I don't know, I am wondering if perhaps a 'culture thief' is someone who attempts to assimilate themself into someone else's culture and the expense of that culture and the denial of their own.

If this is correct, which from my point of view is, then I don't see how Aaron could be a culture thief.

Amerikkka is a melting pot of cultures - unfortunatly the pot happens to be rancid in most places, but that's another story... However, because of our exposure to different beliefs, ideas and customs we cannot help but to incorporate them into our own beliefs and selves in one way or another.

I think that as people, we look to the world around us that we see, (please remember that the world we see is based soley on what we want to see), and reference ourselves to it. We pick things that we identify with and respect and incorprate it into our signifying practises on a daily basis.

To take me as an example. I am a woman who shaves her hair off - does this mean that I am stealing from Lesbian culture? Everyone assumes incorrectly that I am a dyke, so am I a thief? No. I shave my hair off because of my political beliefs about the beauty myth. I am a white woman who wears baggy clothes, sneakers, listens to some hip-hop, does this mean I steal from Black culture? No. I wear these clothes for comfort and I listen to certain hip-hop artists because I like them. I am not hip-hop, would never claim it as my own but I appreciate it from a perifial viewpoint. As an English person who has been living in Philly for the last year and a half, I now use certain Philly slang. Am I stealing from Amerikkkan culture, from Philly life? No. It's just that in an effort to be easily understood by my peers, I use colloquialisms that are common place.

I think that so long as one does not deny who it is that we are and where we have come from, one could never be accused of culture thieving. And I do not believe that Aaron does either of these things. He talks about issues that affect himself and his peers as a Black man.

Above all we must remember that Aaron is an artist. Through his medium he talks about and expresses issues that he feels are important and I think that this is the most important thing in life. In reading the strip we can see that Aarons reference and positioning in life is that of a Black mans. If his primary concerns and expressions were that of an Asian person, then I think one would have the right to call him a culture thief. But they so very obviously are not.

The other issue here is white people assimilating other peoples culture into their own. Yes I believe Eminem is a danger to Black culture, not necessarily because of who he is as a human, but because of the nature of the white political psyche. White people have had a history of claiming other peoples achievements as their own and destroying the true essence of that which they claim as they do it. But the question remains as to whether or not Eminem is white or is he undercover?

Yes Aaron is very obviously influenced by Japanese animation, but he is an artist and art has no limitations in terms of inspiration. But his message is that of a Black man in Amerikkka today. SO culture theif, no effing way, inspired, yes!

Peace,

Tank

"You are a heathen slut! A heathen slut I say! But that's OK cuz heathens have all the fun. I know cuz I'm one too..." Miss Maureen's recent ansaphone message for me.

"The revolution has tit's!" Nou-Ra

"As do many strong people, she found herself a victim of the tyranny of the weak." Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.