How Do I know if my Halloween costume is racist? Some people will tell you that any costume about a “culture” is racist. Unfortunately, these same people are too often unable to effectively explain what makes a costume racist. This is my effort to try to explain. . When you put on a costume, you are dressing like someone or something OTHER than yourself. Unfortunately, U.S. History is rife with examples of the “other” being discriminated against and even persecuted. So when you put on a costume representing a Black, Latino, Indigenous, or Asian person, you may not intentionally mean to say “this is what a ______ person looks like,” but it is one of the meanings that can be taken from it, especially when it is done by a person whose ancestors believed the stereotypes represented by the costume. . I believe there is an exception to this rule. If you know enough about a culture to make a costume about someone specific, or if it does not fit one of the stereotypes of a culture, I do not believe the costume is racist. For example, if instead of dressing like a Mexican mariachi or gang member, you dress up like the guy in the Tapatio bottle, El Chapulin Colorado, or in some other way that is both positive and deviates from the stereotype, then it is not racist. In short, not every costume related to a culture is racist, it is when the costume shows ignorance about a culture, or helps reinforce stereotypes about a people, that it is racist.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:50:48 +0000
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