Cultural appropriation has become this oddly, loosely defined concept that makes it easier to call someone racist and to be anti-art — and it calls for an end to the melting pot of culture that represents the best of America.

Musician Bruno Mars is the latest victim of cultural appropriation accusations. He was criticized by a Washington Post writer during this year’s BET Awards for appropriating black culture and somehow erasing the history of black funk musicians — which he openly admits constantly influence his music.

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“I really need y’all to stop with this Bruno Mars praise and be more critical about the ways we understand appropriation,” wrote Jenn M. Jackson on Twitter before kicking off a full-blown rant on everything wrong with Mars and his music.

“Bruno Mars does not identify as black. Let’s get that clear at the outset,” she wrote. “He is a non-Black [sic] person of color (POC) who has recently decided that singing Funk music is economically productive.”

She continued, “These claims that Bruno Mars is ‘bringing funk back’ are erasive to Black Funk artists who pioneered the tradition. FUNK. NEVER. LEFT.”

The worst tweets of all seemed to accuse the 31-year old Mars of actual racism. “I need us to stop relaxing our critical lens to anti-Blackness and appropriation when it is a non-Black POC harming us,” she tweeted. “Listen, you can like Bruno Mars’ music and still be critical about how his role in the industry erases Black people. Then and now.”

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What’s stunning about these words: They come from someone published in The Washington Post and who has a doctoral degree (according to her Twitter profile).

Bruno Mars is not black, but we will make more of an effort to round out his history than just slapping down a ridiculous three-letter acronym (POC) as a descriptive. He is of Puerto Rican descent and was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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The singer has talked before about the influence of music on him, predominantly by black singers. “When you say ‘black music,’ understand that you are talking about rock, jazz, R&B, reggae, funk, doo-wop, hip-hop, and Motown. Black people created it all,” Mars told Latina.com.

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“[With my] being Puerto Rican, even salsa music stems back to the motherland [Africa]. So, in my world, black music means everything,” said Mars. “It’s what gives America its swag.”

It’s a bit frightening that in 2017, a college-educated writer for what is supposed to be a respectable paper would seriously accuse an American of Puerto Rican descent of “erasing” black people and being part of “anti-blackness” for daring to sing funk music — and for being inspired by people who are of a different color than he is. (go to page 2 to continue reading)[lz_pagination]