I recently learned about this idea that there is unacceptable cultural appropriations when the Chinese-American actress Aquafina quit Twitter due to massive and hurtful complaints by African Americans that she uses Black English when it suits her (most of her famous roles) but then revert to normal English when it suits her not to do so.

I honestly felt that she uses this so called Black English in genuine admiration, that she really does think it’s cool. I mean she even raps… I don’t really see her mocking, belittling or wrongfully use something that belongs to Black Americans.

But I of course will acquiesce to the fact that I do not know for sure because I’m not Black American. I cannot truly understand them like I truly cannot understand a bat. (That’s saying there is an objective difference that cannot be compensated for by our brains, not saying Black Americans are lower form of mammal.)

But one does wonder why other cultures don’t care so much. Recently I encountered a very antagonizing grandma at local library. She kept on coming over to the crafts table and asking for material repeating “I need this for my younger grand kids…” in a British accent. Her kids are actually older than my child with whom I worked on a Shamrock for the St. Patrick’s day event. There is an silent echo in the library that screamed in a ghostly voice: “GO BACK TO WHERE TOU CAME FROM…” perhaps echoing the zeitgeist of the recent past. We all ignored it. For me, mainly because I don’t know if her ghost is screaming at me or my ghost screaming at her in either case the people involved were apparently all quite civil…

I have never seen mass protest of American appropriation of this religious saint. I’ve never seen tweets complaining about someone call for drinks or partying on St. Patrick’s day. I’ve never seen a religious zealot complaint about misappropriation of Catholic culture.

What about all this mindful crap that modern culture appropriated from ancient eastern hermits? Chinese Buddhism being one of many. What about all the white Americans making money on teaching yoga? What about all the white Americans teaching Asian martial arts?

I’ve never seen targeting of these people for misappropriating very practically useful and hard-to-come-by cultural elements , profiting from them, become famous or even “inventing” these things.

Honestly, it might be that we all don’t have the experience of hardship Black Americans experienced. It might really be a case of easy come easy go. I got my Chinese culture because my parents and friends made it available to me. I didn’t have to earn that. It was free. Maybe this is why I don’t really give a flying fork that some white dude stands proudly in the park teaching tai-qi to Chinese elders. I didn’t invent it, I don’t have that attachment to it, not enough to feel the anguish that black people felt when Aquafina used their language.

But my culture is also very open to respect. A white student properly respecting their teacher might learn some serious skills. This is why I felt that Aquafina appropriating the Black English with respect and admiration was not inappropriate. But it may be the case that not all cultures are as open minded as mine. Admiration and respect sometimes isn’t enough.

This is a puzzle that I wish to understand more in the future. There is definitely relativistic view. But an eventual normative ideal regarding appropriation of cultural elements would be pretty good aim.