SALT LAKE CITY — A high school senior is refusing to apologize after wearing a Chinese cheongsam to her prom, KDVR reports.
Keziah Daum, 18, posted the photos to Twitter on April 22 and she has received backlash from thousands of people online calling her a “closet racist” and accusing her of cultural appropriation, Fox News reports.
One of the photos shows Daum crouching down and posing with a group of friends with their hands folded together.
PROM pic.twitter.com/gsJ0LtsCmP
— Keziah (@daumkeziah) April 22, 2018
It has been retweeted nearly 6,000 times and has elicited several angry comments.
My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress. https://t.co/vhkNOPevKD
— Bôh (@jere_bare) April 27, 2018
In short:
I'm proud of my culture, including the extreme barriers marginalized people within that culture have had to overcome those obstacles. For it to simply be subject to American consumerism and cater to a white audience, is parallel to colonial ideology.— Bôh (@jere_bare) April 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/emmaleerose_/status/990281737820364800?tfw_creator=kdvr&tfw_site=kdvr&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fkdvr.com%2F2018%2F05%2F01%2Futah-teen-shamed-for-wearing-racist-prom-dress-stirs-cultural-appropriation-debate%2F
https://twitter.com/JeannieBeanie99/status/990279896919412736?tfw_creator=kdvr&tfw_site=kdvr&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fkdvr.com%2F2018%2F05%2F01%2Futah-teen-shamed-for-wearing-racist-prom-dress-stirs-cultural-appropriation-debate%2F
She is wearing a traditional dress that is reserved for special occasions and by her, a non-Chinese woman, thinking she is entitled to our culture, she is profiting (does not necessarily mean $$) from it. That is cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is racism.
— bot (@thaooocu) April 28, 2018
But some have come to the teenager’s defense.
Glad you wore the dress! You look fantastic!!! Being Asian I am not ostracized wearing green shamrock on March 17 or looked down upon waving the only flag I know- Old Glory- on July 4. #embraceDiversity (btw, love the shoes too 😊)
— heli (@HeliSkiier) May 1, 2018
You do look gorgeous. And yes it is just a dress and a very pretty one too. (My husband is half Chinese by the way, he would think the fuss is nonsense).
— Jane Salisbury (@GothicBlue) May 1, 2018
Daum told Insider that she saw the dress in a thrift store several weeks before prom and wanted to wear it.
“I bought the dress because I thought it was beautiful and admired the beauty of the culture,” she said.
She’s refusing to apologize and says so in several tweets.
