Why Ponies Shouldn’t Wear Hats

Pink Pony front woman and daughter of the governor of Oklahoma, Christina Fallin was really feeling a deep connection to the Native Americans she grew up around.  So deep that she posted this picture of her wearing an admittedly-stunning-though-sacred-so-you-probably-shouldn’t-pose-in-it-for-Facebook headdress on her band’s Facebook page.

headress

She titled the picture Appropriate Culturation, so she clearly presumably knows what cultural appropriation is and is trying to be clever.  She also apparently decided to redefine it and made herself  the appropriator of the appropriateness of cultural appropriation.  Yay! She now decides when people from one culture can rock the ritual and sacred items from another culture as “fun accessories” or funky fashion for flaunting their deep spiritual connections.

Too bad no one told the many peoples who belong to the cultures for which she is the appropriate appropriator of cultural appropriateness.  Thus, her Appropriateness had to issue this royal proclamation from her cultural fantasyland apology.

pink pony apology

Sigh.  Next time,  just let your mane flow, little pony.

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Author: Susan X Jane

Susan X Jane, Principal of Navigators Consulting, has over 30 years of experience exploring race and representation in both the public and private sectors.  Susan is a transracial adoptee—a Black woman raised in a White family and community—an experience that created an early focus on the way race shapes our concept of ourselves and each other. Susan has worked to address race and racism as a community organizer, nonprofit program developer, professor of communications, and consultant to corporations and impact-focused institutions.  As Principal of Navigators Consulting, she draws on decades of experience to work with organizations in the public and private sectors. To any who seeks to build a better world, she offers her skills as a teacher, coach, and strategic partner to help create diverse and inclusive environments where the humanity of all is respected and protected.

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