[Cap'n Tightpants]

Allegations of "Cultural appropriation" make no sense to me. Honestly, I can't wrap my head around why such a thing in important. Is there anyone here who can explain why it matters, especially in a modern, multicultural society? Are the people who are upset about this kind of thing worried that they won't appear special anymore?

[subego]

I prefer the term misappropriation, because as you imply, there's nothing wrong with appropriation in and of itself.

[subego]

My high score in cultural misappropriation was seeing a yad for the first time and calling it a "backscratcher".

To be fair, I did preface it with "that's a totally awesome..."

[Cap'n Tightpants]

That's not what people are griping about, though. The complaint is that other cultures are using a specific garment, hairstyle, or word, not that it's being misused. They're saying this is our thing, you can't have it.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

The complaint is that other cultures are using a specific garment, hairstyle, or word, not that it's being misused. They're saying this is our thing, you can't have it.

With regards to things like you mentioned it is simply idiotic to protest that members outside those groups cannot use, be inspired by, or popularize said elements as those particulars are not items or qualities that can be intrinsically owned by a group or individual.

Often the people who point and scream accusations of cultural appropriation use some biased reductive argument that pays no notice that the stake they lay claim over has layers and elements borrowed from other groups they themselves never gave credit or notice for. Or that even those elements were never unique in the first place as they were common across various groups across region and time... like the dreads.

To have any credibility charges would have to get very damned specific and be limited to finite minutia that can be trademarked or be given specific authorship to. Like when Shawn (an "appropriation" of Gaelic root name) Carter sampled and had to pay license for use of mundian to bachke when he used it in his work in an unrelated cultural music genre than it had first originated from.

[P]

Devil's advocate here, as I think that people are a bit oversensitive about this, but generally it is about people from outside a culture grabbing small piece from that culture without understanding the deeper context. It's a bit like walking around in a military uniform full of medals that you didn't earn because you think it looks cool.

[subego]

I can see both sides.

I'll engage in some shameless self-promotion as an example...



This is my band. The members are white and Asian. An argument can be made (and was in fact made by me to the band leader), we're appropriating Roma schtick (which we are), and making them out to be thieves (which we are).

I didn't feel the impulse to throw down hard enough to stop it, but if someone were to complain, I couldn't exactly say they were wrong.

Honestly, I assume the main reason no one has complained is, well... most people seem to hate the Roma, and consider them to be a bunch of thieves.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by P 

Devil's advocate here, as I think that people are a bit oversensitive about this, but generally it is about people from outside a culture grabbing small piece from that culture without understanding the deeper context. It's a bit like walking around in a military uniform full of medals that you didn't earn because you think it looks cool.

However, one's culture isn't something they've earned, they didn't do anything to be a part of it (unlike earning medals). It's much like people being proud of their natural skin color, another thing that makes no sense to me.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

However, one's culture isn't something they've earned, they didn't do anything to be a part of it (unlike earning medals). It's much like people being proud of their natural skin color, another thing that makes no sense to me.

Well, the more reasonable complaints seem to follow the same shape as the medals.

Recall the headdress complaint. The issue seemed to be it was something which was earned, and models putting them on willy-nilly is what's off-putting.

[OAW]

This is a fairly complex issue that doesn't lend itself to simplistic characterizations of what it's all about. As Subego noted about the Native American headdress issue. In that instance we have something that is sacred to Native American culture being used as a fashion prop for half-naked Victoria Secret models. It's just downright disrespectful! Imagine the headdress worn by Catholic nuns being used in a similar fashion and that should illustrate the point. In other instances the issue isn't hairstyles or clothing being worn by people of a different culture per se ... it's more about how such style choices are perceived or characterized when those outside the culture do it vs when those inside the culture do it. Here are some articles which explore the issue a bit deeper ...

Zendaya isn’t here for your cultural appropriation, and in a new interview with Popsugar, she opens up about why it’s such a problem.

“If something feels personal to your culture or to your background,” the megastar said, “then you take that personally and you feel affected by it. You can’t tell someone not to be upset about it.”

