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hat race should I be today?” This is what YouTuber, model, and makeup mogul Nikita Dragun “jokingly” asked her Twitter followers in response to her history of racial insensitivity. She has repeatedly tried to appear Black—one day her skin is pale, the next it’s dark. She has also worn box braids, twists, cornrows, and durags to sell this facade. As a result, Black people have accused her of blackfishing and appropriating Black culture. Blackfishing is when a person alters their appearance through tanning, makeup, hairstyling, or cosmetic surgery to portray themselves as Black. It’s a form of cultural appropriation, as users steal from Black culture to achieve “Blackness.” In a 1945 essay, Professor Arthur E. Christy coined cultural appropriation as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs,
practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society other races get tan. Later, she admitted that by members of another and typically more her complexion was not natural but insisted that she does get darker when under the sun. dominant people or society.” This sort of cultural appropriation gets Of course people tan. That’s not the probconfused with cultural exchange—cultures lem, and Dragun knows that. The problem is sharing their ideas, traditions, or knowledge. that she spray tans and contours her face to There is nothing wrong with exchange; in appear Black. Worst of all, she promotes her fact, it’s something to celebrate, as it unites merch and makeup lines shortly after each people and combats insensitivity. However, controversy. appropriation is not exchange, nor does it Dragun’s “joke” reveals a blatant disreincrease understanding. As actress Amandla gard for the Black people she hurts, and her Stenberg explains, “appropriation occurs “joke” showcases her willingness to mock when a style leads to racist generalizations or them. Still, she acts innocent, even playing stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed the victim to avoid scrutiny. as high-fashion, cool, or funny when the privi- Dragun claimed that people have used her tan to invalidate her mixed Asian and leged take it for themselves.” Somehow, Dragun feigns ignorance and Hispanic heritage. She explained that people acts as though she is not purposefully appro- would mock her skin tone and comment priating Black culture. When a Twitter user “she’s Hispanic today” on pictures. She added accused her of blackfishing, she replied that that she does not have to pick a side. But
