Is Cultural Appropriation Just One More Way for Whites to Segregate People of Color?

     It’s that time of year again, time for scary movies, trick-or-treating, fun Halloween parties, and getting dressed up in costume. The time of year, however, that we’re all starting to dread for obvious reasons. Halloween used to be fun, I loved dressing my kids up every year, I created most of their costumes because, in all honesty, I was too poor to actually buy them one. Now they’re older, and I believe last year they decided that would be their last year to dress up and trick-or-treat, which sucks, but I get it. Too many adults ruined it for them last year by saying, “aren’t you a little old for this?” Why? Why can’t kids of all ages go trick-or-treating and get free candy? Now that the grown-ups have ruined trick-or-treating for the teens and pre-teens, who I would frankly rather have them out trick-or-treating than going to parties getting drunk, or high, now they want to ruin it for the little ones too. “No sweetie, you can’t go as Mulan because you’re white/black/Mexican basically you're not Chinese, and that would be considered racially insensitive, or worse… dun-dun-duuuuun, ‘cultural appropriation’. And we’re not little racists are we sweetie pie?”

     But what, exactly, is cultural appropriation? The Oxford Reference (online) defines cultural appropriation as: “A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another. It is in general used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance” (npag). The Oxford Living Dictionary online, defines it as: “The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society” (npag). One other way it has been defined to me as, but I have not been able to confirm this with any dictionary source, appropriating another’s culture in order to gain financially. That was in reference to a post on Facebook earlier this year, by a relative who thought it was “appropriate” to dox white owners of ethnic businesses. Perhaps this “cultural appropriation” war was started by the left in order to criticize the right and shame them into not making fun of minorities, but it has grown in just the last two years (thanks Trump) to becoming more widespread. I what I keep reading/hearing about what people of color are calling “cultural appropriation,” sounds/looks more like “culturally offensive”. Is this “cultural appropriation” issue really about people of color, could it be about white-guilt/shame, or is it actually another form of racism?

     In just the last two years, it has become more prevalent to hear stories around Halloween, about cultural appropriation and how to avoid it. Parul Sehgul nails it in her article “Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong?” She talks about Halloween, afros, bindis, and more, but this is what really hit home for me, “…Seen in this light, ‘appropriation’ seems less provocative than pitiably uninformed and stale. It seems possible that we might, someday, learn to keep our hands to ourselves where other people’s cultures are concerned. But then that might do another kind of harm. In an essay in the magazine Guernica, the Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie called for more, not less, imaginative engagement with her country: ‘The moment you say a male American writer can’t write about a female Pakistani, you are saying, ‘Don’t tell those stories. Worse, you’re saying: As an American male you can’t understand a Pakistani woman. She is enigmatic, inscrutable, unknowable. She’s other. Leave her and her nation to its Otherness. Write them out of your history’” (npag). When looked at it this way, what I see, is a complete white-washing. Whites must remain white, you can’t be other, because being other is bad. And those who are crying “cultural appropriation” are 98% white. The very few non-white town criers of “cultural appropriation” do NOT speak for the majority, they can’t. Being a non-white, I know this because I don’t believe in saying that what is happening is actually “cultural appropriation”. But I also KNOW that I cannot, and I will not, speak for the whole group of people who share my ethnicity.

     By the way, what is so wrong about being other? Why does being other bother people so much? Why are white people so concerned about “cultural appropriation”? There are some aspects of this whole “cultural appropriation” debate that I do agree with, like not mocking other cultures, that’s seriously messed up, but, when I see things like, “If you're caricaturing Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, that's fine, those are public figures. Those masks are always fair game…” and, “Do your homework. Put yourself in someone else's shoes figuratively, before you do so actually. And think about how someone else might feel if you were dressed up as the sexy or slutty version of them for Halloween” (Dastagir, npag), it really makes me mad. Why is it okay to appropriate someone’s identity to mock them, but not their culture? Isn’t that more offensive than mocking a culture? Wouldn’t mocking one specific person be considered bullying? Why does the fame (or infamy in Trump’s case) make it ok to mock the celebrity? And what exactly does it mean when we say we’re “mocking someone’s culture by dressing up for Halloween in a character costume?”

     Children everywhere, want to dress up as their favorite character for Halloween, from Mario and Luigi, to Princess Moana. Now we have white people telling us it’s not ok to do that, we should say no to it because it’s “cultural appropriation.” Jane Ridley talks of mom, Sachi Ferris’ decision to have a cultural sensitivity conversation with her daughter who wanted to either Moana or Elsa for Halloween (both Disney princesses, one white, one Polynesian). Ferris had this to say after her daughter made a decision, “But she nixed the Moana costume for Mickey Mouse, because, as Ferris wrote, ‘we don’t have to worry about making fun of anyone or dressing up as a culture different from our own because Mickey Mouse is a pretend mouse’” (npag). This belies more of a racial aspect, and steering your child away from other races because they’re different, other, bad. But it ok to be something that isn’t real because that’s not bad.