She’s speaking from experience. Last year, Zendaya wore locs to the Oscars. She looked absolutely stunning, yet Fashion Police host and E! News correspondent Giuliana Rancic said, “I feel like she smells like patchouli oil … and maybe weed.”

Zendaya promptly fired back with a powerful response to Rancic’s “outrageously offensive” comment.



Now a year later, she’s happy to break down the meaning of cultural appropriation.

“Well, first of all, braids are not new,” Zendaya said when asked about celebrities like Kylie Jenner wearing cornrows. “Black women have been wearing braids for a very long time. … It became new and fresh and fun, because it was on someone else other than a black woman. You know what I mean? So that is the frustration. That’s where the culture appropriation element comes into play.”

Zendaya Gets Real About Cultural Appropriation: 'You Can't Tell Someone Not To Be Upset About It' - MTV

“What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we love black culture?”

That’s the question 16-year-old Amandla Stenberg, the actress most known for her role as Rue in “Hunger Games,” left viewers in a video she made on the relevance of black culture and its appropriation by mass media.

And yes, you read that right — she’s only 16.

The wisdom Stenberg shared was part of a project she and another classmate created for their history class, which Stenberg later published to her Tumblr page. As a result, she powerfully schools her classmates — and the public — on the history of black hairstyles and hip-hop, their merger with mainstream music and how this has ultimately led to the (mis)appropriation of black culture.

“Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as high-fashion, cool or funny when the privileged take it for themselves,” Stenberg explains in her video, appropriately titled “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows.”

“Hip hop stems from a black struggle, it stems from jazz and blues, styles of music African-Americans created to retain humanity in the face of adversity,” Stenberg said. “On a smaller scale but in a similar vein, braids and cornrows are not merely stylistic. They’re necessary to keep black hair neat.”

16-year-old Amandla Stenberg Schools Everyone On Cultural Appropriation In This Powerful Video

Apparently, dreadlocks, braids, and full lips are “new” to White people in the same way America was new to Columbus.

Over the weekend, Kylie Jenner posted a picture of herself on Instagram rocking dreadlocks she had done for a “rebel-themed” photo shoot (whatever that means) she did recently in the desert. Within hours, articles surfaced on the web from style magazines calling her new look “edgy” and “cool,” and scores of White girls took to Twitter to shower her with praise and compliments. But Black women on Twitter were not amused. Black Twitter was abuzz last week as well over a viral photo of a White teenaged girl wearing box braids. And weeks earlier, after a magazine declared that Kylie’s apparently newly surgically plumped lips were currently “trendy,” Black women and women of color responded with the hashtag #trendylips and tweeted pictures of their naturally full lips – lips they had before it was “cool” to have them.

I, as I think many people were, was more annoyed by the declaration of a full lips trend than I was by Kylie’s lips themselves. I don’t care about her lips, I recognize that full lips are not “ours” (Black people’s exclusively). But I do have an issue with White people rocking dreadlocks and box braids and other natural Black hairstyles as a fashion statement. Many of these styles are ways in which Black people’s hair literally grows out of our heads, but we’re told that it’s a problem when we wear our hair that way.

Black children are routinely suspended, expelled, and disciplined in school for wearing dreadlocks, braids, afros, and other natural Black hairstyles. Many of these styles are deemed inappropriate for a school setting in Catholic and private school codes of conduct, and even in some public schools. Not more than two weeks ago I read an article about a boy who was disciplined for wearing braids to school, a hairstyle which school administration considered “gang-affiliated.” And I see articles all the time about the cutest little Black girls with afros and afro puffs who are sent home, kicked out, or voluntarily withdrawn from a school by their parents because the school’s administration said they couldn’t wear their hair like that and they refused to change it, rightfully so. More, many Black people are hesitant to wear dreadlocks and other natural hairstyles to work because they are generally considered inappropriate for most professional settings. My brother cut his dreadlocks a year and a half ago when he was looking for a business internship because, frankly, a lot of White people find the style foreign and intimidating, especially on big Black men. And a professor of mine told me a story about her nephew who cut his dreads because he got sick of the police harassing him every time he turned around.

