I think their issue is that whenever black women do something with their hair it is called ugly or seen as “less than”, but once white women start doing it then it’s acceptable. That’s their issue.
I have some very close friends who are black American women that I met when I studied abroad in the states, and according to them their issue is mainly with things that they do being called “ghetto” or seen as trashy but as soon as white women appropriate it, then it’s somehow acceptable.
You have to decide for yourself if you want to wear it and risk being called out for cultural appropriation.
I wouldn’t wear the dress of another culture personally, mainly because I think when white people wear distinctly cultural dress from POC it looks ridiculous and like you’re trying a bit too hard to appear “cool”.
Also- having mixed race children does not mean that you can’t be racist or engage in questionable behaviour. Want to point that out because people for some reason think that having sex with people of colour and having children with one automatically gives them a pass to do certain things. No it doesn’t. If anything, you should be especially careful so as not to engage in these behaviors considering you’re raising a person of colour.
I’m not saying you’re racist OP. Only that people often say this as a disclaimer and as a pass.
I think if you want to braid your hair then fine and wear what you want. But be prepared that there are going to be people who do find it offensive.
It seems to be more of an issue in America as they have an especially brutal history with race. So I think it’s also important to keep that in mind too. Is this from the perspective of black American women? Then they have a point.. as they had laws about how they could wear their hair and being ridiculed about their hair etc.
Not saying it doenst happen in Europe, but black Americans have had in my opinion a much more brutal and insidiously racist nation to deal with than European racist.
Europeans are definitely racist… but we never had Jim Crow, the KKK, or laws telling black women that they either could not show their hair (tignon laws) or how they could wear their hair.
But it’s best that if we look at this from the perspective of black women to understand that it’s about that whenever they wear something it’s deemed bad.. until white women do it.
So I assume this is what it’s about. In general, when a WOC tells me something is offensive I tend to believe them. For various reasons I wouldn’t know all the nuance of why cultural appropriation bothers them, but I would assume enough bad history is behind it to just not do the offensive behaviour.
Seems much easier to me at least.