A white Brazilian 19-year-old, bald from the chemotherapy used to fight her cancer, was slammed for wearing turbans to cover her head, accused of cultural appropriation.
After Thuaune Cordeiro posted pictures on Facebook of herself wearing a turban, for wearing a turban to conceal her baldness, she was criticized because most turban-wearers in Brazil are black. Cordeiro recounted an incident on her Facebook page in which a black woman accosted her on the street
I’ll explain what happened yesterday so you know why I’m so angry with this whole cultural appropriation thing. I was at the station with this pretty turban, feeling like a diva. And I started to notice that there were a lot of black women around, beautiful by the way, who were looking at me funny, like “look over there the little white girl appropriating our culture.” Anyways, one of them came over to tell me I shouldn’t use a turban because I’m white. I took off the turban and said “are you seeing this bald head, this is called cancer, so I use what I want! Bye.” I grabbed my turban and walked off leaving her in shock #EverybodyWearsTurbans
Cordeiro has had enough; she snapped, “I’m so angry with this whole cultural appropriation thing … this is called cancer, so I use what I want!”
