Now that Halloween has passed, it’s a good time to do a recap of some of the costumes. Some of which were extremely problematic. A good place to start this conversation is to talk about how not to have an offensive costume. The first thing to do is ask yourself a couple of questions: Will this costume offend anyone? Am I mocking any cultures? And lastly will I be using blackface for this costume?. If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may want to change costumes.
Let’s look at some of the popular costumes from this Halloween.
1. Migos
These ladies channeled their inner Migos as the Migas
2. Freddie Gray
Although this person is not dressed in blackface, this costume is clearly disrespectful. It is mocking the tragic death of a police brutality victim.
3. Dia De Los Muertos
This costume is offensive because this day in the Mexican culture should not be taken lightly. This is supposed to be a celebration of their loved ones who have passed away.
4. Cher
This year, Kim Kardashian picked out a number of different musical icons to dress up as. Here she can be seen as Cher.
Hopefully the non-problematic examples of Halloween costumes gave you some ideas for next year. If you cannot think of anything to dress up as, you could always just go buy some smarties and tape them to your pants. You’d be a smarty-pants.