The Harlem Shake and Cultural Sensitivity

If you haven't seen the "Harlem Reacts to Harlem Shake" video, watch it below.



For all you Chinese people, how would you react to a party where a bunch of white people dressed in stereotypical Asian garb and spoke with Chinese accents? [This actually happened at Duke.] Or maybe a Chinese version of the Harlem Dance - perhaps a "Ribbon Dance" where a bunch of white people dressed in panda suits threw rolls of toilet paper around and waved it around as some sort of ribbon? How would you react if this video went viral and there were "flash mobs" of people doing the "Chinese Ribbon Dance", and the only thing people know the Chinese Ribbon Dance to be is large groups of strangely dressed white  people and a lot of toilet paper everywhere?

For those of you who don't feel any connection to your Asian heritage, you may not feel  strongly, but I'm getting riled up even just writing that. You see, when we "borrow" things from other people and cultures or label them a certain way, it is easy for them to feel like their culture is being attacked or made fun of, especially if it is a group of people that has been marginalized and picked on through the decades and centuries. We need to realize that even if we don't take things seriously, others might, so we need to be aware of how our actions are perceived and received by others.

It's not enough to be well-intentioned if we are ignorant. And yes, we are all ignorant about some things, so when our ignorance is pointed out, we shouldn't just brush it off, remaining ignorant. So yes, the Harlem Shake videos are fun and not intended to be a representation of Harlem, but if there are people in Harlem who feel dissed by it, we need to listen to them and stop it. Ignoring those who feel offended and writing them off as uptight is tempting, as it's much harder to admit to ignorance, but doing so would be a big mistake. Ignoring them would be ... wait for it ... ignorant.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

- Philippians 2:3-4

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