mintflavoredroses:

queerkents:

just a reminder: thirsty and salty are both aave so if ur white u shouldn’t use them as a joke. it’s racist (which is the most important thing) and it makes u seem like a weird poser (which is DEFINITELY way less important but still true). some words have entered the mainstream consciousness and can’t be blocked out anymore and that’s okay (words like rock’n’roll or cool for example, which were originally aave), but it’s our job as white people to stay away from using the more current ones as jokes. instead of calling pearl ‘thirsty’ u could call her ‘desperate’ instead of calling her ‘salty’ u could call her ‘bitter’–this is a post directed at the steven universe fandom tbh

i know it seems funny and cool to use aave like this but you should examine why you think these words are funny in the first place. is it because they’re memes, or because you think they’re cool and different (which is, i believe, why they became memes in the first place)? if its the second, then you should know thats rooted in the exotification of black people and black culture and ‘others’ them. and that’s obviously not okay. i’m obviously not an authority on the subject tho so here’s a link to two black people speaking out about using aave if you’re curious as to why it’s racist: http://fuckyourracism.tumblr.com/post/93391303112/aave-and-why-it-is-more-than-likely-cultural http://killbenedictcumberbatch.tumblr.com/post/83363441082/zodikat-killbenedictcumberbatch-bae-is-aave using aave at all (except for like, ancient aave obvs) should be kept to a minimum, i think. but it DEFINITELY shouldn’t be used as a joke or to seem funny or quirky or cool.

this isn’t to shame anyone who’s used it without knowing, or guilt you at all, because we’re all learning, it’s just some education on your dash because i think the steven universe fandom is better than this. think of this call out as a vote of confidence. i think we can do better :’ )



I’m gonna reblog this cause I agree, and then respond cause its been on my mind lately.

There’s been such an upswing in people discovering aave, appropriating it, using it incorrectly, bastardizing it, and then destroying the original context and making it problematic.

Right now I’m noticing this with af (as f*ck), and f*ckboy.

Honestly if I see one more post on my dash that says something like “bird af” or “arms af” or “couple af” I’m gonna lose it. See the above “incorrect usage and bastardization”, after the appropriation stage.

F*ckboy has skyrocketed into the destruction phase, mostly because of white feminists using it as a) a transmisogynistic slur that never existed(???), and b) a word they use to describe any male regardless of context.

This situation has really been irking me, as a black girl who struggles with what “blackness” is supposed to be. Black people, as a cultural influence on each other, have developed our own language as a way of personal communication WITHIN the community. That’s aave. Our speech patterns and terms, our slang, our grammar, our daily lives interspersed into the English language, in a way that reflects the daily lives of our communities. That’s ANY area-specific dialect. Except aave isn’t just for one city in one state. It transcends an entire race of people.

When you take that, you’re really truly no joke taking part of our culture. When you mock us, you’re poking fun at how entire communities and cities and neighborhoods speak. And if we’re not being mocked for it, or praised for not using it, it’s being stolen from us. Then we’re being mocked again, and put down for “harmful connotation”.

The basic bitch fiasco? That’s the fullbown destruction sequence.

I’m starting to ramble, but as a black person my personal opinion is that I don’t mind ~sharing~ aave I guess. I don’t have a strong opinion except ‘Don’t be an ass about it. Don’t use it for fun, or because you think it’s a joke to talk “like us”.’ Of course many other black people will not share that state of mind, and my opinion is only my own. Additionally, I can never condone the appropriation and theft of black culture.

But at least if you’re gonna use it, use it right. Respect the origins. Don’t produce your own narrative for a story that you aren’t even a character in. Don’t manufacture a background for a term that already has a history. Don’t change the connotation of a word that already has a meaning.

Just be respectful.