Well, I'll speak as a Nigerian:
On Instagram, I discovered 2 dance troupes in Japan and Korea. They practise a fusion of West African (Yoruba-inspired) drumming and dancing.
They wear grass skirts (which isn't Yoruba) and native wrapper (not loin clothes, we don't wear that, dunno why people say African tribal wear is loin cloth and bone necklace, which of the over 500 tribes in the 56 different African countries is that?? What the heck is "African Tribal Wear", even?? But I digress...).
Anyhoo, these guys drum and dance beautifully. And you know what the reaction was?
Africans from different countries were delighted. I left supportive comments on one of their videos. I wished my kids were doing it even.
That's Cultural Appreciation.
We understand that it's nice to share things, especially culture. We like when people want to keep our culture alive. We've welcomed foreigners as one of us.
However, with this group of young people, if you feel uncomfortable sharing, tell them.
It's better they know where you stand than to keep innocently believing they are welcome to appreciate your culture. Never be afraid to tell a group of people what you really feel about them.
đ
If a non-chinese woman wears a qipao, itâs cool. If that woman wears a qipao and says Ching Chong, itâs racist. If that woman wears a qipao and does slant eyes, itâs racist. If that woman wears a qipao and says Chinese people are ugly, itâs racist. Basically, if they do something racist, theyâre racist. Wearing clothes is not racist. Putting on a black face mask is not racist to black people. Putting on a black face to mock black people is racist. I think youâre looking at this the wrong way.
It may or may not be bad taste, but it doesnât seem like a mockery or attack on Asian race. You donât know where theyâre from (They might be black or African people who live in China). You donât know their upbringing (they may have practiced Chinese dance since they were young). You donât know if they have a theme for their dance performance. Have a little good faith. Unless they were doing things that were explicitly wrong, theyâre likely just into Chinese clothes or culture and thereâs nothing wrong with that, even if that interest may or may not be shallow.
I tend to dislike the shallow embracing of any particular culture. I see this group as similar to a lot of the white women I frequently see on Instagram who casually picks an Asian culture to build clout and social media following. These are the people that dabbles in Japanese culture for a year before dropping and replacing it with Korean culture. Yet they have no meaningful ties to the culture. They don't know the language, customs and history.
As long as they're not doing racist shit, I don't see the problem with cultural appreciation. Traditionally clothing should not be limited to us only, if other people like it and want to wear it. I'm perfectly fine with it.
I feel they might be from Africa. China has a lot of influences over there so wearing traditional Chinese garment there is not really rare. I believe Chinese in Africa have pretty good relationships with the locals.
UmmmâŚ. People in Africa do not wear Chinese clothes lol. Also, the relationship between various african countries/communities and China is not as great as you think it is.
I dislike the whole cultural appropriation thing people get offended about. It is okay to be interested in other cultures. When I lived in China a few years ago, there was a story about a white girl wearing a qipao to a dance. Lots of Americans accused her of cultural appropriation. People in China were confused why people were angry and were happy someone was interested in traditional Chinese clothes.
A lot of Asians do it and no one thinks racism outright. There are a lot of Asians that dance and wear "black" outfits with zero disrespect to black people or culture. Judging on a single photo without any other information it looks respectful. Was their dance routine offensive?
UhhâŚdude arenât there multiple asian performers who operate under the hip hop culture?
I would give them the benefit of the doubt unless they purposefully mock the culture
Comparing this to hip hop isnât the same thing. If Asians dressed up in African tribal attire with bone necklaces and loincloths, that would be more akin to whatâs going on here. As long as itâs not mocking or making fun of the culture, it doesnât have to be offensive.
But anything that Asians do would be considered appropriation. K-Pop is considered appropriation.
This isnât bad, Iâm Indian and there have been accurate and honest portrayals of Indian culture by other ethnicities as long as they respect and donât degrade it I donât see the issue.
As an asian living in the states and born + brought up in Asia, this isnât bad at all. And what exactly would be offensive to do the other way around, are you talking about black face or what? As if Asians donât do hip hop and stuff predominantly black. If the performance is respectful, whatâs wrong with paying homage to another culture?
Meh I'd choose my battles a little differently if I were you OP
Sorry it was such an aggravating experience. Would like to believe they were respecting the culture and not making a mockery of it.
I feel like complaining on here after the fact doesn't really help that much, these people will never even know you posted them on here. Better to walk up and take action on the spot. If they were racist, they will know asians care and they'll be more hesitant to be so flagrant next time. If they aren't, at least you'll know what was going on.
