter

   Dear People Who Are Pro Blackface,
   How would you feel if you had people dressed up as you for halloween and didn’t do it out of admiration of you rather disgust and discrimination? Well many black people nowadays are facing this racism on halloween in which white people, particularly, walk around with black faces and sometimes use tan sprays to make their skin color darker. It doesn’t even have to be halloween to have someone dress up in blackface and going around and insulting black people. Most people don’t know the history of blackface, blackface appropriation, or even how blackface affects society specifically black people.
   Blackface has been in history since the 1830s and was known as theatrical makeup used by non blacks performers to imitate a black person in a very exaggerated way. Various aspects of African American culture were appropriated and used for profit to entertain the public until the 1840s came along and then even some blacks started to use blackface when acting as well. This became extremely popular until the 1900s in which blackface had become known everywhere. Blackface has become exposed to many places around the world whether it be America, England, Africa, or even Eastern countries where they all misuse the theatrical idea of blackface. Many began using blackface as stereo typical and an insult to black people making them feel bad.
   Many people do not understand why apparently the simple act of a white person darkening his skin like a black person at Halloween or just for fun can be offensive. Even if it’s
   to honor a favorite entertainer, celebrity, or sports figure, it is an unacceptable act to do. It is inappropriate because the blackface tradition is founded consequent to impose stereotypes of Black people. Dressing up in blackface invokes representations of unflattering images of blacks as lazy, unintelligent and criminal in nature. Cultural appropriation is important to consider during Halloween time because this is the time of year when we are most likely to dress up in a costume that is representative of another culture without taking into consideration the different aspects and cultural backgrounds of that minimized ethnic group or culture. Blackface is a cultural appropriation because primarily, the very need to use black makeup as part of the process of portraying black people reveals an attempt to establish an essential difference between black and white individuals. It precisely shows a feature of biological racism, which promote that the physical features of Africans were visible evidence that black people were inferior to white people and therefore that they could justifiably be enslaved. People wearing blackface may claim they don’t believe in the biological inferiority of black people, but their insistence on dark makeup, is evidence of their ongoing racist actions of skin color differences. In this way, blackface is dehumanizing.
   Is it really necessary for non black people to wear black face?. Almost every black person has been a victim of disrespect and racism all over the world.In the western world black people are known as criminals and street people, while in the third world countries if a person is black

   he/she is ugly. Majority of the people wants to be white to look good. According to CNN a Thai beauty claim that white skin is the key to success. And then the same people who are mocking black skin wants to put black face for halloweens and to make fun of black people, without knowing what black people would be going through. Puting black face can hurt black individuals socially, emotionally, politically and can lead to anger which might harm many communities because of confused misunderstandings. It also put hatred in their heart toward other races that might feel insecure and helpless because of their ethnicity. If you can not appreciate black culture at least don’t try to show that you actually do and just make fun of it.
   As you can see blackface is something that shouldn’t be joked about, this is an issue that has been going on dating back all the way to the 1800s. The portrayal of blackface was not only a false representation of black people it was an offensive form of propaganda to the mass public because most people were led to believe that’s how black people carry themselves. Having blackface still being a topic in the 21st century shows you that this is clearly still relevant and the idea of blackface hasn’t completely gone away. It is a very sensitive topic and although times are much different people misinterpret blackface and view it in a different light without knowing the background which is why it is extremely important to know the history behind it before going into such a controversial issue.

