I dropped her off this morning and saw girls (and boys) wearing grass skirts, some of them with coconut bras too. I'm not sure what else is going on, but it doesn't seem very respectful of a native culture that we have seriously fucked over. Would they have a "Native American Day" and let kids come in wearing feathered headdresses?

Or am I reading too much into it?

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[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Instead, it’s Americans taking religious symbols of a culture that was genocided by Americans and making them something fun like “hat day” or “school spirit day.”

I looked up grass skirts and I can't find an exclusively religious component to their usage by Hawaiians. Everything I've found says that they were introduced in the late 19th century by other Pacific Islander immigrants, and used in late Western-influenced hula.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair enough if that's true. However, as I told someone else, I got in touch with an indigenous Hawaiian on Facebook and, while their personal opinion is just one out of many, I give it more weight than non-indigenous opinions and she says she felt it was appropriation and offensive.

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I mean, obviously regardless the coconut bras make it clear your kid's school are ignorant and just doing it as an offensive costume. Even if (and that's a big if) the school's intent is positive, they need to take a step back, sit themselves down, and ask themselves some very pointed questions.