Month: August 2013

dweeb-prince:

okay so

i’m going to break this down nice and easy for folks who still cannot grasp how appropriation of AAVE goes:
AAVE stands for African American Vernacular English – a GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT dialect specific to the African American community. If you’d like to read up on it more extensively, I’ve provided some links here.

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Here’s the controversy behind it:
– Non-black folks who use AAVE normally use it to “spice" up their rhetoric, because it’s seen as cool and “in.“
– At the same time, non-black folks look down at African Americans for using AAVE, usually connoting the notion that they are uneducated.
– These very stereotypes play into systemic violence and stereotypes, and merely using African Americans for your consumption rather than giving them the respect of a community. 
– Every time a non-black uses the word “sassy” it promotes a caricature of Blackness, most specifically, black women.
– Of which are also stigmatized for being aggressive, hypersexualized (while simultaneously desexualized), and “ghetto"

Do you see the problem?

Moving on to attire, which is something that’s still hard for non-black folks to grasp:
– Whenever you wear something that you deem “ghetto,“ it is seen as chic, cute, “in”, and alternative.
– But anytime an African American should wear what is deemed ghetto, they’re fulfilling their stereotype.
– Grillz for example. Honkey Ms. Cracka Miley Cyrus is being ridiculed by many for taking on her new “I’m black now and I was Lil’ Kim in a past life" trope. I need ya’ll to recognize that the moment you start using African Americans as objects, as anything other than human, you are participating in their dehumanization. 
– Whenever you z-snap and say “ooooooh guuurrrrrl" you’re still participating in a caricature of African Americans and it’s actually really racist.

So, this isn’t just a call out to white folks, this isn’t just a call out to white queers who like to use the word “sassy" like it’s nobody’s business, this isn’t only to white cis gay men who use the word “realness" without realizing its cultural implications — this is to all POC who still cannot give the African American community the respect and dignity they deserve. Stop using them for your consumption. Stop thinking that taking bits and pieces from black culture is supposed to make you more unique.

get with the fucking program.