STARS (or Students Teaching Against Racism) is a student group at Ohio University which aims “to educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”
In light of the upcoming Halloween holiday, they began a campaign last week against racist Halloween costumes, featuring the above image on their tumblr page. The image caught like wildfire, and has since been posted and reposted across the internet.
According to Huffpost College, the group never dreamed the image would spread so quickly.
“We are so proud of all the support but it’s overwhelming,” said one member on the group’s tumblr page. “We have less than 10 members in our group! […] The purpose was to educate and create dialog and it did. We have a meeting with a lawyer on Monday so we can protect our posters and the posters will be all over Ohio University’s campus this week! Again, thanks for the support and have a happy Halloween!”
What do you think about this campaign? Are Halloween costumes which allow individuals to dress up as minorities all in fun, or are they inappropriate?