I have been talking about Kylie Jenner a lot, I mean twice in a week, what is wrong with me? The last post we did we talked about Kylie and her new extension line and the post was pretty much out of good fun however this time the topic is a little bit more serious.
Recently Kylie posted the above picture showing off her corn rows and barely there full figure. While many of her followers thought she looked cute some of them didn’t, including Amandla Stenberg who is the 16 year old actress who played the Rue in The Hunger Games.
Here is what Amandla had to say about Kylie’s picture:
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.”
Kylie wasn’t having it and she gave probably the best response she could drum up at the time:
“Mad if I don’t, Mad if I do…. Go hang w Jaden or something”
As you may recall Jaden went to prom with Amandla a few months ago:
My question is why in the world do we continue to get people driven by social attention to fight our battles. I get it, Amandla probably felt it was appropriate to call Kylie out because the Kardashian Jenners are known for cultural appropriation and cultural inappropriateness.
But lets be really honest. Does Kylie have the mental capacity to do anything else other than appropriate black culture through social media?
That might seem as a clear diss to the soon to be legal 18yr old, but it is a valid question. What does she know about helping black Americans, racism, civil rights or police brutality? You cannot expect a teenager like Kylie to understand the value of the culture she tries to mimic.
Kylie does what she does best, she gets corn rows and she dates 25 yr old rappers, that is the extent of her media repertoire.
In other words we spend a lot of energy policing how white girls wear their hair, and how fashion moguls take our culture for their own financial gain.
I get it, sometimes things are unfair and we want to talk about it and create noise about it. But how much longevity does that have? We all also have the power to celebrate our culture in so many ways using the very tools Kylie uses to promote herself.
I have said it before and I will say it again, if you aren’t rocking your bantu knots and corn rows then do not complain when someone else from another race or even culture does.
If you are on Instagram watching young black women shaking it for the gram in nothing but underwear and a bra and you share that mess to your time line, you are not helping our cause either and you shouldn’t even comment on this post.
If you yourself have 50,000 followers based on coonish behavior you are not representing our culture in a way that ought to be celebrated.
The dark skin models putting out skin care routines, make up tutorials in their 15 second allotted time on Instagram, kudos to them.
The black women who share pictures of them traveling to far away places with their natural hair flying in the wind, kudos to them. The students who do vlogs about study time abroad in Africa and other parts of the world for the world to see kudos to them.
The girl down the street that paints her heart out and shows her work off on FB in hopes for one or two shares and to the people that share her work, kudos to them as well. The natural hair blogger, the natural hair vlogger, the movie makers, the poets, the artists, the musicians and the teachers working hard to show what we are about all deserve our attention.
In other words there are plenty of things we can use our own energy, and platforms for other than Kylie and her cornrows. Amandla gave Kylie more power with her words than she deserved. She would have been better off encouraging another sista making a fool of herself shaking it for the gram. Comment below if you agree!
I think there is some respectability creeping in here re: shaking it for the gram, that’s entirely irrelevant and one can fight the cause and also pop it like a wad of gum. Secondly amandla is 16 if she can grasp the complexities of race, why can’t the “barely legal” as you wrote, kylie? Maybe this was a wasted battle, yes. But don’t make excuses for those who are celebrated for stuff we’re demonised for – maybe that’s we “don’t rock Bantu knots”.
Look, the black community really don’t need Kylie Jenner to solve our problems. Although, I do understand where Amandla came from. On the subject on hair, so what if Kylie wears her hair that way. How many black females wear weaves?
We get called “ghetto” for our braids, then she had the nerve to say white girls do it better,
Yes! Why dont black females wear their own hair? Weaves are fashionable which is all good but there are black females with identity issues and Kylie wants attention for her weave line. Draw controversy for her product to sell. I bet she is thriving from all the attention.
Thats why we need to create our own jobs and stop relying on them. I hope im not coming across insensitive im just direct with what I say.
There are a lot of deep rooted issues in this country. As far as beauty a lot more people want to look black therefore ignore them and keep it moving.
Shaniqua Martin I think she’s comparing black women wearing Asian and Indian women’s hair on their heads. That hair, it’s look, it’s texture is a part of ASIAN CULTURE. So if you’re going to talk cultural appropriation lets not be hypocritical about it.
You talk about how things in the black culture were criticized for centuries well now they’re being embraced by everyone. That includes black ppl who still have problems with embracing our own hair. How is that a problem? We can continue to live in the past and every culture can hate the other until the end of time or we can live amongst each other, share, learn from and accept each other.
No im not talking Asians. Im talking about white women. Although the weave business is predominantly ran by Asians Some black women be doing the most with blue contacts and extensions.
She called her out for using the hashtag #whitegirlsdoitbetter
I think that’s not true because Kylie is not white
Lol Kim and her older sisters are half white but Kylie and Kendall are white, both of their parents are white kris Jenner is actually NOT Armenian her ex husband was and Bruce/Caitlyn is definitely white
Actually, the hashtag was added by a a commenter on the IG post, not Kylie. Amanda referenced her as well in her comment.
@lakeshia, I agree with Amandla but Kylie didn’t use the #whitegirldoitbetter it was Amandla who did it in an ironic way to describe Kylie cultural appropriation.
Tbh Kylie is just probably just very ignorant lol, you can expect someone like her to understand African culture, that’s why she thinks it’s okay to say things like white girl’s do it better. We have to stop wasting our energy paying attention to naive people like her
Yeah, but by looking at her family and the kind of things she grew up around you can’t expect her to be intelligent or exposed enough to the real world to understand that things like that are not meant to be said. Shaniqua Martin
This whole thing is ridiculous!
