How could something like this happen in 2015? [Opinion]
Written by Aliyah Salmon
“How could something like this happen in 2015?”
I asked myself this question at least 100 times in the past couple of days. I was hoping that even in a more accepting and liberal environment, this wasn’t happening. “Students at SCAD are doing this?” I’d keep asking myself in disbelief. I kept hoping that all of this was an elaborate practical joke, but to my surprise, it wasn’t.
The event in question was an off campus party held by my peers. People who I respected and knew pretty well decided to throw a “trap party.” Even out of context, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The theme was “trapped the f*ck out,” as the Facebook invitation stated, meaning the participants were heavily encouraged to come fitted with large gold earrings, grillz, bandanas, sagging pants, cornrows and other articles of clothing that have always been attached to the stereotypes of what African Americans wear.
The party invitation wasn’t the end of it. The event page was flooded with pictures seemingly for inspiration of what kind of event they wanted. Pictures of people playing dice, drinking lean and even a picture of a woman in a Louis Vuitton Burka.
Of course after seeing the description, the pictures, and aesthetic the party wanted to achieve, I was already upset and offended. The event seemed and came off as another racist party, only this time under the guise of a trap party.
For those who are unaware, trapping and trap music are both born out of the struggle people endured in impoverished areas where the only lucrative endeavor was the making and distribution of drugs. This struggle influenced hip-hop music, and a new genre was birthed from the trap houses. The most striking detail of this is that those who are out there “trapping” are overwhelmingly made up of black Americans in the poorer neighborhoods across the country.
This information alone is enough to support the belief that the party’s description and desired aesthetic was rooted in African American culture, and the appropriation of it was being accepted here and widely encouraged. Between the images posted to hype up the attendees, and the shocking amount of white students asking each other on the page and off to cornrow their hair for the party the entire event was gearing up to be a problematic mess.
Come Friday evening, the party is in full swing and the attendees are excitedly showing off their fake grillz and chains, bandanas around their freshly cornrowed hair and 40 ounce liquor bottles; even one student sported a ski mask on social media. Posing and squatting among each other proudly throwing up imaginary gang signs to enhance the group photos. During the posting, I noticed the party starts taking on different names. Students on social media refer to the party as “the black people party” and “the ghetto party.” Whether or not the names the students attached to the party were made aware to the party hosts, we just can’t be sure.
Let there be no mistake, the party had a number of black students and other people of color in attendance — one of the party hosts themselves was a black man. However, the party seemed to be overwhelmingly filled with white students. All seemed to be either unaware or uncaring about the cultural appropriation concern this party posed, and happily went along with the evening’s theme. A post made the day before about how they wanted to “leave the cultural appropriation and political drama @ the door” when students — myself included –became vocal about how uncomfortable the party made them feel.
The party has since passed, and the students seemingly enjoyed themselves without a care in the world on how they might have offended a good number of their friends and peers by attending and participating in this. Some took to the event page on Facebook to either contest the party, or defend it. By the end of it, students on the page overwhelmingly came up with every argument in the book about why this party was ok.
“THIS ISNT A RACIST PARTY GTFO”
“You guys are the only people making this a race thing, maybe just chill out enjoy yourself”
“Or y’all against the party could stop being f*cking pussies about it.”
Those direct quotes were what some of the students said in defense of the party on a thread someone started about why the party was detrimental for the students involved, those who were offended, and for the school’s image.
Students at Savannah College of Art and Design were throwing the party. Usually students reflect the school’s ideology of creating an environment of understanding, compassion and respect. This party was the exact opposite of that, and made students who purposely did not attend feel uncomfortable, and offended.
The party, the outfits, the Facebook description, the cornrows and every piece of this party made me feel deeply frustrated, uneasy and disappointed in some of my peers for participating; but mainly because even in 2015 this has to be brought up again.
Parties that seemingly mock minority groups — intentionally or not — are not acceptable in any way shape or form.
The point and intention of this piece isn’t to call out specific students or to make anyone angry with anyone else, but to ask why. Why do we still allow things like this to happen in 2015 when most of us are educated on cultural appropriation and have a basic idea of right and wrong? Why were students so insistent on having this type of party? Why did those in defense of the party feel so justified? People should be saddened that this has happened and almost went completely unchecked.
The students who hosted and the students who participated are not bad people, and I wouldn’t even go as far as to call them racist either. But this party shows how we have a much longer road ahead of us when it comes to education on why events such as this one are unacceptable. We’re better than this, and we all should look at this as a lesson that cultural appropriation and racism are not black and white issues, but instead are a lot more complicated with plenty of nuances that people have yet to understand. My greatest hope is that the readers of this understand that your seemingly innocent actions have consequences, and those consequences could very well be offending and alienating people of a minority group with something as harmless as a party.
