Of all the many crimes committed by white people against other cultures, cultural appropriation is up there with slavery and genocide in terms of wickedness. Cultural appropriation is of course the act of using or taking without permission aspects of other cultures for one’s own personal gain. It robs a culture of its own identity for no compensation, which is what makes this crime so insidious.
Examples of cultural appropriation abound, from dressing up as a witch on Halloween (stealing from the Wiccan religion), eating curry (largely an Asian cuisine) or wearing a sombrero hat at a fancy dress party. Each of these acts of theft is despicable.
Perhaps the most cynical and evil example of cultural appropriation relates to the New Zealand (All-Blacks) rugby union team. The mere fact that the team is made up of mostly white middle class men shows their arrogance in calling themselves all-black and wearing black jerseys. Worst still, the All-Blacks perform a strange dance before each rugby game called the Haka, which they have stolen from the Maori tribe. The purpose of this dance is not only to loosen limbs, tongues etc but to gain a psychological advantage over the opposition.
Progressives from a number of countries including South Africa, England, Australia and France have long joined with the Maori in demanding that the All Blacks cease and desist dancing the Haka and pay reparations. Their protests, however, have largely fallen on deaf ears.
A much better example was set by late South African President Nelson Mandela, who famously wore the Springboks rugby jersey to cheer on his side against the evil All Blacks in the World Cup final in 1995. This was an act designed to unite a country that was just emerging from the apartheid period. In any case, as a black man, Mandela had the right to wear whatever he wanted, including a sombrero.