Updated: Oct. 12, 2017

After a dispute over cultural appropriation broke out on social media between Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin and former Net Kenyon Martin, the internet naturally separated into respective camps over who was “right.” Although popular opinion points to the belief that Lin sank his shots better and won the argument, with some people leaving racist comments on Martin’s social media accounts, the reality is that they were both in the wrong.

The scuffle between the two men over the fact that Lin has dreadlocks and Martin has Chinese tattoos highlighted a simple fact: both men were guilty of appropriating from each other’s cultures.

Yet there’s a certain reality that belies the accord the two reached: There’s a false equivalency in saying Chinese tattoos on a black man and dreadlocks on a Chinese-American man are the same type of offense.

Lin implied the two were showing equal signs of “respect” for each other’s cultures, and the media and commenters largely took his side.

Although the two ultimately arrived at a place of empathy and understanding, it’s important to note that Martin was unfairly vilified because he had a point when he initially called Lin out for his locs. Neither of their actions ― culturally appropriating tattoos or dreads ― were signs of “respect.”

But borrowing a cultural marker like dreadlocks, which embody both joy and struggle unique to the black community, is not the same as having a Chinese tattoo, a symbol that doesn’t carry the same weight of oppression. Yes, appropriating Chinese culture through a tattoo is exoticizing and insensitive. But the the act of putting on and taking off dreadlocks ― which are related to the systematic economic and social oppression of a racial group ― demonstrates a greater level of disregard.

The matchup between the two began last week when Lin wrote an essay about why he got dreads. In the The Player’s Tribune, he admitted he hadn’t considered the issue of cultural appropriation, that he had talked with a number of people about his decision and pointed out he was able to empathize.“I know how it feels when people don’t take the time to understand the people and history behind my culture,” he wrote. “It’s easy to brush some of these things off as ‘jokes,’ but eventually they add up. And the full effect of them can make you feel like you’re worth less than others, and that your voice matters less than others.”

Three days later, Martin weighed in and said Lin’s dreadlocks pointed to the fact he wanted to “be black.”

“Do I need to remind this damn boy that his last name Lin?” Martin asked in a YouTube video. “Come on man, somebody need to tell him, like, ‘Alright bro, we get it. You wanna be black.’ Like, we get it. But the last name is Lin.”