The latest cultural appropriation flap only offended Americans
May 3, 2018, 6:57 AM
(File, Associated Press)
(File, Associated Press)
The latest cultural appropriation flap erupted in Utah this week, where 18-year-old Keziah Daum wore a red, Chinese-style dress to her high school prom and posted a picture.
A Twitter user named Jeremy Lam — who is Chinese-American — saw the picture and tweeted: “My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress.”
It got 41,969 retweets and was enough to make it a Twitter moment. It was also enough to put Keziah on Fox News to defend herself.
“I wore the dress because I really respect the culture,” she said. “And I believe it was very beautiful and I wanted to show my respect.”
RELATED: Being presumed innocent isn’t a luxury we all enjoy
But the debate didn’t stop there. It reached all the way to China, and caught the attention of the South China Morning Post, which reported Chinese people were not at all offended. Instead, they were puzzled. Because to them, an American choosing to wear a traditional Chinese dress was a victory for Chinese culture. It was no worse than the Chinese celebrating Christmas.
Bottom line, according to Hung Huang, a fashion blogger in Beijing, “to Chinese, it’s not sacred and it’s not that meaningful.”
So yes, Keziah’s dress may be an appropriation of Chinese culture, but the only people offended by it appear to be Americans.
Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
