A Threads user recently noted that Michael Jackson nicked the moonwalk—and other moves—from Bob Fosse. A commenter responded by asking whether they also criticize Elvis for “stealing black music.” My reply: “Why are you racializing this?”
This is the progressive mind in action. It racializes everything, then either condemns or mocks whites for their cultural expressions. It is identitarian to the hilt—not identity in terms of civilization or national culture, but identity in tribal terms. Black Americans are part of our national culture. We are all citizens of this republic.
Rhythm and blues is not “black music.” It comes from a place, and that place is America. Elvis came from that place. So do I. The idea of “cultural appropriation” presupposes that culture belongs exclusively to a race or ethnicity. But no culture is exclusive. Since the dawn of man, cultural transmission has been one of the primary drivers of human progress—and, at times, regression.
Human populations adopt what works for them and discard what does not. When people are forced to embrace what works against them, they are diminished. This is true both of what emerges within a culture and what comes from outside it. But none of this applies cleanly to rhythm and blues, which is a distinctly American phenomenon. Rhythm and blues is for everybody.
Who invented the guitar? Europeans. Who invented the electric guitar? Americans. Who invented the string bass? Europeans. Who invented the electric bass guitar? Americans. Who invented the fiddle? Europeans. Who invented the bass drum pedal that organized the modern drum kit? Americans. The saxophone, the trumpet, and countless other instruments emerged from European civilization.
Yet nobody I know accuses black rhythm-and-blues musicians of “cultural appropriation” for using European inventions or for building music on the 12-tone scale. These inventions exist for the world to use. If someone can take them to a higher level, all the better.
No serious person argues that white people invented these things, and therefore they are “white” inventions that others should not touch. I am sure there are CRT professors somewhere making that argument, but they are not serious people.
The Poles wore plaited hair centuries ago. They were white. Ancient Egyptians wore dreadlocks. They were white (caucasian, at least). Why, then, are white people accused of “cultural appropriation” for wearing dreadlocks? Why did activists insist on laws protecting what they called “black hairstyles”?
The charge of “cultural appropriation” is ultimately a political weapon. Its purpose is to divide Americans along racial lines in pursuit of power. And it does not stop at culture. The idea that certain racial groups should have exclusive spaces—including race-based congressional districts—rests on the same logic of engineered racial division. It is time to move beyond that mentality.
People are pointing out Michael Jackson’s debt to Bob Fosse to recognize Fosse’s contributions to dance, not to diminish Jackson. And I’m sure Fosse borrowed from others as well. There is nothing wrong with that.
freedom and reason 