A graduating high school student from Dallas is being called out on social media for cultural appropriation after wearing what was apparently supposed to be an Asian-themed dress and then posting images of the outfit on Instagram using a racial slur in her caption.
Instagram user x.armoni sparked controversy after showcasing a sparkly long dress and chopstick-style hairdo in an image with the caption: “They asked for lingling so I gave it to them.”
Many netizens from the Asian community took issue not only with her culturally-insensitive attire but also her caption.
Emma Tang (@lilaznfeminist) took to Twitter to condemn the outfit and call upon social media users to “do their thing.”
Twitter user @kimchiispam also called attention to x.armoni’s post:
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User @kimchiispam explained that racism against Asians is often taken as a joke.
“Asians face racism, discrimination, etc yet others proceed to take it as a joke when it IS NOT. It takes away from their real identity and it harms their culture because their culture is covered with many racist stereotypes,” she wrote in one tweet.
“Racism against Asians isn’t cute, it’s not funny. I’m tired of racism against Asians being so overlooked. People of color should look out for each other instead of pulling dumb shit like this,” she added.
The tweets sparked discussions online with some defending the girl, who herself is a person of color, for her “harmless” post and others pointing out that she should know better.
In response to the backlash, the 18-year-old student doubled down on her insults towards Asians and announced that she is not apologizing for her attire.
Some netizens also expressed their criticisms over the student’s actions.
