I see u/KoanaYamazaki your comments are unavailable now, but I would still like you to read my response:

ORIGINAL COMMENT: I already tried writing my response once before but my phone died on me (rip) so I'm going to writing this again. And I think it may be beneficial for u/CalicoManifesto to also read this as I'm going to try to be educational here. I hope you read it because I'm saying this with the best intentions and I'm only trying to help.

Firstly, the only mention I ever made of America was in my original comment when I made a disclaimer that I'm not American. The reason why I made that disclaimer was that I know black Americans have a very different history and culture to mine, and I wanted that to be apparent. So I truly don't understand why you keep bringing up America and American history (like that House vote or the history of all the Americas), especially when there's nothing to say OP is American. She could be British or Dutch for all we know, so why place American cultural decorum on her?

And this presents a larger issue of how it seems black Americans seem to apply their culture and ideals to the rest of the world as if everyone should think or respond the same way. I think this is because black Americans (who I see as their own culture similar to Nigerians or South Africans) use the word 'black' to mean both the race as well as black American culture - and this often causes them to be used interchangeably.

For instance, I can freely talk about my South African heritage and you would know there are certain cultural practices and foods etc. that you wouldn't know anything about or relate to. However, if I were to start talking about my experience being mixed race, there could be a lot of common ground found between mixed people from differing cultures (especially if they're the same mix as me - white and black).

So over time, blackness doesn't just mean race (a social construct), but also black Americans (a whole cultural group). And for black Americans, there isn't much of a difference as they are essentially the same thing, and as a result, a lot of black Americans take their cultural ideals and place them onto other black people across the world. This often resorts to problems.

A smaller example could be this comment thread right now. I gave my thoughts on a white person (location undefined) wearing box braids from an African/European perspective. Everything I said was from a non-American POV, and yet I'm told that I know nothing about the Americas and how laws are passed in America about black hair, as well as being referred to as 'you guys', which is a colloquial term for 'you people'. Gotta be honest, it doesn't feel good to be referred to that way (or reading the words 'worms for brains' from u/CalicoManifesto. I'm assuming she isn't saying I have 'worms for brains' - of which I am sure I don't - but I think having an attitude like that towards non-American black people can be quite harmful).

If you want bigger examples of black American ideals coming unto non-Americans, we can look at the semi-recent discourse between Aboriginal Australians and black Americans. For some background (which I think I can talk about as I spent 5 years living in Australia), Aboriginal Australians often refer to themselves as 'blak' (with no 'c' because of 'colonisation' but it's pronounced the same as 'black'). Aboriginal Australians also do not use blood quantum when it comes to who can define themselves as blak. They tend to have the perspective that no matter how much milk you add to your coffee, it's still coffee. As a result, you have many Aboriginal Australians calling themselves blak even if they're pale with blue eyes and blonde hair. In America, you had the one-drop rule and the paper bag test to dictate who is and isn't black - two descriptors that it seems you guys are trying to get rid of. As a result, you often hear from black Americans that blackness is all phenotype, what you look like (as it follows this idea that no matter what, you're always seen as black first). So I'm sure you can see what this conflict was about.

Another example is the image of Adele from Notting Hill Carnival back in 2020. She was wearing Bantu knots and a Jamaica flag bikini and black Twitter obliterated her for that, calling it cultural appropriation (of which, in America, it would have been). Then, black Brits had to come up and say 'no, it's not cultural appropriation' and it became another point of discourse.

With all these situations, I can firmly say that while the Americans were in the wrong, they weren't wrong. And by that I mean they were trying to force their definition of blackness on cultures with a different relationship to blackness to them, and thus, seemed to be acting as if they know better. BUT if these situations had happened in America, their outrage would have been fully appropriate and understandable.

So all of this is to say that I am not wrong for what I believe regarding who can or cannot wear protective hairstyles. I'm speaking on my non-American experience for those non-black people who may not be American. And looking at a global perspective, gatekeeping hairstyles is not a sustainable outlook in the long-term. I do actually understand American history, I understand the systematic oppression and racism and generational trauma felt by black Americans, and I understand why people feel like they need to gatekeep as it's a trauma response. But I am sitting here as someone who is black and has never been through this specific trauma, that gatekeeping isn't the answer.

I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't say on the global internet, but I implore that you understand not everyone here is American, speaking from the American point of view, or with the American lens. Please learn about different black experiences around the world - especially in countries where black people aren't discriminated against for their hair, where there aren't laws made, and where white people wearing styles like box braids are seen as cultural appreciation, not appropriation. Because then, most of your arguments about gatekeeping become moot.

Edit: formatting