Pretending to respect different cultures, and appropriating bits and pieces of their language and ideas without understanding or respecting them to look "woke" or whatever, drives me up the fucking wall. It is also way too common.
As the son of two African immigrants, it is infuriating how people who swear they are allies and believe in multiculturalism are so quick to compartmentalize bad behavior or deflect criticism for it. Whether it was the black kids on the basketball court yelling about how my cousin must be fighting lions and tigers in the jungle; the frat boys who tried to recruit me at college who ended up getting suspended for wearing blackface at a Halloween party; the dumbass white girl who would puff her stomach out and joke about being a "starving African baby"; people in our own damn neighborhood yelling at my Mom to go home when they heard her speaking her own language; and so on. All of this happening in very liberal areas of New York, no less.
It's a truly surreal thing, hearing all types of ignorance and fuckery about the Continent from whites who listen to rap music and use black slang AND black people who would offer vague praise of "the motherland" they've never been to and know nothing about. And it's pretty much part and parcel for any race or culture that isn't considered "standard".
Thank you.
