How To Not Culturally Appropriate On Halloween This Year

Sigh. This seems like an obvious point, but every year, no matter how often it is decried, someone (aka, a white person) without a doubt wears blackface for Halloween. (If not blackface, you are bound to find someone in yellowface or brownface.) People of color have explained so many times that dressing up as "black," or as another race for Halloween perpetuates white supremacy. This isn't just a fashion faux-pas, but downright racist. Learn from Julianne Hough's terrible decision, listen to POC, and just don't do this. Remember, when you are able to wash off your Halloween makeup and go right back to being privileged, people of color don't have that option. POC do not get to dress up as "white" and escape racial injustice.

When Heidi Klum dressed up as Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, creation, and destruction, she upset many Hindu leaders as well as religious followers who felt Klum disrespected their revered deity. Other cultures' traditions are not any less sacred simply because you don't personally ascribe to that belief system, or because you have a different heritage. (Looking at you, stock-photo-Coachella-white-girl in a Native American headdress!) Repurposing people of color's cultures for your Halloween costume isn't being creative — it's called "Columbusing." Check out the "We're a Culture, Not a Costume" project for more on commonly appropriated costumes.

Ask yourself these questions before dressing up: Is my costume representative of a community's pain and suffering? Does my costume belong to a culture that is not part of my heritage? If the answer is yes to one or both those questions, ditch the costume. The "sexy" Geisha costume is a particularly popular pick in this category. Japanese-American women have openly discussed their negative feelings toward this "costume," sharing that the "sexy Geisha" reinforces racist tropes about Asian women, and fetishizes their culture. But hopefully, this Halloween, people will choose to retire racist and historically inaccurate stereotypes.

Oftentimes, when people express disdain for cultural appropriation, it is because it goes beyond being "offensive," and causes an emotional trigger (no, not an internet troll's definition of "trigger"). Racism has been shown to cause post-traumatic stress disorder, and symptoms of PTSD are at times induced by outside stimuli — for example, a person of color with race-related PTSD may be triggered into a panic attack just seeing someone dressed up as Trayvon Martin for Halloween. America has a long history of white supremacy, and our modern day society is far from being racially just. So while POC are inarguably smack dab in the middle of their fight for civil rights, your culturally-appropriated costume makes light of not only those painful struggles, but POC's basic personhood.

Not challenging your white friends when they're being racist is a form of covert white supremacy, and makes you complicit in their cultural appropriation. Part of your job as an ally is to always call out other white people for racist behavior, despite your own discomfort. So go ahead. Make sure your friends aren't showing up to a Halloween party dressed like an indigenous person, and if they do, you sure as hell better let them know why it's wrong.

The more everyone continues speaking about cultural appropriation, the less appropriative Halloween costumes we will see. It's 2017: We have more than enough diverse comic book universes, movie characters, and IG Halloween makeup tutorials to not culturally appropriate our costumes.