A discussion (I’m being kind here) about cultural appropriation turned physical when a black woman accosted a white student at San Francisco State University over his hairstyle. The student was wearing dreadlocks, which the black woman accused of him of being politically incorrect due to cultural appropriation since “locks” are her culture, and hers alone. When the student tried to extricate himself from the ridiculous situation, the woman grabbed his shirt (via LA Times):
"You're saying that I can't have a hair style because of your culture? Why?" the man said."Because it's my culture," she said.
The man tells her that dreadlocks were part of Egyptian culture and asks her, "Are you Egyptian? Nah, man, you're not." She asked him if he was Egyptian, and he told her no.
"Wait, where's Egypt?" she asked. "Tell me."
He responded: "You know what, girl ... you have no right to tell me what I cannot wear."
[…]
San Francisco State officials said in a statement that the confrontation happened on campus Monday and that university police were called to the scene when it happened.
The student has been identified as Cory Goldstein, who said he’s had the same hairstyle since he was a teenager (via ABC News):
Cory Goldstein said he filed a police report after Monday's heated confrontation, which was caught on video, but he's not looking to press charges and said he would like to have a "respectful discussion" with anyone about his hair."It's something I've had since I was 17 years old and something that's part of who I am. I believe they are powerful and helped amplify myself and helped me connect to this world," Goldstein told San Francisco television station KGO.
The confrontation Monday at San Francisco State comes as race and sensitivity on campus are debated in universities across the country.
So, of course, this would happen in the cesspool of progressivism that is San Francisco. Second, if you get that upset that you have to tell people that their hair upsets you, or triggers you, you seriously need to get a grip. It’s a hairstyle. You don’t see me freaking out when white people use chopsticks, eat sushi, chow down on some delicious kimchi, or sink their teeth into moo shu pork. Why? It’s abjectly stupid to throw a tantrum; everyone is welcome to eat Asian cuisine, wear kimonos, and watch anime. Given the progressive ethos on this subject of cultural appropriation, I guess I should be mad about that, especially when people don’t cook food properly. That is within the guidelines from whence the food has its origins. Oh yes, that was another source of controversy at Oberlin.
If a hairstyle leads to the police being called, you need to think hard about your priorities and not let it ruin your day. But liberals simply can’t help themselves. There’s an arc of history in which they display an almost fetishistic sense of being on the right side of at all costs, whether that be related to food, clothes, or hair that they believe should only be exclusively pegged to people of a specific ethnic or racial group.
When I see a white guy in dreadlocks, I see a white guy…with dreadlocks. I don’t see why blood pressures need to go through the stratosphere. If it offends you, you can either soldier on like a normal person, go to a safe space and sulk, or confront the person who wasn’t acting aggressively, nor being racially provocative, and have yourself ruined over the internet because of hair. When you try to live by an agenda of cultural apartheid policed by sloppy and incoherent guidelines, things can, and will, go off the hinges.