     Well, if we’re going to use that logic, while the Polynesian culture is real, Moana is not, she is just a character in a cartoon. Elsa is from the Scandinavian folk tale of the Ice Queen, but she is still just a made-up character. So, since they are made-up characters, it should be ok to dress as them. But it not, because they’re of a specific culture and it might be offensive. Dressing up as Mickey Mouse is ok, because he’s just a made-up character and not associated with any one specific culture.

     Cool, now that we’ve cleared that up, why is it ok to dress as a witch? Aren’t you afraid of offending the Pagan religion/culture? How about dressing as a Nun/Priest, or a race car driver, police officer, construction person, teacher? Do none of these other cultures deserve respect as well? Aren’t we just mocking these cultures? What about dressing up as an animal, don’t animals have feelings? Why, is it that we can take into account a select few cultures and the fear of offending them, but not others? Why is it ok to mock celebrities or actual important people like Clinton, Obama, Bernie Sanders, teachers, clerics, professional drivers, etc. but it’s not ok to dress up as Moana, Tiana, or Elsa? Oh, and the other costume that people never seem to take issue with, the hillbilly redneck costumes? Don’t the people of the south ever get offended by that stereotype? Why do we find it so cool to mock all southerners as racist, red-necked, trailer trash? Just a little more fat to chew on there.

     Have we taken political correctness too far? Why does everyone feel the need to be “offended” or “triggered”? Maybe it’s my age, and the era I grew up in, but, I don’t see cultural appropriation when I see a child dress up as their favorite character. I see a child who is happy they are being allowed to be who they want to be, even if it’s just for one day. Is what we’re calling cultural appropriation really just a way of separating white from other? What if what we mean is culturally offensive, not appropriation?

     As a mother of a transgendered child, I know the importance of letting your child freely express who they are, without repercussions of negative feedback. So why is a child’s costume any different. Or, for that matter, an adult’s costume? I am all for being sensitive to other’s feelings, I hate to see bullying in nature of any kind, but what makes a Halloween costume considered cultural appropriation? Halloween is all about having fun, and being something different, free candy, and great parties. Why do we have to always be afraid of offending someone with our Disney Princess or other character’s costume?

     On the other side of the spectrum, I can see how there are some culturally offensive costumes. While I think dressing up as the Disney Arabian Princess Jasmine is ok, she was just a character in a movie after all, dressing in a hijab is wrong. That’s actually the definition of cultural appropriation right there, exploiting/mocking of a minority culture by a more dominant culture. People who are dressing in hijabs, as Native Americans in full headdress, in Black/brown face, or even as a hillbilly redneck, are usually doing so to mock the culture, and to that aspect, I can agree 100% that is what I would call “cultural appropriation” and truly offensive. I can concede that cultural appropriation is bad, when it’s really happening, but I don’t believe a character costume is mocking a culture. It’s not mocking anything.

     We tell our kids every day, “you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up,” but as children they can’t be a Princess from their favorite movie, or an Italian plumber from their favorite video game because it might be offensive. But you can dress up as a Zombie Kylie Jenner, or a fluffy headed Hillary Clinton, or even a fat Trump because “they’re famous and should expect to be mocked”. Or you can go as a cute animal because that won’t offend anyone.

     If we’re so offended by character costumes, why aren’t we offended by who created those characters? Perhaps we are, maybe that’s why I see more and more “white saviors” jumping in on this cultural appropriation talk. In fact, the articles I have found that argue dressing up as a Disney Princess of color is cultural appropriation have mostly been written by white men and women. The articles, or blog posts that are written by non-whites, are not actually talking about character costumes, but about that offensive native headdress, or other culturally mocking costumes such as Sexy Hula Girl, or Sexy Native girl, etc.. The ones that say, “Let your kid dress up as whoever they want,” are often written by people of color.

     I have also noticed that those talking about how every costume is cultural appropriation (and they really mean offensive), tend to be from the liberal left. I’m a liberal, I am a person of color, and I do believe in political correctness if it’s done right. What I can’t get on board with is a white person telling me what I should find offensive. I don’t find people dressing up as Sugar Skulls (Calaveras) offensive. Since my Hispanic culture doesn’t have a Disney Princess (sorry, I don’t count Elena of Avalor as one), I really don’t find a lot of the Mexican costumes offensive, but, that is just my opinion and I am only one of literally millions of Mexicans.

