A few months ago, Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg (she played Rue) went viral after she called out pop stars like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift for appropriating black culture. The video that went viral was for a school class project. It was called “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows: A Crash Discourse on Black Culture,” and in it, she explained:
“[In the 2010s,] pop stars and icons adopted black culture as a way of being edgy and gaining attention. In 2013, Miley Cyrus twerks and uses black women as props. And then in 2014, in one of her videos called ‘This Is How We Do,’ Katy Perry uses Ebonics and hand gestures and eats watermelons while wearing cornrows before cutting inexplicably to a picture of Aretha Franklin. So as you can see, cultural appropriation was rampant.”
Stenberg has clearly taken an interest in the issue, and resurrected it again yesterday in calling out Kylie Jenner after she posted this Instagram photo of her new cornrows:
https://instagram.com/p/5AWcLYHGty/
Here was Stenberg’s response:
“@novemberskyys 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,”
Jenner did not take kindly to the dig. In a since deleted response, she dismissed Stenberg, writing “@amandlastenberg Mad if I don’t, Mad if I do…. Go hang w Jaden or something.”
That was a relatively weak response, referencing mutual friend Jaden Smith, with whom Stenberg attended prom.
https://twitter.com/amandlastenberg/status/604536493839761408/photo/1
While not addressing the dig or Jenner herself, Stenberg did take to Twitter early this morning to post about the double standard regarding white women appropriating the features of black women.
https://twitter.com/amandlastenberg/status/620443549532876801
Meanwhile, while Stenberg was discussing gender and race issues, Kylie Jenner was promoting her back-to-school clothing line.
It’s almost time. Get on The List at http://t.co/rl4eaLDC2h
Some @kendallandkylie surprises real soon!— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) July 12, 2015
