ominous wrote:
Yes, we find this incredibly offensive. Don't do it. Figure out what your own Indigenous culture is and celebrate that by wearing clothing that is 'original' to your own people.
http://nativeappropriations.com/?s=headdressNow that you mention it, my people do have some interesting clothing but nothing as neat looking as the war bonnet, or as easy to put on and remove. The War Bonnet is like a hat. It's not like a dress or flowers in the hair. I don't see why people cannot be free, whenever it is possible and they aren't going to try and hunt endangered animals or anything like that, to wear items from other cultures. Doesn't that help people to connect and learn more about other places? What is so bad about connecting with people from around the world. Otherwise, aren't we all cut off from each other, stuck in our own existence and mocking everyone else's because we long to be a part of theirs but feel forbidden and unwanted? That just causes resentment and frustration. People mock and are hostile to what they feel like they can never be a part of.
Rest assured this is all hypothetical since I don't even own a War Bonnet and am clueless as to how to get my hands on one. You don't see them outside of pow wows and festivals. People do not wear them out shopping, not even the ones who can wear them. So I am not grabbing my War Bonnet, putting it on, then going to Target any time soon.
Keep in mind there as a video made for a song call Rapture and it did have someone wearing a War Bonnet and the Village People, too, had a member with one on. That was before the new normal.