Democrat lawmakers, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are facing overwhelming backlash after opting to wear Kente cloth during their nearly nine-minute moment of silence in a show against police brutality. Many users across social media questioned their motives and blasted them for missing the mark.
Pelosi and fellow Democrat lawmakers, including Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), took a knee on Monday for eight minutes and 46 seconds as a show of solidarity with Americans protesting police brutality and remembering those who have died, including George Floyd, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin. Democrats could be seen kneeling in unison, with most wearing Kente cloth — a special fabric with deep and meaningful origins rooted in West Africa — in a seeming attempt to show further solidarity with the black community. Their attempt, however, appeared to many to fall flat.
“There is more Kente fabric in this picture than at a Ghanaian traditional wedding,” pro-life activist Obianuju Ekeocha said.
“The DC African-fabric shop is probably now sold out in order to meet the demand of this ridiculous tokenism by Democrat politicians. Dear Africans step aside! #CulturalAppropriation at its worst,” she continued, blasting Democrats for glossing over the importance of the fabric with the Ghanaian identity, specifically:
I’m sure🤔someone told them that fabric represents black people but in truth a Nigerian like me cannot lay claim to this significant fabric which is very much a part of Ghanaian identity.
Dear democrats,these colors & patterns belong to ancient tribes and mean something to us. pic.twitter.com/nuB1RPBtQA
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) June 8, 2020
“Excuse me dear Democrats in your tokenism you didn’t wait to find out that this thing that you’re hanging around your neck is not just some African uniform,” she continued in a video response. “These fabrics … they all mean something to us”: