AIBU to ask if this is cultural appropriation or appreciation?

[HappyDays40]

Ever since the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement came into a more public sphere in the UK. Im looking at the world in a different way. Trying to consciously notice things that I may have said in the past which although I thought were showing an interest in other cultures are now termed as micro aggressions as they "other" people and reinforce that white as the default "normal".
An example of this is " where are you from?" Although this was not said with an aggressive tone I totally cringe when my friend looked at me pointedly and said Manchester. What I was asking about was her cultural heritage and I could have worded this better and won't do it again.
I also realise now what the terms white privilege and white savoiur mean. In the past I have spoken up for my friend if they have been abused and have taken charge when my friend has been perfectly able to speak for themselves. I am learning to stand with not stand on behalf of people unless they ask me to.
Its my responsibility to reflect and thinksnthings through not for people to educate me. Yes it makes me feel uncomfortable facing myself and questioning my past actions but I feels its the only way for change. So here is the AIBU bit: My son has a Carribean themed day at school today the children have gone in in themed clothes yellows, reds and greens. The children have been learning Bob Marley songs and generally all about different Carribean foods and cultures which I think I have felt okay with.
This morning when I took him in Reggae msuci was blasting forth from the speakers and the teachers who are white were outside welcoming the children in.

The children were having a great time. There are some children in the class who are black and one dad took one look at the whole thing dropped his child off and as we walked out he said he is going to complain to the school as this is cultural appropriation. I dont know him so I couldn't ask him about it and Im trying ro get my own thoughts in order.What do you guys think?

It's all just a massive stereotype isn't it? The whole Caribbean - with its 13 individual countries - distilled into just reggae and Rastafarian colours?

I don’t know if it’s cultural appropriation, but it sounds like ‘white peoples slightly naff idea of the Caribbean’ ie. Bob Marley and red/gold/green.

Did the school involve parents with Caribbean heritage in planning? Might have been a bit more meaningful if so.

Yeah - first step of planning that sort of day should have been asking parents with Carribbean planning for advice.

Yes that's racist. I'm not sure it's cultural appropriation because it's just a one-off event and nobody is likely to be adopting this as a lifestyle choice.

It's racist though because it is playing to the stereotype of Caribbean people being rastafarians, smoking weed and listening to reggae all the time. No doubt the food they'll be having will include Reggae Reggae sauce and cans of Lilt.

And in fact, I think I've underestimated the number of countries in the region!

It just sounds so lazy. What's next, Europe theme where you just have a shabby Oktoberfest rip-off? Actually insulting.

@SnoopsCaliforniaRoll that is exactly it. I know that each island has its own cusine, heritage, culture flags etc and it was sort of all lumped into one mono culture. I think it sounds like it was being viewed as a holiday destination as a whole rather than an opportunity to learn about different Islands. I left feeling uncomfortable but couldn't quite pin why.

I think having a day where kids learn about another culture is fine. It can involve music, food, traditional crafts, etc. But it becomes problematic when it’s ill considered and stereotyped.

We'll it's a day to celebrate aspects of popular Carribbean culture, the school has not suddenly become Carribbean. So of course it's appreciation not appropriation.

@ChainJane I dread think what sort of food they will be making today but there was a guy who lives locally who is from St. Kitts who does catering and he did some cooking wih them last week so I felt okay with that. It was just the cheap stereotypical themes that felt wrong.

i think its a bit off tbh. A carribean themed day but all about rastafarians and reggae?

I think equivalent would be "africa" themed day and having kids dress up as caricatures

@Genderwitched

We'll it's a day to celebrate aspects of popular Carribbean culture, the school has not suddenly become Carribbean. So of course it's appreciation not appropriation.

It’s not really appreciation if it’s celebrating cheesy, all-inclusive-holiday-in-Montego-Bay stuff, though, is it? What are the children actually learning? Why not use it this sort of day as an opportunity to celebrate the aspects of culture that people from those places are proud of, can talk about, can contribute to etc?

