As a reminder, cultural appropriation isn't about preventing other people from taking part in cool stuff, it was a term invented to specifically describe a people who were already suffering from colonialism and genocide actively watching chunks of their identity being sold off for cheap parts while being forced to cut their hair and change their names and stop speaking their language. Cultural appropriation is an explanation about how an extremely soft form of misuse of cultural artifacts can still damage the culture of a living people as its tools and images are taken for profit and entertainment.
You know who benefits from selling "voodoo" yarn keychains at the grocery store? Not ATR practitioners. You know who benefits from selling dismembered Buddha heads at the local shopping mall? Not Buddhists. You know who benefits from selling that "Indian Bow and Arrow" toy set at the dollar store? Not Native people. You know who benefitted from selling Bindis at Claire's in the early 2000s? Gwen Stefani. No one else. Just her.
When members of a specific culture walk up to you and say, "hey, treating a Wendigo like a new pop culture media creature in your monster of the week content form is really harmful, because despite being evil, its place in our spiritual hierarchy is still part of our religious beliefs, and having inaccurate stories outside of our purview is actually blowing right through several important parts of our oral tradition," why would your response be "no, because it's MY right to alter YOUR story however i want, because gatekeeping is racist." ????? It has no relevance to you. You aren't depending on this. Why do you even care??
