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30 March 2018

CULTURAL APPROPRIATE OR GENUINE INTEREST

By Sicebise Msengana








In my activism, I've came across questions like "Why do you hate white people"? or "You're a hater!" If calling out white folks for their part in oppressing and exploiting my people makes me a hateful racist, so be it.


Personally, I have no problem with other cultures honouring African culture, while giving credit to its creators. In fact, I"m willing to collaborate with good white people who love Africa than Africans and African Americans that have no loyalties to Africa and look down on African culture. I'm more than willing to work with white people who have dedicated their lives to African people than folks who will never take the initiative to visit or relocate to Africa. I have seen a few whites who are genuinely interested in Africa and would visit Africa in a heartbeat than Africans in the Americas. If you were to ask Africans and African Americans their favourite attraction destinations, they would mention Europe, Asia and America and discarded Africa as unworthy of any attention.


 However, the dilemma we are faced with is that white people are notorious for appropriating others' culture and calling themselves as the makers of the said culture. Ancient Egypt is a classic example. Whites took all they could and labelled it as a "white civilisation." Also, it's difficult to measure a people's motives. Some whites do it because of paternalism, guilt, wrong motives and fetishism. On the other hand, others do it out of curiosity, love and respect.




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