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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHoop Earrings and Hate
Pitzer College maintains a free wall where students are invited to paint whatever they would like. A recent critique of white women who wear hoop earrings has attracted far more attention than most writing on the wall -- and the debate has escalated well beyond jewelry.
College officials have seen and are investigating written threats -- including some that could be read as death threats -- against the Latina students who wrote the critique on the wall. And Pitzer's president, Melvin L. Oliver, has issued an open letter condemning "a cycle of violent hate speech that threatens the safety and well-being of every member of our community."
The students, whose identities Pitzer declined to confirm, citing their privacy rights, are fearful for their safety, the college says. But others say Pitzer is unfairly blaming a conservative student newspaper for the students' problems.
Here is how the controversy has played out.
The line that was written on the wall was simple: "White girl, take off your hoops."
After that went up on the wall, students on an all-campus email asked for clarification about what it meant.
Two of the three Latina students who were involved wrote back in other all-campus email messages, in which they explained that they viewed white women wearing hoop earrings as engaging in cultural appropriation, which is when a privileged group adopts part of the culture of an oppressed group and in so doing erases the role of the oppressed group.
read more:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/15/pitzer-students-debate-free-speech-student-safety-and-cultural-appropriation
B2G
(9,766 posts)Sugar Smack
(18,748 posts)Last edited Mon Sep 25, 2017, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)
to respond appropriately (edit).
ProfessorGAC
(65,010 posts). . .wearing hoop earrings. Since the word is EAR-RING it seems like that has been part an parcel of that jewelry for a very long time.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)As in:
rodeo
chow mein
kung fu
savoir faire
gesundheit
quid pro quo,
and on and on.
Sugar Smack
(18,748 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)The people who are claiming cultural appropriation.
mcar
(42,307 posts)Signed,
white woman wearing hoop earrings.
bluepen
(620 posts)marybourg
(12,631 posts)challenging courses!
DBoon
(22,363 posts)... learning to troll
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)I have the same thought. Where I went, we didn't have time to get upset about trivial things. The biggest protest was when they closed the library earlier.
burnbaby
(685 posts)does this apply to me?
Coventina
(27,115 posts)JoeStuckInOH
(544 posts)and then select a hoop size of approximate ratio for yourself which accurately reflects your mixed heritage percentage to the aggrieved group claiming cultural appropriation.
Next say 10 Hail Marys, 2 Our Fathers, and fast from ethnic food for 1 week.
Then you should be good.
For example: I'm 1/4 Scottish, so I'm permitted to wear a 1/4-length kilt. (wait, that can't be right... )
1/2 Spanish 1/2 Italian which means I have the right to yell all I want and I'm never wrong
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)For voicing an opinion. In my opinion, of course
Coventina
(27,115 posts)I am surprised you are the first to point this out.
Clarification: I'm not surprised YOU pointed it out, just surprised it took this long....
edited for sexist language, my bad.
ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I'd thought the threats the central premise to the article, but it seems to be consciously ignored so posters can voice a petulant frustration with what was written by a minority, rather than actual threats of violence.
I'm not however, surprised at all by the priority given to the message, but denied or ignored the actual threats themselves.
FFS, indeed.
TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)haele
(12,650 posts)Hoop earrings were typically used as far back as the Roman and Celtic tribal times to indicate the dower worth of a marriageable/married woman as well as being a handy way to "carry spare cash" that would be a bit more difficult to pick-pocket or drop when out travelling - or to use when out gambling. Most of the larger hoops had drilled gems or pearls added to them, or little gold ornamentation.
Wanted to carry more gold with you or show off more of your wealth when walking out with your buddies out for a night of carouse? You'd wear your bigger hoop(s) along with your chunky rings, heavy necklaces, and armbands/wrist bands, whether you were a guy or gal.
I appreciate the assumption that since hoop earrings apparently went out of fashion in Europe during the late 19th/ early 20th century and only returned during the 60's as part of young civil rights protest groups, big hoops, or multiple large hoops in the ear might be specific to Africa. But ask a history major or an arts major, and you'll be gently corrected.
It's not an appropriation of culture unless your grasp of what culture is only goes back 70 years.
Haele
TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)are completely insane and uncalled for, though.
irisblue
(32,971 posts)tammywammy
(26,582 posts)I hope they catch whomever is sending the threats.
petronius
(26,602 posts)it seems that the threateners got away with it. No indication of how thoroughly they were searched for, although I suspect it's difficult to track this sort of thing down...
TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)these individuals need to get over themselves.
TheBlackAdder
(28,189 posts).
1600BCE Greece
.
Coventina
(27,115 posts)ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Is it cultural appropriation if I mix New Guinea tribesman with Latina style? If so, whose culture would I actually be appropriating?