At the young age of 16, actress Amandla Stenberg is speaking out about the cultural appropriation that we as black people face; specifically black women.



Once again, reality star Kylie Jenner has posted yet another questionable photo of herself on Instagram. It showed Kylie with cornrows in her hair with the caption *I woke up like disss.* This is what sparked Amandla to make her outlook on the "double standard" of black women and beauty known.


She commented on the Instagram photo saying, "When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter."

To most, it comes across as immature to complain about someone's hair, but for others, it is the defining moment that opens a conversation on the results of cultural appropriation. Amandla voiced her opinions on appropriation in a video (shown below) back in April. Her recent Instagram photo explains the perils of fixating on black culture.


Cornrows are more than just a hairstyle. Both black women and men wear their hair in that style. Decades ago, black women wore their hair in cornrows in order to keep their hair neat. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for why white people should have their hair in those styles. When white people do so, they take another piece of black culture and make it an accessory.

It becomes futile.

It causes black people to become insecure. Black women will straighten their hair and wear weaves to cover their natural hair. When a black woman wears her natural hair, she is criticized for how it looks. They might not be so self-conscious of their natural hair if they hadn’t grown up accepting that the only way you could be beautiful was if you had white skin.

words by Amandla

People are misisng the true message behind what Amandla said. White people don’t care about the black community, but they want to look like them.

If a black person calls out a white person, specifically a white girl, for appropriating a culture, they will be mocked for it. They will be painted as angry, bitter spirits for speaking out about what they believe in. People should take time to educate themselves instead of attacking the black people who speak out against cultural appropriation.

Sharing a culture other than your own is not a bad thing. But when you take it and throw it in the faces of that culture, it’s disrespectful and rude. Appropriation is when a style causes racist stereotypes against its origin, but subsequently viewed as a new trend and cool when entitled take it for themselves.

As Amandla states in the above video, "braids and cornrows are not merely stylistic. They’re necessary to keep black hair neat.”


Many people don’t understand why Kylie is getting called out for having braids, specifically cornrows. Cornrows belong to black culture and when black people wear them, they are treated unfairly. But when any white person does it, it’s the newest fashion craze. It isn’t right that the black community is shamed for their culture. It’s different when a white person does it though. It’s overlooked and not questioned.

People who have no reason to wear bindis, wear them to Coachella and use the features and gods from other cultures and religions as ornamentation for clothing and rooms. They mock other cultures and devalue it, turning it into a new trend.

The case with Kylie is that she has changed her given features to have the features native to black women. Black women are treated differenlty and hated for those same features they are born with, while Kylie is glorified. They want to imitate black women, but don’t seem to care about the drawbacks that people of colour face in their everyday lives. All because of the colour of their skin.

As Amandla said, "When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism.” Kylie has the world admiring her and can help the black comminity by addressing police brutality and racism, instead of her hair.