Op-ed: Appreciate don’t appropriate

By Salimah McCullough | Published by October 21st, 2019

Fall marks the beginning of sweater weather, football season and everyone’s favorite holiday, Halloween. 

This year, though, it might be a good idea to think twice before you put on that costume because too many people it’s important to choose a costume that isn’t a form of cultural appropriation. 

Cultural appropriation is defined as the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture.

 Cultural appropriation is known to be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from disadvantaged minority cultures. 

Time and time again, people are seen wearing costumes that take meaningful traditions and turn them into a costume. Turning a culture into a costume is cultural appropriation at its finest. Wearing a Native American headdress, or wearing a Hanfu (historical clothing pieces from Chinese culture), are forms of cultural appropriation. Wearing blackface, though, is the ultimate cultural appropriation because it is making fun of the skin a person is born with, their race. It is pure racism.  

 Blackface actually goes back centuries. It is when makeup is used by a non-black person to portray black people. Back in the early 20th century, while performing at a time when black people weren’t allowed to perform. Some made a lot of money at the expense of black people. One of America’s early film stars, Al Jolson, made a career out of wearing blackface while singing “Mammie”  

Such actions spread racist stereotypes about the black community that exists even to this day. It’s a new century, and yet still we are hearing stories about public figures who wore blackface and thought it was okay. Exactly when is it okay to spread negative, racist stereotypes? 

As an African-American, there is nothing worse than witnessing my culture being stolen and trademarked as something new and trendy, like Caucasians in cornrows. It’s especially maddening because aspects of my culture like cornrows and afros have traditionally been seen as ghetto or sloppy when it’s seen on African-Americans; but when a non-black person wears them, its seen as a cute, new style trend. 

But Seeing people who wear blackface think it’s okay to do just because to them it’s only a costume, is infuriating. Blackface brings to life the ugly stereotypes that African-Americans have to deal with on an everyday basis. It is not an amusing disguise. It is taking away someone’s humanity, stealing their actual identity. 

This year, your Halloween costume doesn’t have to be offensive or disrespectful. Instead of stealing another culture’s identity, why don’t you just go down to the nearest Party City and find a cute, appropriate goblin or ghost costume because nothing is scarier than a person who appropriates a culture just for the “fun” of it. 

 

 

 

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