Why is it that white women who wear cornrows are hailed as high fashion, while women of color are deemed “ghetto”? Model Salem Mitchell is fighting against the trend of white people being praised for their cultural appropriation. “Everything about what I look like is considered ‘trendy’ in the media and fashion right now. The freckles, the braids, the big lips, etc. But on a black woman its ghetto for NO reason and we’re tired of it.”
Her statement was in response to a comment on Vogue’s Instagram post, in which, you probably guessed, someone called her “ghetto”.
This particular comment was important to call out, because it’s something that happens over and over again, in an assortment of ways that are sometimes undetectable. The appropriation of black culture is everywhere. Kim Kardashian wore cornrows, along with plenty of other white stars like Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, and were called “trend-setters”, while models and people of color in the media such as Zendaya and Mitchell are called ghetto for doing the same.
Finding an explanation for this double standard is both complicated and simple, it’s called racism. The good news is, we have young people like Salem Mitchell stepping up and using their platforms to educate and to spread awareness. “It wasn’t, ‘I think she’s ugly’ or ‘I don’t like this photo.’ It was, ‘By looking at this woman the first way I can describe her is by calling her a ghetto person.’ Calling me ghetto or any black woman ghetto based on a photo is so dismissive of who we are as people, what we’ve accomplished, and how we carry ourselves.”
Hopefully with more and more people being bold and calling attention to these blatant shows of racism, we can continue to make progress. Mitchell’s final statement sums up the underlying problem with criticizing black women and people of color for performing their own culture. “Cultural appropriation is an important topic because Black and brown people are constantly demonized for their appearance, their hair, the way they dress, their use of slang, and other characteristics when in reality everything that we’re doing has set a blueprint for the culture we see today. Another thing people don’t understand is cultural appropriation is not about not wanting to share things with others — it’s not about wanting to take ownership over certain styles and deciding who gets to wear what. It’s about Black and brown people not receiving the same human respect simply because of their appearance when white people are praised for it.”
If you follow Salem on twitter, you know that she frequently advocates for body positivity, acceptance, and even calls out racism and bigotry when it’s helpful. It’s good to know there are beautiful people like her who are trying to make change.
