By Nina Larbi ’22
Op-Ed Editor
Within the past year, alternative styles of dress based primarily in emo, punk and goth subcultures have gained popularity on social media. It may be the 20-year cycle of fashion looping back to the scene and emo styles of the early 2000s, or quarantine nostalgia for pop punk bands, but the 2020 reiteration of subculture styles by contributors on platforms like Instagram and TikTok is distinctively more diverse than I remember them being. Punk, emo and goth subcultures have historically excluded people of color, maintaining the image that people of color were never meant to be a part of their movements. These exclusions have also buried the contributions made by people of color to these ideologies and arts. Though the tide has been changing for a while, people of color are still excluded from these subcultures, and their white peers need to actively uplift and acknowledge them and their artistic and ideological contributions.
Individuals are drawn to subcultures because they feel rejection from society and its institutions, like the working-class Brits who created punk. Punk is anti-establishment and anti-consumerist, emo is saturated with angst and misanthropy and goth is characterized by anti-conventional beauty standards and gender expression. Emo and goth subcultures originated as reactions to an established punk scene, and they share some ideologies. These subcultures all have artistic elements, including music and dress, from the dyed mohawk punks to the Hot Topic studded-belt-and-skinny-jean emos.
Rejecting the status quo and deviancy is what makes a subculture a subculture. However, the issue with racism and exclusion stems from a misunderstanding and willful ignorance of what it means to be oppressed. The 2003 documentary “Afro-Punk” opens with plain text referencing Patti Smith’s song in which she likens herself to Black people via a slur, then points out that “She felt she could liken her personal trials as a feminist musician in a c----rock culture to the African American struggle for equality.” If punks are not already on the outside of society, they want to be there. But people of color are already there. Why can’t white punks, emos and goths recognize that without trying to conflate all marginalized identities into one underclass of society? The experience of racism is different from that of sexism and that of homophobia, and some individuals experience all three.
There are aesthetic values within subcultures that reject and appropriate people of color besides their otherness, like in the case of Smith. Goths and emos like pale skin, dark hair and dead eyes because it’s the opposite of the tanned (but white), blonde-haired, bright-eyed beach babe.
Moreover, from their roots these three subcultures have had heavy contributions from people of color, but their legacy has been ignored and actively suppressed. All types of rock music have their origins in American blues and country music, which were created by Black people. Additionally, various proto-punk bands, like the Mysterians and Death consisted of musicians of color and subsequently influenced the punk genre for decades. Different punk scenes came to be because groups of people felt like they were ignored by the system or just didn’t fit in, and this included communities of color. The Los Angeles punk scene was created by youth who felt othered because they were Latinx, which led them to create the L.A. punk scene and hardcore punk.
Punk, emo and goth continue to evolve today thanks to the efforts of artists of color. Now, there is emo rap and punk rap, with artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Rico Nasty challenging the emo and punk conventions through musical synthesis. After the success of the “Afro-Punk” documentary, the annual Afropunk Festival was created, giving space to people of color to explore subcultures and defy expectations. People of color are key members of and contributors to the punk, emo and goth subcultures. We share experiences of otherness not to be likened to each other — and shouldn’t subculture be open to all those who reject the status quo and want to join? I sincerely hope that recent visible diversity in subculture social media continues and that members of such subcultures vocally acknowledge and uplift people of color.