I have a problem with White people appropriating Black hairstyles because they will never face the same consequences for those styles that we face. Many of us wear these styles as statements of pride in our heritage. But we are implicitly reminded and explicitly told that our natural hair is inappropriate; that our biology is unacceptable. We face constant efforts to shame and regulate our bodies, to tame our natural features, but Kylie Jenner will never have to deal with that. Neither will little White girls who wear box braids as a fashion statement, to be “different.” It’s cute on them; it’s cause for concern on us. And I’m not okay with that.

Why I Have A Problem with Kylie Jenner’s DreadlocksPolitic365 | Politic365

OAW

[andi*pandi]

We can't make lines in the sand about which hair styles or fashions certain groups are allowed to have. If a black woman straightens her hair and gets extensions to look like Angelina Jolie, is that ok? Even asking that seems silly. Of course it's fine. Jenner is not the first white person with dreads or braids. Not every white person can pull it off, but hey, let them try.

People copy. They're not doing it to "coopt the struggle", they are doing it out of admiration, which to me means a kind of respect. Doesn't that say something, that we have come that far? Part of the acceptance of other cultures, is that yeah, that culture is going to be mainstream and accessible to others. There will be blending. That can be really wonderful and beautiful.

A different issue is the "My culture is not a costume" problem. I can see religious artifacts being sacred, like a headdress or priest costume, but one is perfectly ok to wear on halloween and one is not. Someone can wear a gorgeous Louis IV style gown and appreciate past french culture, but not a lovely kimono. I don't get that. Remember the MFA kerfuffle over kimono?

