While casually scrolling through my social media feeds on Saturday, I came across a photo of Kim Kardashian at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards red carpet debuting yet another braided hairstyle—and this time wearing tribal braids. A few months ago, my immediate reaction would have been to get upset that the reality star continues to appropriate black culture. But this time, I just felt tired. Tired of seeing Kardashian profit by appropriating a multitude of black cultural aspects over and over again. Tired of hearing about the double standards of black women being discriminated against and wrongfully disciplined by their jobs or teenage girls getting suspended for wearing their hair in cornrows at school, while Kardashian casually wears the style on the red carpet and get praised for the exact same look. Just tired.
But let’s face it, this isn’t the first time that Kardashian has worn her hair in cornrows and it likely won’t be the last. Earlier this year, Kardashian wore blond Fulani braids with beads and credited her braided look to ’70s model and actress Bo Derek, who is white.
While many people were frustrated about her choice—and took to Twitter to share why it’s appropriation—Kim instead excluded herself from partaking in important discussion and posted a dismissive Instagram with the caption “Hi, can I get zero f-cks please, thanks.”
This time around, not much has changed. While Kim hasn’t yet said anything about her hair at the show, which aired Monday night, women on social media haven’t been afraid to share how fed up they are. As one Twitter user wrote, “Kim Kardashian in these braids is exhausting. The most annoying part is that at this point she knows what she’s doing, she knows what cultural appropriation is and that it upsets people yet she still chooses to do it because she knows it doesn’t upset the right ppl or cost her $$.” She’s right. Kim probably won’t lose any money because she wore her hair in cornrows. Plenty are even complimenting her for how amazing she looks.
Here’s just a small sampling of the discussion going down on Twitter right now:
https://twitter.com/bigbrownqueer/status/1008202901309644800
https://twitter.com/yourgirljayyy/status/1008892225508474880
As a black woman, it’s frustrating to see a hairstyle that comes with extreme cultural history and significance being paraded around as the latest trend. I’m just waiting for the day when I hear someone call them “Kim K braids.” There are multiple reasons why Kardashian wearing these braids is problematic, but the point that should be acknowledged is her lack of effort to credit the style from its rightful origins. And as frustrating and tiring as situations like these are, we can’t let them go unnoticed.
Related Stories:
–Sigh: Kim Kardashian Wore Cornrows and Called Them ‘Bo Derek Braids’
–Kim Kardashian Just Chopped Her Hair Into a Blunt Lob
–This Woman Re-created Kim Kardashian’s Perfume Ad to Prove a Point About ‘Perfect’ Bodies
