Liberal students don’t particularly like the idea of cultural appropriation, especially when it comes to costumes for Halloween. But how would these students react when they realize one of their favorite politicians used the exact thing they hate to promote their career?
Campus Reform’s Cabot Phillips headed to Detroit to talk with students about how they viewed Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren when they realized she participated in her own version of cultural appropriation.
Phillips started off with asking the students if cultural appropriation was a problem in America “especially during the Halloween season.”
“Yeah, because people try to make themselves into something that they’re not,” a student told him.
“I don’t think people should be allowed to turn on and off identities, especially at the expense of somebody else,” another said.
“I don’t think people should wear certain things because it’s offensive to other cultures,” a male student mentioned.
Most students were on the bandwagon of keeping away from pretending to be someone else and then the question they feared hit them.
“Early in her career [Elizabeth Warren] she identified as Native American, she checked Native American on her official government documents when she was applying for jobs, saying that was her ethnicity,” Phillips told the students. “Do you think that’s an example of what Elizabeth Warren did of cultural appropriation?”
Silence and confusion ensued.
“It’s definitely something she should be, I suppose, more apologetic for,” a student who was unsure said.
“I don’t really know enough about that to pass judgment,” a student said seemingly to avoid reality.
“Yeah, it sounds like that’s just trying to get into schools you couldn’t otherwise,” a student who saw the situation clearly said.
“Yes, it’s a bad thing,” another student said. “You can’t pretend to be somebody you’re not to advance.”
Check out what other students had to say in the Campus Reform video below: