Leave the Ray Rice jerseys, racial costumes at home this weekend

It’s 2014. Somewhere a misguided someone is heralding the end of racism and the beginnings of a post-racial society in which no one sees color. And somewhere else, an equally misguided someone on Instagram is posting a photo of a young white child clad in a Ray Rice jersey, face smeared with brown makeup, a baby doll dragged behind him by the curls of her hair. It’s 2014 and apparently blackface and domestic violence are appropriate subjects to mock via a child’s Halloween costume.

Halloween began nearly two millennia ago to ward off roaming ghosts, but given the way some people choose to dress or choose to force their children to dress for All Hallows’ Eve today, you might think they hope to ward off an inclusive society built on mutual respect. Modern Halloween in its purest form is a time for door-to-door trick-or-treating, costume parties and jack-o’-lantern carving.

It’s not a time for cultural appropriation or the adoption of aspects of one culture by a different cultural group. It’s not a time for dressing in a way that physicalizes words and thoughts most people would only say behind the anonymity of “Wash U Confessions.” It’s a time for candy treats, not offensive costume tricks.

Given the recent establishment of Washington University’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, it might be tempting to think the days of fraternity brothers—or anyone, for that matter—decking themselves in military uniforms with Nerf guns pointed at a man dressed in a turban are long gone. But just as we aren’t in a post-racial society, we are not in a post-racist-Halloween-costume society.

Inevitably, at some point during this Halloweekend, someone on this campus will wear a costume that makes another someone uncomfortable because said costume targets and/or objectifies his or her race, sex, gender, socioeconomic level, family background or one of countless other identities.

Now, you may be reading this and wondering, “With all these identities in play, how do I know whatever I wear won’t offend anyone? Do I have to dress as a sheet ghost?” The simple answer to that is no, you don’t have channel your inner Charlie Brown and cut eye holes into your twin XL bedspread. There are plenty of fun, funny and creepy ways to dress up for Halloween without offending someone. Simply select a costume not based in a cultural identity.

This isn’t to say you can’t dress as Harry Potter if you aren’t a young white man. Rather, it’s to say you if you choose to dress as Harry Potter, you should not physically change your appearance with too much more than a lightning-bolt-shaped faux scar. It’s also to say you shouldn’t garb yourself as solely a cultural identity—that means no going to [insert frat party name here] as a Japanese person if you are not in fact a Japanese person.

The golden rule in these moments is to take a second and think. If you have to alter the color of your skin to get into character, you shouldn’t choose that get-up. If your costume comes in a bag labeled “Sexy [insert race/ethnicity/culture here],” you should have kept the receipt.

Most importantly, if you have to ask, “Is my Halloween costume racist/otherwise inappropriate for public consumption?” you probably just shouldn’t be wearing it.

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