My Dashiki isn’t your costume
Illustration by Steck Von.
Margaretta Sakor
Contributing Writer
I was born on the west coast of Africa, in Monrovia, Liberia — the land named for former slaves to return to their home. The only problem is, former slaves didn’t want to return to a place that was no longer their home. The original enslaved people were all dead or too old. This new generation of African-Americans did not know much about Africa or their ancestors, much like today.
The African diaspora is a part of history that strikes to the core. Many African-Americans do not know about their African roots and can’t trace them back. Because of this lack of understanding, many people misrepresent the African culture in an attempt to modernize it. The misrepresentation of African culture is a dividing line between Africans and African-Americans.
This misrepresentation is unintentional. There are two sides to this problem — some people truly want to learn about African culture and connect to their roots, while others profit off African trends. This is where most of the problem originates: you cannot choose to be African when it is convenient for you.
It’s easy to grab African prints, put them on and claim to be “woke” because of current activism trends. People decide to be African temporarily and then take it off like an out-of-date costume.
Behavior like this takes away the significance of African culture. It allows non-black people to come in and tear down my culture. People who wear it for the trends won’t protect the culture as it needs.
Where I am from, there are very strong gender roles. Men and women’s clothing is very different and you may never see a man or woman wearing the same thing. The Americanized dashiki shirts that you’ll see many college students wearing are meant for men.
I see people who don’t even know what the colors or different designs mean wearing these bright dashiki prints. There are five main colors: gold, red, green, blue and white. Gold is popular because it conveys wealth and fertility. Red is the color of blood and stands for spiritual or political tension. The most harmonious color is blue, which represents love, peace and the sky. Green is a medicinal color — it’s the color of life and prosperity. White represents spirituality and purity.
One doesn’t blindly decide which color to wear without considering the meanings. When African men and women leave the house, they dress to impress. The whole idea is to grab attention and be bold within your clothing.
Now all the blame is not rested on the shoulders of African-Americans. Some Africans are unintentionally stepping away from African culture — I do this myself. I’m not saying we must walk around dressed in African garments all day, throwing our “pure African” roots in people’s faces. A helping hand is more of what I mean.
When I see someone misrepresenting African culture, I do not say anything to them. I don’t educate them in hopes of bettering their understanding because it becomes a matter of emotional labor. Having to bear all my knowledge and my identity on the table is something I’m not willing to do. Instead, I look at them and probably think something snarky in my head. And then complain about it later to my friends.
This is all a new thing to me. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, the need for people to embrace African culture and reconnect with African roots started trending. I’ve never seen so many black people want to be African. When I came to America, I was bullied for my skin tone, my African accent and for just being African.
Now everyone seemingly wants to be African. Yet, it’s hard for me to accept that this generation of people who once bullied me for being African now want a part of my culture. It’s a hard pill to swallow and all the water in the world can’t make it go down easily.
I’m happy and proud of people who want to learn their roots. It’s groundbreaking to have a force as large as the African-American population wanting to reconnect with Africa.
If you truly want to learn more about African culture, I applaud you. They are trying to understand their roots because for them, their history has been lost. If you are African just for the trend, I urge you to stop. You are damaging the culture for everyone else. And even worse, you are creating a divide when there should be complete unity within the black community.
So that explains Jordans, watches & neck chains before rent, got it.
2 years before the article gets its first comment and it’s that unrelated nonsense.
Tbh I came here because I saw a dashiki that looked good, but wearing it as a white man in america would feel awkward. I knew it would get side eyed but I wanted to see if it was genuinely disrespecting something ceremonial. I didn’t want it so I could come off woke or to impress anyone or make anyone think I was black, nor did I plan to act any different in it. I would’ve worn it more like a hoodie with my normal clothes which don’t in any way come off tribal or cultural. I didn’t seek it out because I heard they were in fashion or popular, but idk that seeing it on Amazon and thinking it looked cool is a big enough difference.
After reading a few articles and looking up the origins I still feel my intentions are innocent but at least 55% leaning toward being problematic. Which sucks but there are worse things than not being able to wear a top. It does make wonder if there’s a situation where it would be acceptable or if the entire country would have to progress before we got there.
You need to stop thinking you and yours are the sole heirs of Africa. I don’t care how long Africans of the diaspora have been gone, it is still part of their ancestry. They are forever connected through history, dna and spirit. You don’t get to forbid people from participating in traditions of their heritage because they don’t understand everything there is to know. If you are truly concerned about lack of awareness of such traditions, then teach. Stop complaining. It IS NEVER culutrual appropriation when black people wear Daishikis!!! You think people started wearing Daishikis when the BLM movement started? You think the connection to Africa is a TREND? You apparently don’t know much about the history and cultures of the black people you are judging. I say cultures because I know blacks in the U.S. are collectively referred to as African American but they are DIVERSE. They come from all over the Americas… from many cultures. If you took the time to explore any of these cultures you would see elemenets of African heritage reflected in these cultures… the food, the music, the clothing, the religion, the dance. It’s all there. Did you know Brazil has the highest concentration of black people in the entire world second only to NIGERIA? Excuse me.. but where did you say you are from again?? There is no perch high enough from which you can look down and judge black of the African Diaspora because your ancestral branches in the ancestral tree are no highter than theirs. Stop with the nonsense.