UN Considers Making Cultural Appropriation a Criminal Offense

Global indigenous activists are teaming together to petition a United Nation Committee to make cultural appropriation a criminal offense.

The 189-delegate committee, which is a subset of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization, has been in Geneva this week working on a task that it began in 2001: Creating international regulations would ban people from “stealing” indigenous art, dance, and medicine.

It is important to note the words criminal offense. Advocates are not just asking the UN to state cultural appropriation is bad or offends indigenous cultures. They seek to make it a criminal offense in every country a part of the UN.

As reported by CBC News, James Anaya, the dean of law at the University Colorado, spoke to the committee on Monday and demanded that the final document “obligate states to create effective criminal and civil enforcement procedures to recognize and prevent the non-consensual taking and illegitimate possession, sale and export of traditional cultural expressions.”

How does one define an indigenous culture? White culture is every bit as legitimate as black culture in America. Are black women appropriating white women for straightening their hair? Supports of cultural appropriation being a criminal offense would scorn someone for even suggesting such a question. Black women don’t think straight hair, weaves or wigs look nice, no they have to do their hair that way to fit in with whites. But do they… No. No, they do not. Forcing black women to straighten her hair would actually be racist and against the law. Discrimination based on race is very much illegal, outlawed and banned in the U.S.

Think of cultural appropriation like feminists trying to bellyache about women only earning 77 cents on the dollar to men. That is ridiculous. It is illegal to pay women less than men. Women doing comparable jobs as men are paid the same and furthermore, it’s illegal to pay women less than men. Women just don’t work as hard or as smart as men, overall. But, it’s convenient to blame men for their lack of work ethic and success.

Cultural appropriation isn’t the reason indigenous artists, musicians or writers haven’t been achieving more success.

Cultural appropriation isn’t the reason an ethnic woman gets mad that a white girl can rock hoop earrings, braids or dreads.

Cultural appropriation is the reason ethnic women get to wear, do, say and look however they want while accommodating petty vindictive jealousy and why the bar is so low for ingenious artistic expressions in comparison to the global history or standards of Western culture.

It remains to be seen if parents will be prosecuted for their children appropriating another culture or how long an individual will have to serve for accidentally crossing the line between appreciating and appropriating another culture, but what we do all know is that it’s ridiculous and deferentially not meriting a criminal punishment.

Source: National Review