Saying your culture is off limits, but also complaining that people don't "get" you, is blocking people from "getting" you.

~~~
edit: as far as people getting fired for hairstyles, my father was once told he had to cut his hair or be fired. Elderly white guy working at Sears. Also he couldn't wear an earring. Companies have rules about appearance, not always fair, not always racist. Sadly conservative, yes. Sometimes it's for safety (food prep, machinery). If all the amusement park employees who are white guys have to cut their hair, the black guys should too.

The business setting rule should just be professional and neatly kept. Some of the braid hairstyles are very gorgeous and sculptural.

I have read the reasoning for the braid/dread rule is that dreads are hard to fit in an army helmet. Perhaps the new rule should be that all hair should be short and neatly kept. No mention of style.

[OAW]

With that being said CTP asked why all this matters so I'll try to elaborate a bit more. The issue here is when a picture of a black model's naturally full lips are used to promote MAC cosmetics we see the Instagram page is inundated with racist comments ...



MAC Cosmetic’s Instagram Bombarded With Racist Comments After Posting Photo of Black Woman’s Lips - The Root

But when a white girl gets her lips surgically enhanced to look the same that is "cool".



The media and popular culture just loses their minds over the store-bought booty on a white woman like Kim Kardashian because it makes her some kind of "unicorn". But when it comes to the natural booty on the average black woman the words at the beginning of this Hip Hop classic sums it up quite succinctly ...

Oh, my, god. Becky, look at her butt.
It is so big. [scoff]
She looks like one of those rap guys' girlfriends.
But, you know, who understands those rap guys? [scoff]
They only talk to her, because, she looks like a total prostitute, 'kay?
I mean, her butt, is just so big.
I can't believe it's just so round, it's like, out there, I mean— gross. Look!
She's just so... black!

Again we have black adults who routinely lose their jobs for wearing their natural hair ...

Rhonda Lee, Weather Woman Fired Over Natural Hair, Has No Regrets | News One

Missouri Woman Told to Cut Dreadlocks or Be Fired - The Root

Ohio Resident Charles Craddock Claims Employer Ordered Him to Cut Dreads or Be Fired - The Root

We have black children who routinely get expelled from school for wearing their natural hair ...

Florida school threatens to expel student over natural hair | MSNBC

Tiana Parker, 7, Switches Schools After Being Forbidden From Wearing Dreads

We even had the US Army get in on such foolishness not very long ago ....

AMERICA has always had trouble with black hair. The United States Army is only the latest in a long line of institutions, corporations and schools to restrict it. On March 31, the Army released an updated appearance and grooming policy, known as AR 670-1. It applies to all Army personnel, including students at West Point and those serving in the R.O.T.C. and the National Guard.

No distinctions are made for race or ethnicity, only gender, in that the regulations regarding hair are divided between women and men. But it’s not hard to infer that certain sections pertain specifically to black women, since they refer to hairstyles like cornrows, braids, twists and dreadlocks, severely limiting or banning them outright.

While the Army certainly isn’t the first to impose these kinds of prohibitions, it may be the most egregious example, considering that the 26,000 black women affected by AR 670-1 are willing to die for their country. On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered the entire military to review its hairstyle rules, after the women of the Congressional Black Caucus sent him a letter saying that the Army policy’s language was “offensive” and “biased” and strongly urging him to reconsider it. More than 17,000 people signed a petition submitted to WhiteHouse.gov asking the Obama administration to review the policy.

The bias against black hair is as old as America itself. In the 18th century, British colonists classified African hair as closer to sheep wool than human hair. Enslaved and free blacks who had less kinky, more European-textured hair and lighter skin — often a result of plantation rape — received better treatment than those with more typically African features.

When Black Hair Is Against The Rules | NYTimes.com

So yes we are a multi-cultural society. And it's not the people have an issue with majority culture making style choices that are from a minority culture in and of itself. The problem is when the majority culture labels such style choices as "cool" or "edgy"or "trendy" when they do it ... but embraces centuries worth of negative and sometimes racist stereotypes when the minority culture that originated it does the same thing.


OAW

[OAW]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

We can't make lines in the sand about which hair styles or fashions certain groups are allowed to have. If a black woman straightens her hair and gets extensions to look like Angelina Jolie, is that ok? Even asking that seems silly. Jenner is not the first white person with dreads or braids.

But again there is a deeper history for this which can't be simply ignored. Quite literally for centuries black women were forced to straighten their hair or keep it covered up because white people found it "offensive" and "ugly" in its natural state. It's a message that is so culturally ingrained that many still suffer from a self-hatred about it to this day. In 2016 there are still African-Americans who use terms like "good hair" to refer to naturally straight hair. The very thought of wearing their natural hair is taboo. The "politics of black hair" is real. And my point here is that it didn't develop in a vacuum. There's a long and sordid history involved.