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3. Allen Lin, Harun Thadhani, Emeli
   Prof. Choi
   English 1101 (D348)
   Group open letter
   Dear Society,
   In today’s world people have taken things from other cultures for their own use without showing the proper respect of the culture. In “Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation,” authors Shreena Gandhi and Lillie Wolff show there is people doing Cultural Appropriation. Cultural Appropriation is someone taking something from another culture and using it without the proper respect it needs. In tradition and Indian culture history profit and entertainment in America. American has been using yoga as a source of revenue from it such as the yoga classes, DVDs, and overall the wrong way yoga was originally meant for.
   Yoga is portrayed in a very different way in the United States today. According to the article “Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation” by Shreena Gandhi and Lillie Wolff the origin of yoga was from South Asia. A long time ago women are not prohibited to do yoga as womens are symbolized as thieves.
   Yoga then and yoga now are two different ideas. Back then yoga first originally was created in India Back 5,000 years ago Yoga was developed, where they had Indian instructors. These instructors taught the people in the exact way in which yoga is supposed to be taught. Back then their purpose for yoga was more than just peacefulness and relaxing. It meant to reach the stars and to be ables to move your body in different positions. To be able to achieve happiness and belief in yourself. Now as in this generation, yoga is the opposite. The instructors who teach yoga don’t really teach it how it really is supposed to be taught. They just tell you how to get into those positions and will tell you how much stress you have relieve. If the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization knew how we teach yoga they will feel disgraced and ashamed of us. We are taking their exercise and turning it into positions that looks cool and shows how flexible they are. The social race has dramatically changed from being all Hindus to whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc. The race has changed and so has the meaning of yoga. It’s really interesting to see how we take yoga from being so inspirational and motivating in India to how we teach and do it now. It has increasingly changed over the past 5,000 years when it was first developed
   In conclusion, yoga is not what we currently think it is. As many people today turned yoga into another totally new culture without knowing the origins and understanding the true meaning of yoga. We need to acknowledge the cultural belief that was set a long time ago as we give credits to yoga and from their long history. Cultural appropriation is something that people rarely notices and most of the time we take something from a culture without knowing and merge them with the new belief system.

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4. Jaudae, Yasmin, Ahmed, Anthony
   Prof. Choi
   English 1101 (D348)
   Group Open Letter
   Cultural Appropriation
   Every culture has its own traditions and symbols of status that has to be respected by all. Implantation these traditions in your lifestyle as props and amusement without understanding can be offensive to those who live by these traditions. Culture is the invisible bond which ties people together. Culture has an invisible bond that holds communities together. Taking the Native American headdress and applying at fashion shows is disrespectful.
   Native American traditions such as their headdress are being used in the wrong way. The term Indian headdress only exist due to a misunderstanding long ago, but that isn’t the problem. The problem is the way the headdress is being used in today’s society and culture. American culture is a culture that takes away the meaning of what was apart of another culture and uses it as their own with little knowledge of it. The Native American headdress is a traditional headwear that is being placed in a new view one that it doesn’t belong in. The people who sell the headdress in stores are not even from the culture it is from. And the media isn’t helping either with how it is seen. Advertisements during Halloween would show people wearing a costume that is from another culture showing how good it looks on them. This causes disrespect towards the tradition of that culture as well as make people not know the meaning of the headdress at all.
   The Native American headdress is a very important statutes symbol to the Native American people. It starts off as a simply designed hat and then receives feathers. The Native American tribes award theses feathers to their warriors after a heroic act. These feathers that are earned have their own statues, also the greater the act the more valuable the kind of feather is added. The most valuable feather that can be awarded is the golden eagle feather which is the American bald eagle feather. Although there is no functional purpose, it does not physically protect the warrior or soon to be chief, the Native Americans claim that it helps give statuses to certain individuals and holds religious value. It’s a very important factor in their, culture, society, and political system and should not be misunderstood as just a piece of art.
   While appropriation of indigenous culture is receiving increased media attention nowadays. The fashion industry has gained notoriety for constantly appropriating indigenous cultural markers. Appropriating another culture includes taking from a marginalized group without permission, and usually without respect for or knowledge about their culture. In the article “Cultural Appropriation and the Plains’ Indian Headdress” by Marisa Wood, it’s evident that cultural appropriation of the Plains’ Indian headdress is an issue in Native American communities. Taking one’s culture can damage cultural integrity (Ziff and Rao 8) and there are solutions to avoid cultural appropriation and it involves responsible borrowing and ensures respectful by first requiring informed consent of the indigenous community to use part of their culture. The wrong way to go about appropriation is to steal bits and pieces of practices without any regard for their cultural origins, or to claim titles specific to certain organizations without actually earning them. There needs to be balance between the promotion of stereotypes and actual real knowledge and respect for how Native people earn wearing a headdress and use these cultural treasures. It is important that people learn their boundaries with one’s culture because channeling a culture as your own is impertinent.
   In conclusion, many cultures have special traditions that they use to signify different statuses within their cultures. In this case Native Americans use a headdress to award their soldiers for their bravery. Many people are appropriating this culture by using this headdress as a costume without knowing the actual use of it. This can be very offensive to those Native Americans who still practice this tradition, and should encourage people to be more aware of the traditions they are appropriating.

