If you want the definitive word on the appropriation of black culture, look no further than this clip of slam poets Crystal Valentine and Aaliyah Jihad performing the poem, “Hide Your Shea Butter.”
In a video posted by Button Poetry on Aug. 14, Valentine and Jihad make an on-point and hilarious call for all black women to start hiding the secrets of their blackness from the Kylie Jenners of the world.
“No more giving away our secrets,” the duo recites. “When you invite your white friends over, hide your shea butter. Hide your coconut oil. Hide your loc gel. Let those white dreads unravel.”
They add: “It is not that we do not trust white women. It’s that Rachel Dolezal stole 14 black years and we have yet to retrieve them.”
The poem goes on to point out that the problem with cultural appropriation isn’t just that white people “take what we create,” but that, “it always gets lost in translation.”
“I say bantu knots, you give me mini buns. I say cornrows, you give me boxer braids. I say hip-hop, you give me Macklemore.”
One of the most poignant lines in the poem comes at the end, when the duo says, “It’s not that we don’t trust white people. It’s that y’all really think my black looks better on you. It’s that you’ve called me a racist more times than you’ve called Darren Wilson a murderer.”
Watch the entire performance above.
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