Black lives matter. So does Islamophobia. Beyoncé in a sari? Not so much

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Is it OK to use the black emojis if you’re not black?” As conversation starters about identity politics go, few seem more juvenile and current than this one. (FYI, to avoid the tedium of this real-life chat I had recently, it’s easier to stick with your own skin tone.) And yet, here we are, at the frontier of “being woke”. On one hand, this means being socially aware about issues such as #blacklivesmatter, racial profiling, privilege, Islamophobia etc – all the big guns. On the other? Not every battle is worth having. To clarify, this isn’t a discussion about the very real and very insensitive cases of cultural appropriation in recent years – the most obvious being native American headdresses – a sacred tradition regurgitated as cheap and crass festival costume fodder (so two summers ago, keep up). No, what we’re seeing more and more of now are the minority voices within minorities who are policing communities and culture to the point of ridicule.

Take, for example, the #reclaimthebindi movement. I understand the frustration: having been embarrassed about your heritage and made fun of when you were younger for your mum’s funny clothes and accent, it’s jarring then to see Becky at Latitude co-opting sari tops and henna for that ethnic festival look a decade later. It’s not necessarily racist, but it is definitely high on the scale of Dumb, Annoying People Do. To be ranked in that same file: colour runs (the Hindu spring festival Holi reconfigured as an Instagram opportunity in Hyde Park); the fact that Black Twitter is rarely credited for setting the agenda for contemporary pop culture; Coldplay’s cringe discovery of India on their last album. However, to claim that Beyoncé committed a heinous, culturally insensitive crime by wearing south Asian-style gold and henna in the video for Coldplay’s Hymn for the Weekend, or that only African American women can truly appreciate Lemonade, segregates culture in an aggressively retro way. It’s a parody of earnestness that does us no favours. How did we even get here?

More at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2016/may/22/black-lives-matter-islamophobia-beyonce-cultural-appropriation

[rock4blaqkhearts 12]

Do you think most people even know what they truly believe?

Groupthink and ignorance was always a problem. Now with the Internet, it has been amplified like never before. While the Internet is a fantastic resource, it's also given a voice to every idiot with a smartphone/computer. The barrier/anonymity of the Internet also seems to encourage people to say things they wouldn't say in person.

[Dakine10 5,452]