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5. Nimra, Aisha, Aylin
   Prof. Choi
   English 1101 (D348)
   Group open Letter

   Dear America,

   In our country cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation are often misinterpreted. Cultural Appropriation is adopting certain aspects of culture without showing respect and taking a part of another’s culture and claiming it as your own. A common way that this is shown today is when people praise a dominant culture for an aspect taken from the minority culture that would usually be criticized from it. A frequent misconception surrounding Voodoo are the “Voodoo dolls”, which are popular in the pop culture and Hollywood films. What we don’t realize is that Voodoo dolls have no roots in the Haitian Voodoo. Voodoo is a religious cult originated from Haiti and can be characterized as sorcery and spirit possession. The foundations of Voodoo came from tribal religions in West Africa and brought to, by slaves in the 17th century. Nowadays, Voodoo is misinterpreted and is made up of many stereotypes. Such as black magic and “voodoo dolls”. Most of these beliefs are false and there is a lot more than just dolls in the Voodoo world.

   Many myths and misconceptions have arisen surrounding Voodoo. These misunderstandings are due to the movies that are released nowadays. Around the world people believe that voodoo is “black magic”. American often dismiss it as a superstition or witchcraft. For instance, whenever people think of voodoo they think of Pin-fill dolls, Zombies and spirit possessions. However, that is not the case because Voodoo is a religion in which people communicate with a spirit of loved one. People who practice Voodoo believe that there is a visible and an invisible world, and that these worlds are intertwined. They consider the world we live in as visible and after death as the invisible world.

   Voodoo is a highly misunderstood religion. One misconception is the portrayal of zombies, which was originated from Voodoo in the 17th century. A zombie is a corpse revived by a voodoo practitioner, or in other words the undead. The practitioner would give the person a potion which would then revive them, but the person would have “zombie” like symptoms such as, difficulty walking, mental confusion and respiratory problems. Modern day films and tv shows such as, The Walking Dead and I Am Legend have portrayed zombies as people that are undead, who have a limp, and have the appetite for brains. But in reality, Voodoo zombies are undead people who were brought back by a bokor to fulfill their punishments when they were alive, and use this as a message to others in the village that they can’t escape their full punishment. They were also brought back to be used as slaves to run farms around the villages.

   America interprets spiritual possessions as something “bad” and maybe a certain “demon” is in possession of a body or an object. Some of these examples are seen in movies such as “Anabelle”, a movie where a woman is given a doll as a gift but later turns out to be a bad spirit and she soon starts encountering paranormal activities. Many movies like these have one theme in common and that is that a certain bad spirit is in possession of something such as a house or a doll. However Voodoo is about the idea that everything material has a “spiritual dimension” to it. Meaning that there’s more life to it, everything living has a spirit and a spiritual nature. Voodoo followers claim their religion full of revelations. For instance, people who receive a dream/vision or have even be possessed by a spirit; may obtain some information unknown to others making it a revelation. An example of a spirit speaking to a voodoo practitioner would be their ancestors because they highly respect and admire their ancestors. Also America makes us think that voodoo only to do with the devil. Nonetheless, Voodoo does not engage with devil worship and make no pacts with it. A frequent misconception surrounding Voodoo are the “Voodoo dolls”, which are popular in the pop culture and Hollywood films. What we don’t realize is that Voodoo dolls have no roots in the Haitian Voodoo. The foundations of Voodoo came from tribal religions in West Africa and brought to, by slaves in the 17th century.

   With all this in mind, the point here is that voodoo is actually a complex tradition of faith. Not what’s displayed in mainstream media and Hollywood movies that show a false narrative of only evil spirits and possessing others. Furthermore, many stereotypes have been made about the religion of Voodoo and its followers by films and tv shows made in America. Such as, ‘The Walking Dead’ and Annabelle, which are very popular and create a bad narrative with the Voodoo community. As stated previously, Voodoo has no correlation whatsoever to zombies or possessing others, it does involves spirits but knowing that us humans and spirits share the same Earth. Including that there are two different entities that roam the planet, humans and spirits. With these misconceptions, Voodoo has been culturally appropriated by movies and mainstream media as a religion that deals with the possession of evil spirits.

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