This line of thinking seems so bizarre to me, perhaps because I'm not from the USA. You basically say that the race of people should govern what they do or not (make a specific art) or decides the truth value of their claims (you can't say X as a white person, but a native American can). It seems like in the quest of combating racism, you just ended up in a form of racism that's just inverted the direction of the previous one.
I can’t really speak for you. I don’t know your opinions! You didn’t ask me to be your spokesperson. Cool? Makes sense?
But, I remember that one time you said you’re allergic to nuts.
Next year, somebody’s making cookies for the office. He asks what kind of cookies everybody likes. He’s thinking of making macadamia nut cookies. You’re out of the office that day.
“Oh, I’m not sure what kind of cookies hn_ta_234465 likes,” I say. “But I do remember that he’s allergic to nuts.”
Does that make sense? I’m not your spokesman and it would be weird/rude to put words in your mouth. But it makes 100% sense for me to refer to something you’ve already said.
So if my fiancee, who is part native, says it's okay to make and sell native-style dream catchers, I can just ignore your friends when you say it's not okay?
This speaks to a fatal flaw with the concept of cultural appropriation. Ok, so a "white" person can't "speak for Native Americans", but a Native American can? Can any, or just certain ones? Who wins if they disagree?
There's no "disagreement" between Native Americans in the sense that some of them are imploring white people to capitalize on their spiritual paraphernalia, and others are telling white people not to do that, and oh jeez what do we do we can't make both sides happy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Instead, there are a sizable number of Native Americans who would prefer that white people don't capitalize on their spiritual practices. And then there are many who aren't all that invested in the matter, and simply don't care, but you're not going to disrespect or hurt or belittle them by respecting the others.
So there's a pretty clear course of action, for those who are willing to give half a shit about others, but that's definitely a choice that we all have to make on an individual basis.
You can choose not to care, or not care.
You can also tell yourself that you do care but they're being dumb. That one gets extra cool points.
> some of them are imploring white people to capitalize on their spiritual paraphernalia
There are no Native Americans making money from such activities? Looks like you do speak for them after all! You can guarantee that not a single one of them sells dreamcatchers.
Are the number of Indians excoriating Westerners for appropriating yoga "sizable", or not?
Hey, listen. I made an effort here to try and help a stranger understand something. In the end it's your choice, and I think your choice is very clear. Take care.
What a poor attempt at reductio ad absurdum. If you put half the effort into understanding this as you're currently spending on fighting very hard to not understand it, you'd have more free time in your day and learn something to boot.
There are quite a few native americans who find it wack when people, especially those belonging to the culture that took their land and more or less genocided them, co-opt their cultural symbols.
There are also a lot of native americans who don't care, probably some who think it's neato and a lot of native americans for whom the entire issue gets a big old "not applicable" because it's a big continent and "native american" is not a monolithic culture and not all of them give a shit about dream catchers.
Ultimately, it's up to you. You can decide to give a shit about the N% of native americans who feel it's wack for white people to make dream catchers, or you can decide they're a bunch of whiny crybabies who aren't qualified to make decisions about their own culture, and open a big ol' dream catcher factory within spitting distance of your nearest reservation. A lot of people will think you're a dick, and probably a lot of people will think you're a totally cool dude who just owned the libs.
> We all do, including you. [define what's inappropriate]
> There are also a lot of native americans who don't care...
> You can decide to give a shit about the N% of native americans who feel it's wack for white people to make dream catchers...
Okay, I decide to listen to the group of native americans who don't care. What now? Are you going to respect my choice, or is it still going to be a problem--and if so, why is it a problem, given that you've told me several times that it's my choice?