That's not cultural appropriation. It all just sounds incredibly cringe-worthy and almost a piss take. I can imagine someone must have rocked up in one of those hats with fake dreads hanging out. It's actually rather quite insulting. I would complain too if I were a parent but not on the basis of appropriation.

If they were determined to look at the Caribbean, it would have been better to pick a few countries, look at things from each of the countries; food, music, cultural heroes etc. But Caribbean islands are quite different. Barbados eg has a very different history to St Lucia which is different again to St Barts and Jamaica, Dominica etc.
It could have been a great way to learn about a region with a fascinating history, but sounds like the dad saw it as a weak and racist attempt to condense his culture into a stereotype.

Having said that, we’ve had lots of these cultural days at school and it can be hard - we’re in Aus and the kids had to make a “cultural box” about their heritage (in our case British) and it did come down to pictures of castles, pots of tea, the queen and Shakespeare.

Thé Bob Marley music and reggae is a bit stereotypical IMO. But it really depends on how the whole day was presented. Can’t comment from just one incident

I couldn't comment if they did involve parents with Carribean heritage in planning. Some aspects have been really well considered like the cookery and they did some poetry and language with one of the parents so some aspects have been good but today it was like some sort of odd white person interpretation of the Carribean in a school playground.
I sent my son in a T shirt from his Auntie who is Bajan with all of the Carribean flags on it to make a point.

Well first off I would say well done on thinking through your own actions and how you can change yourself, even though it's uncomfortable. The more people do this, the better!

It's hard to say for sure without seeing it ourselves I think, but those activities do sound very stereotypical and cliched, and not representative of the entire region.

My DS's school did something like this. You appreciate the sentiment but it's actually so poorly executed you feel conflicted. Red, gold and green means little to my family who live on various islands. I'd have been a little more impressed if they blasted Soca instead lol ... at least that's less stereotypical/less expected.

Yes they were mistaken in only doing Rasta and Reggae.
But, they did do something.
It is an attempt, a first step
It is something to build on. Help them and volunteer next time.
People should not just sit back and sneer from the sidelines.

Op said I'd was all about different foods and cultures, none of you know what was being taught.

Well... playing Devil's Advocate here...

What if the music and flags were just for the "morning entrance"? What if - once the kids were sat down in classrooms - the theme was then widened to:

• How many countries make up the Carribean
• Learning about the islands
• Discovering facts about each individual island, how they are similar, how they are different
• Parents in classrooms talking about growing up with Carribean heritage, their traditions and beliefs?

Unless you know what is actually happening in the classrooms during the day then it's hard to say. Maybe wait until the end of the day and talk to the teacher?

@Branleuse

i think its a bit off tbh. A carribean themed day but all about rastafarians and reggae?

I think equivalent would be "africa" themed day and having kids dress up as caricatures

Lots of people talk about things as being "African" or from "Africa"... but never specifying which of the 50 nations in Africa that might be!

When i was at school we did a whole term topic on saint lucia, dear god when i remember back to it i die. Making us sing in accents and (white) teacher dressed up like that kids club mad woman

It's not cultural appropriation but it does sound like it's a nice idea that's been poorly thought through. It's the sort of thing I might send an email to school about in a "if you were to do this again, have you considered..." sense.

It would be similar to saying "UK day" and only looking at afternoon tea, God Save The Queen, last night of the proms. It's a simplistic and narrow stereotype of the UK, which is actually several countries that all have their own culture and heritage, and within countries there's huge differences.

@SnoopsCaliforniaRoll

It's all just a massive stereotype isn't it? The whole Caribbean - with its 13 individual countries - distilled into just reggae and Rastafarian colours?

This. It's lazy stereotyping. It's great that the school is attempting to teach children about different cultures but there are so many ways this could be done that would be more constructive and appropriate than their approach.

i think its a bit off tbh. A carribean themed day but all about rastafarians and reggae?

Hard to ascertain if that's the case from a drop off though. It depends what else the day(s) entail