Back in 2020, a prominent influencer, Brittany Broski, was called out for her usage of African American English (AAE). Words like “period” and “chile” were regular parts of her vocabulary, leaving some of her viewers believing she was inappropriately using words found in AAE. In response, she stated her words and phrases came from internet culture and that “stan culture has its own language.” This response led to some lively internet discourse on how the language of Black people, specifically African Americans, is commonly co-opted by people who have no idea where these terms originated from. In response to this controversy, Broski apologized, citing her lack of education on AAE, and proceeded to have a lively career.
Despite this happening five years ago, it’s something I think about fairly often, especially because I continue to see examples of non-Black people using words that stem directly from African American culture while passing it off as internet culture or more specifically, “Gen Z culture.”
It seems like every few business days a new “Gen-Z slang” word becomes popular. “Crash out,” “period,” “unc,” “Cap/no cap,” and “gyatt” are just a few examples of the words you’ll see on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok that stem from AAE; however, you’ll likely never hear people state their origins.
This phenomenon goes further than language. I recently saw a TikTok of a Black woman saying that people will see her long acrylic nails and comment about how she’s “too old” to have nails that long and that her nail length is reserved for younger people. In reality, Black women have an incredibly long history with acrylic nails and other aspects of style like our hair and jewelry. We’ve always been trendsetters, popularizing long acrylic nails and the nail art that comes with them. So, while many people may deem long acrylic nails as something specific to Gen-Z, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Whether it’s language, nails, clothes, or mannerisms, things that were originated or popularized by Black people have slowly been appropriated and turned into “Gen-Z culture” and it couldn’t be more frustrating. However, whenever Black people express how upsetting it is to see our culture become appropriated by non-Black people, someone always jumps in to ask why it’s such a big deal, so here’s why.
Black people have constantly been looked down upon for the way we speak, the way we dress, the way we act, etc. We’re called ghetto when we speak AAE, ratchet or “hood” for our style and appearance, and we’re deemed uneducated for simply being ourselves, but the moment a non-Black person does it, it’s cool. The moment people start to speak like us, dress like us, and act like us, it becomes the next big thing. We’re always ahead of the curve, but as soon as everyone catches up, we’re not given the credit we deserve.
I say all this to say that most of the things people consider to be “Gen-Z culture” is simply Black culture repurposed. As much as I would love to gatekeep my language and culture, that’s simply impossible considering the globalized society we live in. So instead I ask that we be aware of where these words and trends come from, and respect them.
Don’t try to change the definition of a word that’s been used in our culture for years simply because you don’t understand its true meaning. Stop saying you use “Gen-Z slang” when it’s simply words Black people have been using for years that you’ve just become privy to. Stop trying to convince us that your sense of style emulates “Gen-Z culture” when in reality your baggy clothes, gold jewelry, long nails, and several other parts of your style are derived from Black culture. And please stop telling Black elders that they can’t copy our trends when they quite literally created them.