Everywhere you look there is news about Kim Kardashian. From scandals, politics, fashion, and family, her name will show up somewhere. Her celebrity is out of this world! She has 137 million followers on Instagram!!! Her influence is crazy and I can admit that I’m one of her followers. I love her fashion and swag, and her business acumen is undeniable. But everyone doesn’t have the same sentiments as I do, especially the black community.
Many in the community complain that she has culturally appropriated black culture with things such as hairstyles and physical characteristics, and I would agree and disagree with that. These things are not new in the black community and are labeled as, “unprofessional”, or “ghetto” until she did them and made it more mainstream. But I disagree with saying she single-handily culturally appropriated these things. What she did do is influence the majority of our society to change their perspective on these topics, and where there’s influence, there’s power. That’s not her fault, but she gets a pass in my book.
Mommi Kim K.
I gained a new level of respect for Kim Kardashian’s parenting. She understands that even though her kids are biracial, in this society, they are considered black. They are being raised with an awareness of their black culture, therefore, she practices and celebrates the customs. Take her daughters, for instance, they are not going to look at something like braids as something unfamiliar because they see their mother wearing hairstyles with braids that they will also see black girls and black women wearing. They can culturally identify with this. Take soul food, Kim Kardashian wasn’t raised with soul food but she cooks it for her family. She understands that identifying with black culture is an important part of her kids’ upbringing. If parents come from two different cultures and have kids, it’s the parent’s obligation to embrace each other’s culture for the enrichment of their kids.
Let’s look at her recent work with the justice system on prison reform. She has been pivotal of freeing two people, Alice Marie Johnson and “Jeffrey in Miami”, both who are black. Her recognition of the injustices in our justice system and the impact it has on black men in particular, gives a good explanation of why she wants to do something about it… She has a black son. In my mind, I envision Kim Kardashian being fearful of the day her son comes home with a story of being harassed by the police or being called the n-word at school, thinking about how she will prepare him or what she will say to comfort him. Just from the thought of this, she understands and empathizes with the black community in a way that many outside of the community would not.
The Pass
When it comes to being a mom we all share commonalities no matter the race. We love our kids and are willing to do whatever it takes to make their environment a better place. I see her in a different light when I see her as a mother because I know the stresses of raising black kids, especially black sons. So when I see Kim Kardashian benefitting from black culture in ways that we can’t ourselves I no longer get frustrated, I give her a pass.
Until next time
Mommi Lashinda
SpeakMyMind
May 14, 2019 8:53 amI respectfully disagree with everything about the post. Your are projecting your thoughts as a Black woman onto Kim and giving her way too much credit.
Kim is not a Black woman, will never be a Black woman. She will never understand – nor does she want to understand – our struggles. She cannot possibly make anything acceptable for Black people as she is NOT Black! Black culture is not for her or any ‘others’ to define or make acceptable. We do not need validation from the mainstream. Furthermore, the things considered unprofessional and ghetto in the mainstream are still considered that US. Kim didn’t change anything. WE, Black people, have never looked down on those things. Our opinion is the only one that matters. Because Kim and her BIRACIAL kids have braids in their hair and she Kim make soul food she understand and empathize with Black people? No. This is the same person who recently said she never understand how unfair the justice system is (mind you she is 38 yrs old and has dated nothing but Black men all her life and has Black friends). She and her kids wear braids because it’s trendy (the same way Kourtney’s White children do the same). She make soul food because she has dated and married a Black man. She has posted her plates online for years to prove to Black people she is cool because she make her version of Soul food. She decided to follow Black twitter and jump on a mission that was already in place to free Alice Johnson. This is not something she did out of the blue. She was following and studying the lead of Black people as she always do. I really don’t understand why people cannot see what this woman is doing. She is tanning and wearing makeup to make herself look much darker than she actually is. She so bad to be accepted by Black people so, as you say, she can have a “pass” to do and say anything.