![]() ![]() Notice that the darkening of her skin came just before Sweetener and thank u, next were released, her most hip hop-type albums to date. White artists like Ariana Grande have engaged in minstrelsy in order to appear or appeal more to a Black audience. That said, we cannot be ahistorical about the way we treat Black folks in the media and in real life today because these types of ugly actions persist. Treating Black culture as a caricature or face to put on is reminiscent of minstrel shows, in which white actors painted their faces black, drew on bigger lips, and essentially degraded Black folks for sport. As Harley Wong of Wear Your Voice points out in an article about the “trend” of Asians using Blackness to gain fame, using AAVE can cost Black people jobs and high-status positions because AAVE is often not taken as “serious” speech and is therefore invalidated by mainstream, white society.Īppropriating AAVE and putting on a blaccent is a form of historical violence that replicates itself through our actions today. As a non-Black person, the ability to code-switch grants Lum a unique privilege not offered to Black people in their daily lives. But when she began her rise to fame in the Hollywood industry, she shed this “Black” persona in favour of her regular American accent and mannerisms. Her clothing and mannerisms also replicated the culture and style of Black women. When she presented as her stage name, Awkwafina, she used a blaccent (a Black accent) and a lot of AAVE. This year, East Asian rapper Awkwafina (Nora Lum) gained a lot of criticism for her constant code-switching. The appropriation and theft of African American Vernacular English, also known as AAVE, is one such issue. It devalues a culture’s history and language, and thus, disrespects its origins by claiming something to be your own, when it’s not. But cultural appropriation is a surface level kind of racism that can contribute and align itself with the same kind of performative allyship we criticize. So-called allies often label themselves as such but engage in behaviour that supports white supremacy and benefits their own status in the social/racial hierarchy. ![]() Performative allyship often goes deeper than the surface. ![]()
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