Categories: OPINION

This Halloween, don’t throw out cultural respect

Halloween is a time to have fun and express creativity in costume. Costumes have endless possibilities, so don’t be a jerk and use a culture or race as the butt of the party shenanigans.

There are some costumes that are just not OK to be for Halloween, no matter how funny someone might think it is. The idea that a person’s culture can be costume for pure obnoxiousness is a blatant form of disrespect.

Perhaps the idea of being a particular character is more acceptable, rather than just posing a poor adaptation of an entire culture.

An example is “blackface,” a theme pretending that being a darker race counts as a costume, and has been seen at fraternity parties like in the movie, “Dear White People.”

Dressing as a Native American is another form of ignorance that is not OK. The way that their culture and way of life, which has come under fire with the festival culture using headdresses as mere party wear.

When there are too many examples to list, but it just takes a little forethought and a resistance to ignorance to not be offensive on the Halloween escapades.

There so many more costumes that can be worn that just require a little more creativity, try a play on words, or something that isn’t poking insensitive fun at a race or culture.

Party City, a national chain of hundreds of party supply stores becomes Halloween City in September/October each year, where they offer “Thousands of style, Millions of costumes,” according to their website. Premade ideas are bountiful leaving little room for insensitivity based on what’s available.

If you run out of ideas, don’t reach for the closed mind, instead make it up, reach into fiction or fantasy and try your take on a pegacorn or liger.

After all, you can’t wear it wrong if you make it up.