Cultural Appropriation Promoted By Music Festival

   

Cultural Appropriation Promoted By Music Festival

Coachella Ensembles A Crowd of Culprits

In mid April, for two entire weekends, Indio California hosted its annual music festival equipped with a variety of musicians varying from styles and tastes.  However this music festival tends to lose its meaning when celebrities use its opportunity to make an appearance.  

Coachella provides the perfect opportunity for celebrities to strengthen their bond between fans and embody this same characteristic; becoming a fan themselves.  It is through this process of raged fans, hot celebrities and  intoxicated bodies filled with music and alcohol that provides for the perfect statement piece; fashion!

Over the years, Coachella has emulated a particular type of style most commonly know as festival wear and even has several well known adverting celebrities for example, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Kendal and Kylie Jenner as well as Modern Family's Sarah Hyland.  With every festival comes a new trend and this year, 2014, just so happened to be bindis.  Bindis are commonly worn by women of Hindu religion to represent "a center point wherein all experience is collected in total concentration" to symbolize the retaining of energy and strength of concentration.  During meditation, stress is believed to exit the body from the exact area on the forehead between the eyes, where bindis are to be worn.  This jewel  is thus a statement of religious beliefs and culture, not just any old fashion accessory.  

Just dust. Everywhere. Lol #bindi marks
Vanessa Hudgens is one of Choachella's most iconic festival goers.  Famous for sporting all the top trends, this year was her time to shine, or was it? Not only did Vanessa partake in culturally appropriating the trend of the bindi but posted a variety of pictures displaying her self wearing them and the marks left behind from the long day in the desert.  Her posts included hashtags which many found to be offensive. One person commented "Please stop appropriating other cultures. Multiple times you've been told yet you continue to ignore them in order to continue on the Try Hard quest."; followed by many others who found her shots to be obscene.  This was not her first offence.  Vanessa has been seen at Choachellas past wearing Native Headdresses.  Interestingly, Vanessa was the only one who was constantly ridiculed.   Other very well known celebrities received little to no hatred.  It is safe to say we should not use a festival like Choachella as an excuse to sport a cultural adornment, however most, if not all these celebrities, meant no harm or offence towards the followers of Hinduism.  No matter how hard some my find it, next year, lets all try to pick an accessory that does not disrespect a religion or culture. Peace and Love.  

Is Easter All It's Cracked-Up to Be?

Religious Holiday Commercialized by Chocolate 

           The famous four day weekend, cool spring air and excited children who wait for the friendly rabbit to adorn their house with colorful tin wrapped chocolate eggs.

  Easter is the very celebrated holiday by Christians all around the world and has been for hundreds of years.  According to tradition, it is a festival celebrating the resurrection of Christ described in The New Testament as having occurred three days after his crucifixion.  However today, in the 21st century, the importance to the holiday has been lost in commercialization, through the use of chocolate.  Yes, the man has done it again; corporations have found a new way to sell their product.  Many believe the selling and buying of eggs for Easter represents the rebirth of Christ or the turning of a new chapter, but referring back to the tradition of the holiday itself, Easter is supposed to be a period for fasting.  This ironic holiday is supposedly the most important in the Christian faith however not many truly know and understand the meaning behind it.

  

Racism Rears Its Ugly Head

Law suites against Barney's Dpt. and NYPD

            After years of rigorous battles for equality, i find it humiliating to be a part of a world that continues to generate hate.  Some are locked in the mind set that race should define our power, that one race in particular is greater than the rest.  It is this type of ignorance, which keeps the unity of society from blossoming.  We've come so far as a human species to not let race classify our social status, but an incident like this has set us back.  Could it be time to go back to the drawing board?

            A civil rights organizations held a meeting with the CEO of Barney's New York, after two black customers were harassed by the police.  These customers, both having bought expensive purchases, were questioned and detained by NYPD for no apparent reason.  Trayon Christian, one of the discriminated, saved money from a part time job to buy a Salvator Ferragmo belt he had his eye on.  After buying said belt, police handcuffed him outside the store and asked "how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt."  This question implies that the police officer did not understand how someone  black (African American) could afford such a high-end fashion accessory. Would the police officers have done this to a white customer?  What I do not understand is how a police officer, someone who is supposed to protect all, can not comprehend that race is not a factor displaying someones financial position. The justice of the courts say everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty, however it is clear the NYPD's mentality was guilty until proven innocent.  

For more information: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/barneys-accused-stealing-black-teen-article-1.1493101