So i've been picking up on some forum threads and news articles about this phenomenon in the last 2 years and I am just baffled by it. White people with dreadlocks being expelled..... I've seen the articles where wearing a kimono is being seen as imperialistic towards Japanese..( I think that actually caused me permanent brain damage) and today I saw the whole Martin - Lin idiocracy......
I luckily haven't encountered this phenomenon in The Netherlands or Europe (yet). In our lowlaying dikeloving country "cultural appropriation" is generally seen as something very positive. It's mostly appreciated by minorities and majorities alike and seen as openess, cultural interest, an enrichment, understanding and promoting/ cultural intergration. Most minorities even see it as some kind of validation, "belonging" when cultural phenomenons get popular and embraced by the general population. Like the Surinames and Indonesians are actually proud of their foods (which are basically seen as about as Dutch as boerenkool these days) wearing a typical cultural garment will most likely get you into a nice conversation with said minority about the garment, their culture and country instead of anything hostile.
I know race is much less an issue in western Europe compared to the US, but sometimes your cultural trends jump the pond and pop up in a "light" version over here. I'm just trying to wrap my head around why this can possibly be seen as something negative.
It's a tidy little "damned if you do, damned if you don't" system. It is a large part of why I'm dismissive of the idea that Trump is bigoted, because according to these people so is algebra, air conditioning, making burritos, tiny houses, in-class testing, and hard work.