My black hair: a tangled story of race and politics in America - Quartz

Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics | NYTimes.com

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

People copy. They're not doing it to "coopt the struggle", they are doing it out of admiration, which to me means a kind of respectDoesn't that say something, that we have come that far? Part of the acceptance of other cultures, is that yeah, they're going to be mainstream and accessible to others. There will be blending. That can be really wonderful and beautiful.

Indeed. But as I indicated above. It's not the "copying" itself. The issue is about the differing narratives involved when it comes to who is wearing a particular style.

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

edit: as far as people getting fired for hairstyles, my father was once told he had to cut his hair or be fired. Elderly white guy working at Sears. Also he couldn't wear an earring. Companies have rules about appearance, not always fair, not always racist. Sadly conservative, yes. Sometimes it's for safety (food prep, machinery). If all the amusement park employees who are white guys have to cut their hair, the black guys should too.

The business setting rule should just be professional and neatly kept. Some of the braid hairstyles are very gorgeous and sculptural.

Agreed. But you see the issue here isn't about hair length. It was about the hair style itself. There are places were a short, professional, and neatly kept style like bantu knots or two-strand twists can get you fired.





On a personal note, my own son who is about to graduate from high school wears his hair twisted like the second guy here. He'll be fine in college. But chances are he'll have to change it once he enters the workforce after that because it'll be considered too "ethnic". And that's just BS.

And let's certainly not forget the black news anchor who was fired for wearing her natural hair.



It wasn't because her hair looked "unprofessional" or "unkempt". The cold, hard, reality of it was that she refused to embrace a Eurocentric aesthetic by chemically straightening her hair or wearing a wig/weave.

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

I have read the reasoning for the braid/dread rule is that dreads are hard to fit in an army helmet.

But that simply isn't the case. Any hairstyle can be hard to fit in an army helmet depending upon how it's done. There is noting inherent in braids or dreads that will make this is an issue. In fact, for most black women dreads or braids will HELP in this regard. You see all this mess got started when the US Army put this out ...



Now the reason why it caused such controversy was the "multiple braid" and "twists" ban which would prohibit both of these styles even though they are neat and would easily fit in a helmet ...



And the "2 inches from scalp" ban which would prohibit a style like this which is also neat and would easily fit in a helmet ...



The proposed regulations didn't say it outright, but when you read between the lines it basically said that a female could wear her hair pulled straight back in a simple bun. Which for the typical white woman is just a matter of course. The problem is that most black women's hair doesn't naturally grow straight so effectively natural black hair was prohibited. Which would force them to wear weaves/wigs (which stresses the hair and can lead to hair loss over time), chemically straighten their hair (which is next to impossible when deployed because salons specializing in black hair aren't readily available in Iraq and Afghanistan), or buzz-cut it and look like a dude!

Hairstyles like dreadlocks or locs, two-strand twists, and other natural hairstyles were prohibited. Styles including afros were also banned in an effort to “maintain uniformity within a military population,” military officials said.

But African American soldiers and members of the Congressional Black Caucus felt the changes were racially insensitive. The inclusion of terms like “matted and unkempt,” in the military’s directions on which styles were unacceptable did not help cool tensions.

“Most black women, their hair doesn’t grow straight down, it grows out,” wrote Sgt. Jasmine Jacobs in a White House petition calling for the military to reverse its decision, first reported by Military Times. “I’m disappointed to see the Army, rather than inform themselves on how black people wear their hair, they’ve white-washed it all.”

U.S. Military Rolls Back Restrictions on Black Hairstyles | Time.com

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

Perhaps the new rule should be that all hair should be short and neatly kept. No mention of style.

Agreed!

The good news is that after all the ruckus the US Army saw the error of its ways and rolled back these silly restrictions. The bad news is that even in 2015 it was still necessary to have the conversation.

OAW

[andi*pandi]

OAW, our posts got swapped by the database gremlins!

[subego]

#NotAllGremlins

[subego]

I'm not going to deny there's an issue, but I'm going to challenge the proposition the issue is anonymous internet assholes acting like anonymous internet assholes.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

OAW, our posts got swapped by the database gremlins!

Ha!

OAW

[OAW]

Originally Posted by subego 

I'm not going to deny there's an issue, but I'm going to challenge the proposition the issue is anonymous internet assholes acting like anonymous internet assholes.