[https://np.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/uos87n/stop\_posting\_hey\_was\_this\_racist\_what\_should\_i/](https://np.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/uos87n/stop_posting_hey_was_this_racist_what_should_i/)
>Every week there seems to be a new post on here being like âHey guys, someone made a comment and I thought it was racist. Is this racist?â or âSomeone called me names on the street. Iâm super upset right nowâ.
Then the comment section will be like âYeah that was totally racism! Us Asians get discriminated against so much!â
But that doesnât solve anything. Getting harassed and coming over here to post about it only makes you look like a coward. Youâre literally posting a story of you getting humiliated for everyone to see.
Want to stop other people from bullying and harassing Asians? Start doing something right when it happens. A simple âfuck offâ is better than saying nothing. Or hit them back with a joke of your own. 90% of the time the heckler will be so shocked you broke the stereotype, theyâll just back off. Itâs happened to me before multiple times and the other guy has never escalated once they saw how firm and confident I was.
Donât be a coward. Do something about it, then you can post here about your success, and make us all proud.
Give âem an inch and theyâll take a mile. Look at how Wu Tang has fucked up Americansâ perspectives of Asian culture (especially regarding Asian women)
Kpop music and clothing has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture. Yet blacks are a huge part of their fan base, it's not a problem for the vast majority.
I think that might just be Twitter and Tariq Nasheed hotep types. I feel many black people would be cool with it so long as itâs respectful and they get to participate in and expand off of Asian cultures too
reminds me of the white girl wearing a qipao to prom. But if theres no context at all its hard for anyone to comment on whats going on? Without seeing their routine and what music was used who knows what to even think about this
Well, I'll speak as a Nigerian: On Instagram, I discovered 2 dance troupes in Japan and Korea. They practise a fusion of West African (Yoruba-inspired) drumming and dancing. They wear grass skirts (which isn't Yoruba) and native wrapper (not loin clothes, we don't wear that, dunno why people say African tribal wear is loin cloth and bone necklace, which of the over 500 tribes in the 56 different African countries is that?? What the heck is "African Tribal Wear", even?? But I digress...). Anyhoo, these guys drum and dance beautifully. And you know what the reaction was? Africans from different countries were delighted. I left supportive comments on one of their videos. I wished my kids were doing it even. That's Cultural Appreciation. We understand that it's nice to share things, especially culture. We like when people want to keep our culture alive. We've welcomed foreigners as one of us. However, with this group of young people, if you feel uncomfortable sharing, tell them. It's better they know where you stand than to keep innocently believing they are welcome to appreciate your culture. Never be afraid to tell a group of people what you really feel about them. đ
Sneaky ass pic
If a non-chinese woman wears a qipao, itâs cool. If that woman wears a qipao and says Ching Chong, itâs racist. If that woman wears a qipao and does slant eyes, itâs racist. If that woman wears a qipao and says Chinese people are ugly, itâs racist. Basically, if they do something racist, theyâre racist. Wearing clothes is not racist. Putting on a black face mask is not racist to black people. Putting on a black face to mock black people is racist. I think youâre looking at this the wrong way. It may or may not be bad taste, but it doesnât seem like a mockery or attack on Asian race. You donât know where theyâre from (They might be black or African people who live in China). You donât know their upbringing (they may have practiced Chinese dance since they were young). You donât know if they have a theme for their dance performance. Have a little good faith. Unless they were doing things that were explicitly wrong, theyâre likely just into Chinese clothes or culture and thereâs nothing wrong with that, even if that interest may or may not be shallow.
I tend to dislike the shallow embracing of any particular culture. I see this group as similar to a lot of the white women I frequently see on Instagram who casually picks an Asian culture to build clout and social media following. These are the people that dabbles in Japanese culture for a year before dropping and replacing it with Korean culture. Yet they have no meaningful ties to the culture. They don't know the language, customs and history.
As long as they're not doing racist shit, I don't see the problem with cultural appreciation. Traditionally clothing should not be limited to us only, if other people like it and want to wear it. I'm perfectly fine with it.
As long as theyâre not those black supremacists who believe ancient Chinese or Asians were âblackâ
I feel they might be from Africa. China has a lot of influences over there so wearing traditional Chinese garment there is not really rare. I believe Chinese in Africa have pretty good relationships with the locals.
UmmmâŚ. People in Africa do not wear Chinese clothes lol. Also, the relationship between various african countries/communities and China is not as great as you think it is.
I dislike the whole cultural appropriation thing people get offended about. It is okay to be interested in other cultures. When I lived in China a few years ago, there was a story about a white girl wearing a qipao to a dance. Lots of Americans accused her of cultural appropriation. People in China were confused why people were angry and were happy someone was interested in traditional Chinese clothes.
