To me, and only to me, especially in such a charged environment, it seems to come down to power.  Those who have it, and flex it, and those who do not, and are controlled by it.  Unfortunately some become entangled in a legitimate struggle, without intending to.  Not unlike trying to save someone from a rip tide, and becoming entrapped yourself.
Cultural appropriation is real.  Those who oppose it have good reason to.  But not all cultural appropriation is wrong, or immoral, or even necessarily offensive.  Let us hope that some day we can find a degree of equality that such realities can be considered without the risk of being labelled bigoted.  Much of humanities great art has been a result of ones imagination reaching beyond ones own personal experiences.