If it were only that this probably wouldn't even be a "thing". Haters are going to hate. Trolls are going to troll. Unfortunately, there are some deeper issues at play.

OAW

[The Final Dakar]

I just can't find a way to side with the outrage. All I see is white dudes in kimonos or with dreads. Styles that are laughed at.

The Native American headdress is a good one but I think that qualifies more a symbol than a style. The bottom line is all the world is a melting pot which the Internet and technology facilitates, and no one person is the gatekeeper for an ethnic group to decide whether it's ok to appropriate thing they identify with, and even if they did it strikes me as trying to copyright your culture and seriously **** yo copyright.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I just can't find a way to side with the outrage. All I see is white dudes in kimonos or with dreads. .

The way I see it the issue of styles that originate in black culture that suddenly become "cool" or "edgy" or "trendy" when white people adopt them but are viewed negatively when black people were them is something that at best warrants a ... . Which is why in the other thread I commented that the black female student who was accosting the white dude for wearing dreads was seriously tripping. It just isn't that deep to take it to that level.

That being said, the larger issue of black people losing jobs or being expelled from schools when wearing a natural hair styles certainly warrants a ... . I mean just last year there were thousands of black female soldiers who were at risk of being discharged from the US Army if they didn't straighten their hair to comply with some stupid regulations. And when it goes there now you are messing with people's livelihoods.

OAW

[The Final Dakar]

Two things:

1. That's just straight racism. So cultural appropriation means nothing in context.

2. This may be my whiteness showing, but I seem to recall the military standardizing some form of cornrows for females. If it's God enough for them it should be good enough for everyone else.

[OAW]

^^^

Actually cornrows were specifically banned at first because the US Army regulations prohibited "multiple braids".



The standard was a "single braid" or "two braid" style going straight back along this line ...





... or a single or dual "ponytail".

But again, unless you have naturally straight hair ... which most black women do not ... there's no way to style your hair like that. So to comply with that regulation black female soldiers were faced with having to either chemically straighten their hair or wear a wig/weave.

Now after people raised hell about it the regulations were rescinded. And it's definitely a good thing that the Army actually listened and addressed these legitimate concerns. The point though is that black women make up 31% of the US Army's female population. Double their representation of the US civilian female population. One would think that it might have occurred to someone in the brass that this was going to be an issue when the regulations were originally being developed. But ...

OAW

[Cap'n Tightpants]

So it IS a case of "it's ours and we don't want you to have it?" That's sad. "But, but, once it was racism and..." People are working to embrace differences, to be inclusive, it's time to stop being a prat and stop contributing to your (general "your") own segregation.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

So it IS a case of "it's ours and we don't want you to have it?" That's sad. "But, but, once it was racism and..." People are working to embrace differences, to be inclusive, it's time to stop being a prat and stop contributing to your (general "your") own segregation.

You didn't quote any of my posts so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and simply ask the question.

Is THIS what you surmised from everything I've said?

OAW

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

A different issue is the "My culture is not a costume" problem. I can see religious artifacts being sacred, like a headdress or priest costume, but one is perfectly ok to wear on halloween and one is not. Someone can wear a gorgeous Louis IV style gown and appreciate past french culture, but not a lovely kimono. I don't get that. Remember the MFA kerfuffle over kimono?

Saying your culture is off limits, but also complaining that people don't "get" you, is blocking people from "getting" you.

I'm not on board with restricting people from wearing religious apparel from other countries, however. That smacks of being far too authoritarian to me. If someone wants to wear a priest collar or cassock (or nun's habit), fine, there's a long tradition in the West of using such garments as comic devices (ie. Father Guido Sarducci). Freedom of expression is part of the 1st Amendment for a very good reason (along with our tradition of the separation of Church and State). It isn't the province of the gov't to sort the sacred and the profane, because immediately that places one set of beliefs over another.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

A different issue is the "My culture is not a costume" problem. I can see religious artifacts being sacred, like a headdress or priest costume, but one is perfectly ok to wear on halloween and one is not. Someone can wear a gorgeous Louis IV style gown and appreciate past french culture, but not a lovely kimono. I don't get that. Remember the MFA kerfuffle over kimono?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_..._and_criticism