So she gets a pass because she’s stupid and didn’t take the time out to get an education??? . I say attack her ass all day…
She’s 17 what’s the point of it? It’s like getting mad and attacking Willow Smith for something she did or said. They’re children and have a lot of growing and learning to do. Unless you just feel good when you hate…
@tinawaters in case you didn’t know Amandla is 16 years old, and also a child. She just attended her prom (she is working on her education). Both of these young women are have a lot of growing up to do. Amandla has had a bone to pick about culture appropriation for some time now. It is not hate when she calls people out for hypocrisy. Do you remember when Amandla was in hunger games and ppl complained because her character was black and they could no longer feel sorry about her being killed? THAT, Tina Waters, is hate.
Kylie acts and pretends she’s a grown woman, with a house and a man, and a step son, she wants to be grown then she’ll be treated like a grown up. This girl is far from a child.
Honey you don’t know me, you have no idea what I have and what I was doing. Why are you mad, you’re defending this b**ch like you’re on their f**king pay roll, at the end of the day neither girls give two cents about me or you..,
Soolina Egbe so your answer is to get involved with two teenaged girls arguing on Twitter? Seriously?
They are little girls who in 5-10 years will look back on this and laugh, at themselves and wonder what the hell was I thinking. Some little girls childish BS has no place in this forum.
Maggie Tony you have to be married to have a stepson. Kylie hasn’t taken on anyone’s role of parenting. Are you mad that she can afford a million dollar home at 17 and you couldn’t? Are you mad that she’s f*kin Tyga at 17 but you were f*kin nobody’s at 17?
Why don’t black women who put Asian and Indian women’s hair on their heads learn about Asian culture and speak out against the mistreatment and atrocities of Asian women in their countries. They give up their hair for religious reasons only to have it sold for someone else’s profit. Most of them have to cover their heads in public but black women can walk around proudly showing off their hair. So don’t tell anyone else about culture appropriation or hypocrisy.
It wasn’t about the braids…
Kylie is an idiot, what does white girls do it better means??? From over here it looks like her sisters love mimicking black women, is she saying whatever black women can do, white women can do better?? Nah she’s stupid but not that stupid. It’s about her braids. She’s shallow and can only think about superficial things
Okay, the comment she made towards Kylie is not just about the braids. She has said it herself
Amandla called her out on using the hashtag that’s been attacking black women and girls. If you’d take a look at Amandla tumblr, Facebook, twitter, etc. you’d know her comment wasn’t about the braids only. I’m sorry if you misunderstood my comment
I was talking about Kylie…
I don’t understand your comment then. Your comment said “it’s about her braids,” when it is not (only) about her braids
Meaning , Kylie was talking about her braids, nothing more.
Oh, okay. I understand now.
Teenage girls BS
You know what truly is a waste of time? This site putting garbage like this on your page instead of giving us some hair care info we can actually use. This just feeds the need for wasteful news that is so beneath your readers. It helps absolutely no one.
Who friggn cares! Hair is art! ART Ain’t got no race!
It’s sad that people crawl from obscurity to throw shade at Kardashian/Jenner family to get attention and get their names trending. It just as sad when journalists and bloggers do it to get traffic to their sites and comments on their posts. It’s all but guaranteed if you report anything on Kardashian/Jenner.
How about y’all stick to issues of hair not entertainment, celebrity, politics or social change.
I mean if you think about it Asian and Indian women could feel outrage that black women wear their hair but don’t bother to learn about their culture or fight for any of their causes.
I’m sorry who think it was a waste of time? At least she a another young Teenage girl doesn’t look to Tylor Swift, Kyle Jenner, and the rest of these White girls using Hip hop culture to try and be something they are not!
Riddle me this why don’t you see any of these whitegirlsdoitbetter with White male music artist, basketball, football players living life like they do with men of color?
This post is very disrespectful to a young girl who clearly has more knowledge and understanding of the whole race issue then the writer of this page.
We need more positive role models for kids who has something to say and are not just something to look at.
I agree. Just because someone is ignorant doesn’t mean their ignorance should be ignored or go uncontested. If that video opened one person’s eyes to cultural appropriation, then it was worth making. Kuddos to Amandla for going with her gut and sticking up for what she believes in. When I saw Katie Perry’s video she references, I was pissed; I didn’t have the words to articulate it, but Amandla did a wonderful job explaining exactly what’s wrong with these pictures in the media.
I completely agree !
I agree with this article, BUT I don’t think Amandla should be reprimanded for speaking up for her culture. Most people know that she is passionate about cultural appropriation so that is her forum. It could be said that you are wasting your time trying to educate black people about hair but that is what you are passionate about so that is your forum (And thank God for you!!) A lot of the injustices that occur happen because people are getting away with it so I commend Amandla for speaking out for something she’s passionate about. Black people have to rise to the occasion everyday. We shouldn’t expect less from any of the other races. Expecting less from and excusing/ ignoring Kylie’s behavior (and those alike) can also be seen as doing the black culture a disservice. I’m less concerned about HOW people rally for the black culture. There’s no one right way
Look lil girl, Amanda or whatever your name is…..white women been wearing braids since before yo lil young ass was born! And black women been wearing blonde and platinum weaves since forever! You can’t fight for my rights or anybody else’s for that matter! Stop trying to get the spotlight off of Kylie because you’re looking for attention! From the looks of yours…you are not even fully black!! So take a seat and leave the hair business and old news where they are!! You just keep doing whatever it is you do! I guess after all of this stupid s**t you will get your 15 minutes!! Bye!!