#Is my costume racist checklist plus#
#Is my costume racist checklist series#

Monsters and ghosts were still on the Halloween costume. Pottery Barn stopped selling their Asian-themed costumes. Then, the midcentury finally saw the commercialization of Halloween costumes, as more affordable box costumes went into mass production. Don’t wear something that will make someone around you uncomfortable, and don’t forget that these days, your pictures easily spread around the Internet. I think the only way to pick a costume is common sense. So is the costume offensive to chefs? Is wearing a plumber costume with the rear-end hanging out offensive to plumbers? Should the president and his supporters take issue with the cartoonish rubber Obama masks you can buy at Party City? Should Miley Cyrus be offended if we wear her VMA outfit and link arms with a Robin Thicke look-alike? I can’t even begin to address the question of whether or not women should be offended by most mass-marketed female costumes.Īfter UC Boulder posted a list of costumes students should avoid (including “ghetto” or “hillbilly” styles), a Denver Post columnist concluded that the only safe costume might be the devil. Sushi chefs, however, aren’t necessarily Japanese. Are Disney characters an exception? (Full disclosure: I was Madeline that year, but I’m not French.) I remember having two trick-or-treating buddies in kindergarten or first grade who dressed up as Mulan and Jasmine from Aladdin, and both girls were Caucasian. So that includes donning Native American feather hats, Mexican ponchos and Pottery Barn’s geisha look. One can say that racial or ethnic stereotypes are off the table. If a costume is racist, somebody has to point it. You don’t want to make a caricature out of someone’s heritage or identity, but where do we draw the line of what is acceptable? Sometimes there’s no beating about the bush, and you have declare the problem head-on. Don’t forget the Native American or Asian themed frat parties, either. (It is really, truly one of the 10 most popular Halloween costumes of 2017. Last year, the Duke Women’s Lacrosse team got in some trouble for the same thing when they dressed up as characters from The Little Rascals. If you somehow cant think of a good, inoffensive costume, we have a suggestion: Go as a giraffe. For example, this year, some kids dressed as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin-complete with black face. There are some costumes that are pretty well accepted as unacceptable.

#Is my costume racist checklist plus#

Stop putting us in the same category as wizards and clowns.This year’s standard conversation about which Halloween costumes are acceptable and which ones are not centered around two Pottery Barn costumes: sushi chef, with a fake knife and a Japanese flag, and a kimono. The list of celebrities, stores and college freshmen sporting racist costumes plus the inevitable backlash means these stories practically write themselves. “TL DR: Native peoples are a contemporary, LIVING group of people, not a costume.

#Is my costume racist checklist series#

In this article, she lists a series of posts where she breaks down the specifics on why “dressing up like an Indian” is not ok. Adrienne Keene’s entire blog on Native American representation.

“Would I be embarrassed or ashamed if someone from the group I’m portraying saw me wearing this?” Step Away From The “Indian” Costume Hampshire College’s Community Advocacy Center posted this helpful checklist a few years ago. “There is one day of the year, when many of our friends and loved ones believe they have permission to participate in cultural commodification, one day when the idea of respect gets suspended…That one day, is coming upon us.” Hampshire Halloween Anti-Racism Checklist My Family and Friends List MagicBands and Cards Annual.

The amazing Austin Channing Brown offers 5 tips for those who don’t want to offend with their costume choices. Costumes must be family-friendly and may not be obstructive, offensive, objectionable or violent. The fallout was swift for Kelly, who wondered on her show why dressing up in blackface for Halloween is racist: NBC said Friday it was canceling Megyn Kelly Today. “Our society equates Whiteness with normalcy, and therefore everyone outside of that category is foreign, weird, or joke-worthy-perfect for a costume.” Happy Halloween For All Kat Lazo shares 4 questions to ask yourself before you get all dressed up for that Halloween party. Want to make sure you’re not being a racist jerk while dressing up for your virtual/Zoom costume party this year? Click on the links below to avoid the pitfalls. (Common offenders include pop stars, fashion designers, and fraternity parties.) But every year on Halloween, cultural appropriation gets totally out of hand.

Cultural appropriation can happen anytime, anywhere.