     Teen Vogue found six women of color for their video about costumes that they consider cultural appropriation, when in actuality they mean that they are culturally offensive. But the accompanying article was written by a white woman who interviewed the women of color. How much of what these women had to say was suggested to them as cultural appropriation? Are these women being used as tools to get other people of color on board with the war against cultural appropriation? Is this a segregation tactic that white people are forcing onto people of color so that we can be pissed at white people for being racists when they’re not? And are other truly culturally sensitive white people jumping on the band wagon to avoid looking like racists, when there is no racism or “cultural appropriation” going on with these character costumes?

     I have a friend on Facebook who wrote a blog post about cultural appropriation, I know she means well but, people of color don’t need to be told by white people when to be offended by someone’s Halloween costume. I think, and I am pretty sure this is right, that people of color know what we find offensive. Zawn Villines writes in her blog post, “On one side are people of color and their allies, pleading with white parents to please not dress their kids in black face, please not turn someone else's race or culture into a farce, and please listen to those of us trying to teach our kids to respect other cultures. On the other side are parents who insist that telling their kid not to dress like Moana, an Indian, or a black person will ruin their childhood” (npag). And while she is not wholly wrong, I would like to point out that being white does not lend authority to knowing what all people of color feel offended by. It also doesn't give you the right to dictate what people wear, or the right to judge them as being automatically racist, or culturally insensitive. Thanks for being an ally, but I really think you should let people of color be the judge of what they find offensive, not tell us what you're telling other white people what people of color are offended by, just because you heard one person say it was offensive to them.

     But again, one person does not speak for a whole group, which Zawn did point out in her own post. "Not all people of color are the same. Asking a single person of color to excuse your actions is inherently racist, because it treats all people of color as if they are the same. It relies on tokenism, and forces a single person of color to speak for an entire group" (npag). I would like to point out, that I agree with this statement, but I also see the irony in it as well. By telling someone they're "inherently racist" for asking a person of color this question of what they find to be cultural appropriation, aren't you, in fact, speaking for a whole group of people? Telling us WHAT we should see as racist? I understand that you're trying to be sensitive, and teach your child to be the same way, but what I see is yet another white person telling me how I should feel, and what should offend me because I am obviously to stupid to figure it out for myself.

     Yes, black face is wrong, culturally offensive, and morally objected to by all people of color. Letting your child dress as their favorite Disney Princess is not offensive, unless you let your child literally make it offensive. Princess Tiana, for example, your child can wear that costume so long as they don’t paint their body/face black to portray her. Letting your kid dress as Mario from Super Mario Bros isn’t offensive either, unless you let it be by affecting the fake, horrible Italian accent to demean and mock Italian people. It’s really in how you choose to let your child, or in how you choose to, portray the character you are going as.

     I guess, what I am trying to say is this, I am tired of white people telling me to be offended by things that are truly trivial, like a child’s Halloween costume. I know you mean well, but I find it truly offensive that you think people of color cannot decide for themselves what is truly offensive. While you all talk of cultural appropriation, and how to avoid it, you are telling people of color, “keep to yourselves, we don’t want to integrate with you. You’re different, you’re not like us, and we really don’t want to be like you. Being like you is bad.” That’s truly more offensive than you, or your child, wearing a Moana costume. I find that to be another form of discrimination, and truly offensive. To all the “white saviors” out there, are you really trying to protect our feelings, or your own culture/way of life?

Works Cited

Zawn Villines. "5 Excuses White Parents Give for Cultural Appropriation in Halloween Costumes-

     And Why They're Wrong ." Pregnantandfeminist.blogspot.com,

     pregnantandfeminist.blogspot.com/2017/10/5-excuses-white-parents-give-for.html. Accessed 25 

     Oct. 2017.

Oxford Dictionaries | English. "cultural appropriation | Definition of cultural appropriation in

     English by Oxford Dictionaries." Oxford Dictionaries | English,

     en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cultural_appropriation. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Margaret Drabble. "Cultural appropriation - Oxford Reference." Oxfordreference.com,

     oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199214921.001.0001/acref-

     9780199214921-e-1528. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Parul Sehgal. "Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong?." Nytimes.com, 4 Oct. 2015,

     nytimes.com/2015/10/04/magazine/is-cultural-appropriation-always-wrong.html.

     Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Alia E. Dastagir. "Is it OK for a white kid to dress up as Moana for Halloween? And other

     cultural appropriation questions." USA TODAY, 23 Oct. 2017,

     usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/23/halloween-cultural-appropriation-questions/780479001/. 

     Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Jessica Andrews. "Watch 6 Women Destroy Your Culturally Appropriative Halloween

     Costume." Teen Vogue, teenvogue.com/story/cultural-appropriation-halloween-costume-

     video. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.

Jane Ridley. "Moms are freaking out that 'Moana' costume is 'cultural appropriation'." New York

     Post, 16 Oct. 2017, nypost.com/2017/10/16/moms-worry-trick-or-treating-as-

     moana-is-cultural-appropriation/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.