Letter to the Editor

White people, Dreadlocks, and Cultural Appropriation

Sin Dante McAuliffe

13 April 2013

Dear Editor,

first of all, giving my opinion about the Dreadlocks wore by white people I have to mention that I agree with you in the fact that before deciding if it is or it is not a cultural appropriation we all have to accept that this fact exists, what I want to say is that even if some people can deal or cannot deal with this fact, the fact will still exist. In the same way that jazz, hip-hop,  and other "black things" are taken by white people from a different culture many cultural customs, or traditions are taken too because that is how the world works, things change over time.

My point of this, is that as well as Hip-hop has been taken by white people from black people, at one point the fact that a white person could become a successful rapper was a really shocking fact, by the pass of the years, nowadays we can see many white rapper who are very successful in the music scene even though at one point it was not well seen that a white person could be part of this Hip-hop culture.

Furthermore, by mentioning this what I want to express is that there is so much black people

Who get angry when they see a white person wearing dreadlocks, since they believe that wearing dreadlocks is a custom from their ancestors, as well as there can be black people who does not care if a white person wears dreadlocks, but even though there is division of opinions about this issue, it eventually will become normal, as well as Hip-hop or Jazz has become a normal thing among whites.

The thing that I do not agree with you Sir is that many white people who wears dreadlocks takes it as

as a very no important thing while, for the Afro-American or Reggae culture can mean something important. The not being aware of what involves to wear this hair style can be offensive for this culture.

Lastly as a conclusion of my letter, I will say that there can be many opinions about this issue, some people will think that it is a very offensive fact that white people takes dreadlocks to show rebelliousness or for fashion, while some people will think that it is a normal thing that this custom has been taken from another culture, but at the end, with the pass of time it will became a normal thing.

Warmest regards ,

Simon Sein