by
Black Girl With Long Hair
On March 16 celebrity and beauty mega-site PopSugar.com published an extensive write up on Zendaya Coleman and her budding reputation as one of Hollywood’s most stylish. The actress is on fire right now, having just nabbed a key role in the 2017 Spiderman reboot and being named the new spokeswoman for CoverGirl. But you wouldn’t know it by the title PopSugar chose for the piece…
Hooooly clickbait!
Now, let’s be clear. There is nothing wrong with asking celebrities their thoughts on weighty matters. But the discussion on cultural appropriation was a few short paragraphs in a nearly 4000 word article — and yet it was selected as the focus.
PopSugar went on to do what many non-black folks unwittingly do; ask Zendaya to give the appropriation co-sign. It’s clear that interviewer Lauren Levinson does not have bad intentions, but Levinson, who is 31, puts an unfair weight on 19-year-old Coleman to explain to white celebrities ‘how not to be racist’. Levinson asks;
“Do you have any advice — and I could be wrong here — for how celebrities like Kim Kardashian or Katy Perry can wear a style that’s been traditionally black one? Is there ever an appropriate way to do that? Or is it better just stay away from those looks?”
I mean…
Coleman was not disoriented by the question, but replied thoughtfully;
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. I would be careful, I would definitely be careful. I don’t know if there is an appropriate way — that’s not something I can answer.
My girl Amandla [Stenberg], who is super dope, brought up another problem. She wished society loved black people as much as they love black culture. That’s the truth. The credit gets taken away from us when we make certain statements or when we do certain things. That is the frustration. People want to be around for the positives and the things that we bring as far as culture, but they don’t want to be around when we have problems or when we’re getting shot in the streets. You know what I’m saying? You have to be there for the whole experience. You can’t just decide when you want to be a part of our culture.”
There is value in white tastemakers thinking more critically about the origins of the styles they co-opt. And there is a lot of value in them seeking a distinctly black point of view.
But putting the weight on a 19-year-old starlet to define industry guidelines for appropriation is just tone deaf. What white celebrity culture really needs is some self-reflection and internal dialogue on why it can’t seem to stop appropriating black music, language, style and dance, even as it shows little regard for the inequities blacks in America face. And why the film and music industries continue to marginalize the voices of actual black people in favor of elevating the white folks who copy them.
Until mainstream publication are willing to do that kind of self-reflection, I say they keep young black starlets out of it.
17 Responses
What if black people loved white people as much as they love our tax dollars on the first of the month? I don’t know. What if. But I think you can relax a little bit. In the 90’s I remember loving Jay Z and going to a Roots concert. Things have changed. I had a rather different opinion on the politics of race then too. In my school we had a speaker come to explain to us how a black person can not be racist against white people, only bigoted, because of some mumbo jumbo about the power struggle, and privilege. If you disagreed, you did not pass Social Studies, never mind that the dictionary definition of racism actually disagreed with them. I was young, so I bought it. Over time I have realized that the current American attitude is fair to no one, and until black Americans are not allowed a single millimeter more latitude then white Americans there will be no progress. Currently, I think that if a black American freely chooses to wear plaid, and does not feel like they are taking Scottish culture for granted, then I could care less what you think of as “yours”. I heard one black writer claim that wearing Timberlands, the shoes of choice of Midwestern farmers( who are 99.9 percent white) was appropriated from black people because rap artists wore them in the 90’s. You honestly think anyone wearing Timberlands is even thinking about t90’s hip hop? You can only claim as yours something you invented. Not something you stole in turn. In fact, why did black rap artists not feel bad about wearing so much clothing that white laborers wore?
“She wished society loved black people as much as they love black culture. That’s the truth. The credit gets taken away from us when we make certain statements or when we do certain things. That is the frustration. People want to be around for the positives and the things that we bring as far as culture, but they don’t want to be around when we have problems or when we’re getting shot in the streets. You know what I’m saying? You have to be there for the whole experience. You can’t just decide when you want to be a part of our culture.”
So brilliant! <3
Of course she considers herself black. She’s mixed so she’s both black AND white. You can’t ask her to completely disregard another identity of her race.
isnt she biracial? with that said she has the right to claim her african american roots since its apart of her, just not her full identity.
Agreed. I thought her answer was great.
well, that’s the press for you. i’m really not surprised. they just doing they jobs
That Sesame Street gif killed me ???
It’s like Pop Sugar was begging Zendaya for a hood pass just to allow KK to be great with her “boxer braids”. Haha
so it continues….
She said “us” . I thought Zendaya didn’t consider herself black. Now she’s black?
Good for her for not attempting to answer such a complex question. They would have definitely take her answer and twisted it to benefit themselves.
TTTTHHHHIIIISSSSS! Fantastic article!!!! Kudos!
It was obvious they were fishing for a black quote to make viral, the ones they use when they want to make something sound okay, like Morgan Freeman’s ‘stop talking about it,’ when asked about racism.
They were hoping for a soundbyte from Zendaya, but not only was it disingenuous, but she didn’t fall for it.
“What white celebrity culture really needs is some self-reflection
and internal dialogue on why it can’t seem to stop appropriating black
music, language, style and dance, even as it shows little regard for the
inequities blacks in America face. And why the film and music
industries continue to marginalize the voices of actual black people in
favor of elevating the white folks who copy them. Until mainstream publication are willing to do that kind of self-reflection, I say they keep young black starlets out of it.”
This is exactly it! I could not agree more.
They’re just hoping to get a nice and neat answer so they can use it to broadly represent black people’s opinion. “But Zendaya said…” I think she gave the best answer she could. It’s not about the style itself, but the celebration of a single aspect of blackness without valuing the people behind it. Be here for our styles, our struggles and our victories. Be here for who we are as dynamic people. Then it won’t even be appropriation. It’ll be sharing.
I disagree. I think if Sundays can make a remark about a problem (which I agree with) then she should be able to provide some ways to correct said problem.
Her answer was really good. I’m not sure why the interviewer would ask her, but at least she didn’t flub.
Tell ’em, Zey-zey!