They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I say, I would rather have a salary than fans any day of the week. So would most people actually. This is the whole reason we have copyright laws, to ensure that the people who create are the people who get paid. It is not a perfect system, but at least we have something in place to slow cultural appropriation. For years, Europeans simply stole ideas from other cultures; they then profited from this dishonest task by selling cultural art and inventions to companies and calling it their own. Elvis Presley was the king of rock and roll, not because he invented rock and roll, but because he stole it from us black folks. He song, Hound Dog, was originally sung by Big Mama Morton, a black woman that could belt like no other. My father hated Elvis Presley for this reason. Every time he would see him on the television, inevitably heavier than the last time he was on TV, may father's eyes would roll in the back of his head and a large, exhausted sigh shortly followed. "Not this white boy again," my father would say in disgust as he quickly reached for the remote to change to channel to literally anything else. My father's disdain for Elvis is not uncommon in the black community. Still to this day you will hear even young black people express their dislike of whitewashed black culture. But why? Shouldn't black people be happy that their music is finally getting the recognition if so rightfully deserves? White people certainly think we should be happy when we see white artists telling black stories, our stories, but that is because white people love to watch white entertainers. I, personally, have grown increasingly tied of European entertainment since it is nothing more than the whitewashed version of other cultures. In America, we do not allow black people to tell black stories; we contract white artists to rewrite our narratives and to extract anything black out of them so as to make it pretty for Tammy and Becky down the street. If being forced to be ashamed of yourself is flattery, I'm not really all that interested in being flattered. I do not, as a black artist, think it is cute to see white people pretending to be minorities. I do not think it advances anything at all. It does not make it so that I can get a job as an artist and feed my kids if a white person steals my idea and makes it their own. It does nothing for me at all, but I am, for some reason, supposed to be grateful. Why? Why should I even care to watch any of this entertainment if it is always going to tell me that I am not fine the way I am, that my skin is not white enough for prime time? Am I supposed to be excited about that or some dumb shit? You all must be crazy or maybe you just do not know me very well. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the black man with enough sense and self-esteem to realize when he is being scammed. How the hell are you going to hire artists who have never struggled to represent my struggle? That does not make one lick of sense! Yet the censors are out in full force, toning down the blackness in every piece of art and history they can get their hands on, making it nice and white for all of the white consumers. Europeans, however, are so loud about their culture and other people not stealing it that they built a damn wall at the border to keep other cultures from influencing it! If that is not Orwellian, I do not know what is. Europeans also love to talk crap when you cook their food incorrectly; I know that because I am part Italian and you better not put cream cheese in my lasagna! Europeans also did not allow blacks to participate in popular music and acting for decades. Why? Because they wanted to preserve their "superior" culture and not have it "tainted" by so called "inferior" cultures. But now that the tables are turned, and white people know damn well that they need to have minorities to make money, they are mad when we call them out for cultural appropriation.