Some comments on cultural appropriation and exploitation

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"Now, it is perfectly natural for human beings to share and blend cultures, but let us face a hard reality: 20th century white society is culturally addicted to exploitation.

Cultivate an awareness of your own personal motivations. Do not simply take and consume. If you are white and you find yourself drawn to Native American spirituality, Middle Eastern religion, African drumming, Asian philosophies, or Latin rhythms, make an effort to maintain some kind of balance.

Don't just learn the fun and exciting things about us and then go home to your safe, isolated, white, privileged life. Learn about the history of the people whose culture you're dabbling in. Learn how our history relates to your own, how your privilege connects and contributes to our oppression and exploitation.

And most importantly, make it a fair exchange-give something back."

-Amoja Three Rivers

If it were possible to remove the guilt that European descendants feel regarding the Indigenous population, we would see that artists from all racial backgrounds push boundaries, experiment, and are inspired by a range of life experiences and images, including many of the artistic traditions which have preceded them.

-Julie Deichmann

from her paper, The Cultural Appropriations Debate

"Where I position myself, cultural appropriation should be called cultural aggression, for it is inappropriate . . . Cultural authority defines what separates us from the other."

-Jeanette Armstrong

"I didn't understand what all the fuss was around cultural appropriation until I heard about the town of Pekin, Illinois, which fancied itself a sister city of Peking, China. Their sports team was named the Pekin Chinks, and that's when I got it."

-Mr. Young Kim, second-generation Korean-American, on the Cleveland Indians' baseball team's misappropriation of Native American symbols and names.

"First they came to take our land and water, then our fish and game. . .Now they want our religions as well. All of a sudden, we have a lot of unscrupulous idiots running around saying they're medicine people. And they'll sell you a sweat lodge ceremony for fifty bucks. It's not only wrong, it's obscene. Indians don't sell their spirituality to anybody, for any price. This is just another in a very long series of thefts from Indian people and, in some ways, this is the worst one yet."

-Janet McCloud