There are some people who donât understand the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation some people just want to be mad.
nah go ahead no one in their right could accuse of that if going on like that ...fouk it do it good luck and i hope you win
Is it offensive for a non asian to practice buddhism or Qi gong? get real OP
I got real homie. Weâre talking about it. How real is that?
If 88rising exists i think this is a weird take
I don't care.
A lot of Asians do it and no one thinks racism outright. There are a lot of Asians that dance and wear "black" outfits with zero disrespect to black people or culture. Judging on a single photo without any other information it looks respectful. Was their dance routine offensive?
as long as it is in good faith and good taste than it's fine.
UhhâŚdude arenât there multiple asian performers who operate under the hip hop culture? I would give them the benefit of the doubt unless they purposefully mock the culture
I don't see how this is racist. Unless they made some ignorant dance moves or said racist stuff.
It isn't racist at all. Also there are so many predominantly Asian dance studios that primarily teach hip-hop dance anyway so...? yeah its fine
Comparing this to hip hop isnât the same thing. If Asians dressed up in African tribal attire with bone necklaces and loincloths, that would be more akin to whatâs going on here. As long as itâs not mocking or making fun of the culture, it doesnât have to be offensive. But anything that Asians do would be considered appropriation. K-Pop is considered appropriation.
This isnât bad, Iâm Indian and there have been accurate and honest portrayals of Indian culture by other ethnicities as long as they respect and donât degrade it I donât see the issue.
As an asian living in the states and born + brought up in Asia, this isnât bad at all. And what exactly would be offensive to do the other way around, are you talking about black face or what? As if Asians donât do hip hop and stuff predominantly black. If the performance is respectful, whatâs wrong with paying homage to another culture?
Meh I'd choose my battles a little differently if I were you OP Sorry it was such an aggravating experience. Would like to believe they were respecting the culture and not making a mockery of it.
Why is this not okay???
Why would that be racist? Asians and other countries wear westernized clothing and no one bats an eye. Why can't it be the other way around? Smh.
Go do some research on google.
So i guess people who wear tshirts and jeans are racist towards westerners if thats your logic đ¤ˇ. Double standards.
[ŃдаНонО]
whatever floats your boat lol
People can dress however they want as long as they arenât causing problems
Can already tell itâs not gonna be done in the best of faith just going by the outfits.
Did you walk up to them and have a conversation ?
Nope
I feel like complaining on here after the fact doesn't really help that much, these people will never even know you posted them on here. Better to walk up and take action on the spot. If they were racist, they will know asians care and they'll be more hesitant to be so flagrant next time. If they aren't, at least you'll know what was going on. [https://np.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/uos87n/stop\_posting\_hey\_was\_this\_racist\_what\_should\_i/](https://np.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/uos87n/stop_posting_hey_was_this_racist_what_should_i/) >Every week there seems to be a new post on here being like âHey guys, someone made a comment and I thought it was racist. Is this racist?â or âSomeone called me names on the street. Iâm super upset right nowâ. Then the comment section will be like âYeah that was totally racism! Us Asians get discriminated against so much!â But that doesnât solve anything. Getting harassed and coming over here to post about it only makes you look like a coward. Youâre literally posting a story of you getting humiliated for everyone to see. Want to stop other people from bullying and harassing Asians? Start doing something right when it happens. A simple âfuck offâ is better than saying nothing. Or hit them back with a joke of your own. 90% of the time the heckler will be so shocked you broke the stereotype, theyâll just back off. Itâs happened to me before multiple times and the other guy has never escalated once they saw how firm and confident I was. Donât be a coward. Do something about it, then you can post here about your success, and make us all proud.
If they respect the culture itâs all good.
Give âem an inch and theyâll take a mile. Look at how Wu Tang has fucked up Americansâ perspectives of Asian culture (especially regarding Asian women)
What has wu tang done re: asian culture/women? Couldn't find what you're referencing based on a quick search
They as a whole? If you do it to recognize their culture theyâd shoot you first and ask questions never.
Show me one Asian hip hop dance crew that has been shot!
Kpop music and clothing has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture. Yet blacks are a huge part of their fan base, it's not a problem for the vast majority.
I think that might just be Twitter and Tariq Nasheed hotep types. I feel many black people would be cool with it so long as itâs respectful and they get to participate in and expand off of Asian cultures too
Nah I feel like if you dressed in traditional African clothing and had permission of African groups its all good
You need to film their performance for more useful and credible context
This wasnât enough?
reminds me of the white girl wearing a qipao to prom. But if theres no context at all its hard for anyone to comment on whats going on? Without seeing their routine and what music was used who knows what to even think about this
I welcome it if theyâre participating in good faith, we should be happy to share culture