The article critiques two cases of cultural appropriations and explores how educators can pedagogically counter practices that normalize cultural appropriations. By examining the visual representations of Cinco de Mayo and Sherpa communities, the article illustrates how cultural appropriation often takes place through marketplace and race-neutral ideologies. The article proposes how the use of decolonizing pedagogies can counter racial stereotypes and neo/colonial knowledge productions. By examining the stereotypes, it explores how marginalized communities, locally and globally, continue to be appropriated for mainstream white consumption within curriculums. Lastly, the article explores how appropriation and commodification harm, objectify and exploit people/ communities that have historically been marginalized.