Its depiction of Japanese culture was met with widespread criticism, which has included suggestions of racism,[26] with Lavigne stating: "I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video...specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan."[29] Hiro Ugaya, a Tokyo-based journalist and media commentator, assumed that "images of cultures outside of one's own in mass media are always different from the reality. [...] When you're trying to reach the majority of consumers, images tend to be lowest common dominator". Nobuyuki Hayashi, also a well-known Tokyo-based tech and social media expert, commented that most of the reactions on Twitter were favorable, adding that people who blamed Lavigne for racism are non-Japanese, but society from Japan did not take it seriously.

[subego]

Originally Posted by OAW 

Actually cornrows were specifically banned at first because the US Army regulations prohibited "multiple braids".

The regulation from the image you posted state multiple braids must be small, not they are prohibited.

[subego]

I feel this military example isn't the best, either.

The military is hugely conservative, has a culture of doing things the way they want, and caters to the majority (ask anyone who shoots lefty).

They didn't ignore black women. IIUC, they put one in charge of creating the regulations.

On top of all that, they flip the policy after three or four months, which for the military, is pivoting on a dime.

[subego]

And, while I'm at it, I can't speak for Rancic, but my introduction to dreadlocks was Bob Marley and Rastafarianism.

Dude was known to smoke some weed every now and again.

I like weed.

I like patchouli, too. Shouldn't I be somewhat offended by people who consider association with such things an slur? This is a serious question. I don't know if I dig the world where being labeled a hippy is something to take great offense at.

I'm familiar with the long history of drugs being used as a weapon against black people. Isn't one of the ironies of this how it was accomplished with something innocuous like weed?

By behaving as if the comment had teeth, Zendaya gave it teeth.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by subego 

The regulation from the image you posted state multiple braids must be small, not they are prohibited.

Correct. The main problem w/ most ethnic hairstyles is loose "unsecured" hair, which can get caught in machinery and... well...

[Cap'n Tightpants]

While dreadlocks are a part of Rastafarianism, they're also part of nordic, celtic, and pict traditions (as well as Egyptian, which is quite distinct from all other African ethnicities). The Rasta don't own dreads, at all, and believing they do is ignorant.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

While dreadlocks are a part of Rastafarianism, they're also part of nordic, celtic, and pict traditions (as well as Egyptian, which is quite distinct from all other African ethnicities). The Rasta don't own dreads, at all, and believing they do is ignorant.

Even if you could say they were owned by Rastas... noting one looks as if they might smell like weed isn't an insult.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Bieber's new dreads have some blacks and SJWs in a state, it's as if they'd never heard of the 90s and grunge.


Here we are now, entertain us!

[subego]

Or Ani DiFranco.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by subego 

The regulation from the image you posted state multiple braids must be small, not they are prohibited.

Indeed you are correct! I misinterpreted the regulation from the original image. I found some others that elaborate further ....







But even though multiple braids/cornrows were allowed the small size requirement is still an issue.

An Army veteran named “Tonya” (whose name was changed to protect her identity) told Al Jazeera’s “The Stream” that in her experience, most black women in the military wear their hair natural, and they often don’t have the tools needed to straighten their hair when they’re deployed.

“I don’t think they see the health behind it. Getting these extensions, these braids, can put a lot of stress and strain on our hair,” Tonya said. “When you’re in Iraq, these hairstyles serve the purpose to protect you.”

Black Female Soldiers Criticize Army’s New Hairstyle Rules As Racially Biased | HuffingtonPost.com

1. As the father of a black teenage daughter trust me when I say that a braided hairstyle that complies with that size requirement is an all-day process. Female soldiers simply don't have the time for all that when they are deployed in theater.

2. The smaller the braids, the more stress and strain is put on the hair that can lead to hair loss. The hair needs to be taken down to "rest" from such styles periodically. Which typically would result in an "afro" of such a length that it would be out of regulation. See the following admonition from a braid stylist.

Don’t leave your braids for extended periods or time: If you leave your braids for longer periods, it will lead to hair loss. Ideally, you should not wear your braids more than 2 months. Keeping your braids for longer time will create too much tension on your scalp. And you also want to give your natural hair a breathing space.

Dos and Don’ts for wearing Micro Braids | Braids By Sarafina

But it's not just smaller braids. Wearing weaves/hair extensions or chemical straightening can also lead to hair loss as well. Larger braids are much better when it comes to preventing a black female's worst hair nightmare ... which is losing her "edges" like this.



OAW

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

Bieber's new dreads have some blacks and SJWs in a state, it's as if they'd never heard of the 90s and grunge.


Here we are now, entertain us!

It's called hating Bieber.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

It's called hating Bieber.

While screaming "Cultural appropriation!" They're a pitiful lot, like this boob.