No-they are not "space buns", and it is more than just a game. Natural hair still isn't a trend.

In an exciting new update, Animal Crossing New Horizons has finally allowed black players to wear customizable natural black hair styles.

For months black fans of the game have advocated for this update.

Hair styles such as braids, afro puffs, afros and other forms of protective and natural hair worn by black people on a daily basis were not available by default, which caused some upset among black gamers understandably. It’s upsetting when we’re excluded and not seen as a default in the same way everyone else is.

Yet black people still enjoyed the game and many took to themselves to advocate and petition for natural hair styles--one name to note is Taniesha Bracken-Hucks. Bracken - Hucks has been petitioning for natural hair styles in ACNH for months now and like many black gamers, was happy to see that finally, black fans have the option of natural hair styles.

That said, not a week after the update came out and black fans were excitedly customizing their avatars to better fit their own appearances, did nonblack fans take it upon themselves to wear the hairstyles that black advocates and gamers had worked so hard to petition for and understandably--this has caused unrest.

On one side, to many people--someone sporting two afro buns now dubbed as ‘space buns’ shouldn’t be seen as a big deal. It’s just hair after all, on a platform that makes such hairstyles available to everyone. So why should things be restricted? More so, it’s just a game.

On another hand, black fans of not just ACNH but many other games have had to fight for years for our hair styles, features and skin tones to be recognized. Gaming communities in general have issues with racism, and such acts alienate black gamers. So to see ourselves finally being recognized, even in something so simple is uplifting yet, when the very communities who prior told us to ‘get over it’ when we discussed representation are taking things that are meant for us, it is upsetting.

Because at the end of the day it is more than hair--it is more than ‘space buns’ (which in actuality are called afro puffs).

When in real life, black people are bullied, suspended from school, discriminated against, and denied opportunities because of our natural hair--it is refreshing to come to a community where we can be free and happy with our natural styles.

Yet when people who are not affected by that antiblackness decide to take what was meant for us for themselves, when those people do not have to face the discrimination in real life, or in the gaming industry that we do--it is upsetting and more than anything, racist.

Racist because you are taking something that was meant for black people, something that black people are actually discriminated against both in real life and in the gaming industry and treating it as a trend.

Not just that, but separating the hair styles from their original context is a form of appropriation and erasure.

For instance, user stardewleaf calling natural hair ‘space buns’ rather than afro puffs, separates the hair style from its purpose and culture. Again, the purpose of these natural hair styles was to help black users feel represented. Stardewleaf, who is not black would not have the chance to wear these hairstyles if not for the efforts of black gamer activists.

Calling them space buns erases the hard work and effort of the black gamers who petitioned to get other black people represented. It also separates them from their target and intended audience--black people. Black people who have worn them as ‘afro puffs’ for years.

Of course, when black people pointed this out to stardewleaf and her supporters, they were met with antiblackness and hate. Some people comparing black people wanting our natural styles to be respected to 'segregation'.

(A side note -it's also important to mention, looking at the last reply that white women do not face the same type of hair discrimination as black women--even if white women having curly hair. And curly hair on nonblack people is completely different than curly texturized hair on black people).

It is more than a game, and it’s more hair; they are more than space buns. This is the hard work and fight for representation black gamers have gone through for years.

More so--it’s another, new emerging form of digital black face.

Digital black face , for those who are unclear is the use and the persona of a black personality via reaction images, memes, gifs, etc., that all include black people. Digital black face also includes the use of black lingo and or AAVE by nonblack people online (words such as, “chile - pronounced as child with out the ‘d’, not the country Chile, ‘deadass’ ‘clown’--as a way to describe someone being foolish, etc).

Digital black face remains an issue because it again appropriates black lingo, images and culture as a trend and internet persona, while actual black people are discriminated against in real life because of lingo. It turns black people into a virtual trend, while our very struggles both in real life and online are not taken seriously.

It gives nonblack people the chance to take our lingo and our faces in order to form a type of persona and personality that is sometimes seen as aggressive or humorous, which further goes to perpetrate this idea that black people can only be seen as aggressive, violent or comedic to nonblack people.

It is also of course, a form of cultural appropriation because we again, have the example of nonblack people taking nonblack culture and removing it from the source.

Just as the digital world itself is evolving, digital blackface is always evolving and user stawdewleaf is a perfect example of how digital black face and cultural appropriation grows. Taking the persona or culture of a black person, and then separating it from the source is indeed digital black face, and harmful to actual black people online and in real life.

That said, going back to the main point of hair styles--no one is going to force nonblack people not to wear natural hair styles. As we see the example with user stardewleaf and bloggers coming to their defense, various black people explained why wearing black hair styles was problematic and she didn’t listen. No one did.

The sad reality is that black people can explain in depth how things affect us and no one will listen, all we can do is keep educating those who do want to hear.

So before I end, let’s do a quick overview on why it’s harmful for nonblack people to wear natural hair styles, and how calling them ‘space buns’ is a form of erasure.

First and foremost, the gaming community is heavily antiblack as we can see now just looking through some of the comments on stardewleaf’s post. Black gamers in general feel unrepresented in games given it’s hard to find people who look like us. There aren’t that many black protagonists in mainstream games, moreso, a lot of customizable games neglect to have black characters. If they do have black characters, said characters don’t always have black features.

That said, in the case of ACNH, it is revolutionary for black users to finally be able to customize ourselves with hair that we wear in our day to day lives. In real life, natural hair discrimination is real, so it is a form of escapism to come to a place where we aren’t shamed for our natural hair.

Unfortunately, because of users like stardewleaf, that escapism is being threatened because the very people who discriminate us in real life are taking something that we worked so hard to get. And that again is the issue, black people worked so hard to feel represented in ACNH to the point of facing harassment, and now nonblack people are taking something that belongs to us.

Secondly, calling them ‘space buns’ when they are not is a form of erasure, appropriation and again straight up antiblackness. It is taking something that was specifically meant for black people, using it for yourself despite the fact that you have no connection to it and don’t face the same type of discrimination for that hair style black people face in real life, and changing the name so it is not connected to the people who fought so hard to get the hair style in the first place.

All of this said, it’s important to realize that again, no one is going to force you to wear or not wear a hair style. But if you are nonblack and consider sporting a hairstyle or anything that black people worked so hard to get, please ask yourself what benefit do you have from stealing a part of black culture, and if you are happy contributing to the antiblackness and white supremacy that already festers in the gaming community. Because it’s more than a game, it’s more than a hair style, they’re more than space buns, and wearing them or any other natural hair shows black gamers that in the end, you care more about supporting white supremacy within gaming communities over making spaces acceptable for black people.