Let me start by saying that I really love candy. Jelly beans, Kit Kats, Mr. Goodbars, Sour Patch Kids, Gummi Bears (Haribo only, please), Airheads, Spree, SweetTarts, Mike & Ikes, Laffy Taffy, you name it.
Also, celebrating creativity via the construction of elaborate, funny, intelligent costumes one day a year is something that I fully support.
And who doesn't need a good scare every now and then? Fear is extremely motivating.
But alas, Halloween isn't just the aforementioned awesome things. It also has a dark side.
Yes, some folks have turned Halloween into "I Get to Be Racist Today" Day (as opposed to those other 364 days where there is absolutely zero racism whatsoever).
From Gangstas & Hoes-themed frat parties (don't forget your shoe polish!) to the donkey-riding, sombrero-wearing Mexican, to the bomb-wearing Arab/Muslim/Middle-Easterner, there is no dearth of racially ignorant dress-up going on during Halloween. So this year, some college kids decided to express their discomfort with these types of costumes by launching a poster campaign. Of course, the combination of 'internet anonymity' and 'discourse about race' led to some really real racism in response to this group of students.
The defensive, near-sighted counter-arguments (even from many self-described progressive/liberal individuals) tend to go like this:
1) "So now we have to ban cowboy, sexy nurse, and clown costumes so we don't offend these people?"
-If I'm not mistaken, cowboys weren't brought to this country as slaves and denied basic human rights until the second half of the 20th century (African-Americans were), sexy nurses aren't automatically suspected of being illegal immigrants and threatened with electrocution upon crossing the U.S. border (Mexicans are), and clowns aren't assumed to be terrorists because of their unique brand of theism (Muslims are).
2) "It's a free country, I can dress up however I want."
-True, and because it is a free country, you can also be called out when you do something stupid.
3) "You're too sensitive."/"Get thicker skin."/"This is political correctness gone awry."/"You can't do anything without offending somebody."
-It's pretty patronizing when members of the majority outline how and when members of the minority should or should not be offended. Let's just defer to the people who actually experience racism, instead of dictating how they should perceive racial stereotypes. And why is it that "being too P.C." always comes across as "infringing on my right to be a bigot"? No one's saying you can't be a bigot, they're just saying that's what you are -- maybe you need to get thicker skin.
So this year for Halloween, I think I'm going to be "White Privilege". But I'll have to be careful when I'm walking around and crossing the street since I'll be invisible to most people...
Trick Or Treat!
