An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

CHAPTER SEVEN
BLACK AND INDIGENOUS POPULAR
CULTURES IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE
In the history of problematic appropriation in America, we could
start with the land and crops and cuisine commandeered from
Native peoples along with the mass expropriation of the labor of
the enslaved.
—LAUREN MICHELE JACKSON, White Negroes 1
ONE OF THE most difficult discussions to have between two oppressed groups
is that of cultural appropriation. If a white person commits this racist act, it
is almost as if we expect it—we have a brief sense of outrage and then
move on. In other words, we expect white people to be who they be. On the
other hand, when it comes to say, a Black person “playing Indian” or an
Indigenous person performing minstrelsy, we become even more outraged,
and expect them to know better—as if we all grew up to be Malcolm X’s
daughters, who had the fortune of not only having revolutionary parents but
also got to hang around James Baldwin and Nina Simone.
We should pause and question why we expect another oppressed group
to automatically understand how oppression impacts other people—
although that might be difficult given how quick we are to “cancel”
someone over social media. First off, we need to stop canceling people or
we all are going to be canceled, because all of us have much learning and
evolving to do. By “cancel,” I don’t mean holding people accountable; to
varying degrees, we all require accountability, we all need to engage
ourselves in a process of constant reflection and change. But canceling is
not created equal. Depending on someone’s race, gender, sexuality, class