Besides the "cultural appropriation" involved in the wearing of "Kente cloth":
Quote:
Democratic congressmen have faced a backlash after wearing colourful shawls made from a traditional African textile to mark the death of George Floyd.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the most senior Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate respectively, were among those wearing the items.
A group of a few dozen Democrats had put on the shawls made of Kente cloth, closely associated with Ghana, as they kneeled on Monday morning for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
source:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/09/democrats-face-backlash-wearing-kente-cloth-kneeling-george/Did they even bother to check the origin of this item, being that it is from a culture that was involved in the selling of slaves to America?
Quote:
Kente cloth, the traditional garment worn by Ashanti royalty, has been widely adopted throughout the Ashanti Kingdom.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_EmpireQuote:
The Atlantic slave trade peaked in the late 18th century, when the largest number of people were bought or captured from West Africa and taken to the Americas.[89] The increase of demand for slaves due to the expansion of European colonial powers to the New World made the slave trade much more lucrative to the West African powers, leading to the establishment of a number of actual West African empires thriving on slave trade. These included the Oyo empire (Yoruba), Kong Empire, Imamate of Futa Jallon, Imamate of Futa Toro, Kingdom of Koya, Kingdom of Khasso, Kingdom of Kaabu, Fante Confederacy, Ashanti Confederacy, and the kingdom of Dahomey.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_West_Africa#Atlantic_slave_tradeOn the face of it, it appears to have been an "oversight", but with the current fashion of destroying anything with a possible link to slavery, it is an unfortunate one if so.
11 Jun 2020, 8:56 pm
