Recent TikTok trends are calling attention to the appropriation of majorette-style dancing by white content creators.
Since the platform's launch, Black TikTokers have struggled to receive credit for creating the most popular viral trends. White TikTok creators, on the other hand, have historically been able to profit off of the original ideas of their Black counterparts.
Khalil Greene, known as the Gen Z historian on TikTok, is the latest to call out non-Black creators for copying and not crediting Black people for their content, per HuffPost.
In a video circulating on TikTok, Greene points out that white creators participating in the viral “Her Way” and “No Love” challenges are appropriating majorette-style dancing found at many HBCUs across the nation.
While non-Black TikTokers have garnered millions of views from the choreography, Jordyn Williams, reportedly a majorette who created the dance, isn't being credited, and the origins of the style aren't being referenced.
"Modern majorette dance is a unique style derived from African, Jazz, Ballroom, and hip-hop techniques and is among the Blackest forms of dance expression," Sage Howard writes for HuffPost. "But in the case of social media, these cultural rites often go out the window, and the meaning behind the viral dance seldom comes through, let alone the person or people behind it."
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