What are you doing about Halloween this year?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Over the last year, we’ve had some lively discussions on Anti-Racist Parent about the problematic racial elements of Halloween.
Jason Sperber urged parents to use Halloween as an opportunity to discuss stereotypes with their children:
What, then, are the messages and meanings embedded in these costumes, and do our children really want to broadcast or endorse these messages through their costume choices? Halloween can become an opportunity to engage our children in critical analysis and questioning of where stereotypical images come from and what they mean.
Karen Walrond shared a painful childhood memory and explained why she would never dress up her daughter in any type of national costume for Halloween:
For me, it’s not about offending anyone as much as it is about subjecting Alex to having to defend stereotypes associated with the costumes themselves. I want her to grow up view the cultures of her Trinidadian mother, English father, Mexican-American birthmother and Colombian birthfather with nothing but pride – therefore, it’s not a subject to be trotted out on Halloween, a day which, let’s face it, is all about parody and disguise. Further, in my opinion it would be far worse for Alex to dress as a member of any other race – one to which she had no real connection. After all, how could doing so be viewed as anything but a complete lack of understanding of that culture, or, at worst, a mockery?
Meera Bowman Johnson discussed how conflicted she felt when her daughter wanted to be a Disney princess for Halloween:
No one could convince me that plunking $19.99 on the counter for that costume would be anything more than a deposit on my daughter’s future therapy sessions. I couldn’t stomach the thought of letting my beige-skinned daughter dress up as the archetypical porcelain-skinned princess for Halloween. At the same time, I wasn’t ready to tell J-Jo why she couldn’t make her own decision about what to be for Halloween. So I stood there for a few minutes, staring at the wall of flammable frocks. And then I caved.
Check out more discussions of Halloween’s racism, sexism, and racism and sexism here.
It’s clear that Halloween can be a racial minefield for anti-racist parents to navigate through. But at the same time, parents don’t want to deprive their children of having fun on this holiday.
So ARPs, what decisions have you made this year? What costumes will your children be wearing? What conversations have you had with them about Halloween?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Maegan la Mala wrote:
It’s a struggle because growing up Iloooved Halloween, the trick or treating, the dressing up, the candies, the party. But thankfully my parents were smart enough not to dress me as a stereotype . I was never a princess, in fact one year I was he-man!
With my 10 year old, she knows better than to be an “Indian Princess” or a “China Doll”. We’ve always talked openly and honestly about cultural appropriation and stereotypes. In fact when she sees one of these costumes she tells me, “Don’t look mom cuz you’re gonna get pissed”.
Mind you seh’s been a Disney Princess- once- thanks to my mon who at the time funded everything on my daughter’s back since I was so effing poor, so I couldn’t do too much.
This year my eldest is a cat- total cost= $4.00. The 9 month old is a completo chileno (a chilean hot dog).
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 10:24 am ¶
bdsista wrote:
I too was lucky that I had parents who understood sexism very early (60’s) and yes Disney characters were out then too. But I was Mary Poppins the year the movie came out and Batman the next. My Mom never blinked, she bought the costume and out Iwent. Also we always did trick or treat for Unicef.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 10:44 am ¶
egypt4 wrote:
We attended an American-style Halloween carnival last Friday night here in Egypt, and my kids will have Halloween at school tomorrow (Thursday, the last day of the school week, so that they don’t have to deal with the candy!). Anyway, my 5 year old is recently from Ethiopia, so Halloween is new to him, and my other son is young, so we decided on costumes for them: trains. My husband made fantastic train costumes out of cardboard and paint (pictures on my blog soon).
The Thomas trains have light gray faces. We made them more of a medium gray.
In any case, they were great costumes, and the kids loved them. And while I don’t love the all encompassing whiteness of the Thomas the Train series, it’s pretty easily avoided when you can’t watch the actual show.
So we had a great Halloween which avoided any complicated issues. I hope we can keep it up even as they get older and want to be white superheroes.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 10:48 am ¶
Liz Dwyer wrote:
I just came back from the costume parade at my kid’s school where the ethnic makeup is roughly 97% Latino, 2% Asian 1% “other. It was an endless stream of characters that are all white. And my kids are right in there with them. One of my sons is Jack Sparrow this year and the other is Spiderman. They look really cute in their outfits, but I was telling my husband how it bothers me that other than Green Lantern and Storm, there are no black superheroes. And in the movies, there are no “cool” black characters. There’s no black Jack Sparrow around.
It becomes a tug of war where I’m suggesting to my sons, “How about you be the stove and you be the refrigerator?” and they’re looking at me like I’m crazy. I know I have to provide them with better options.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 11:18 am ¶
Patricia wrote:
I avoided this minefield this year with my son wanting to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle - aside from the dissonance of the ancient ninja tradition being used on a mutant turtle in New York city- at least the colour is green not white for my Haitian superboy! I hope to keep him to home-made costumes for the most part and imaginative/imaginary ones if possible.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 11:44 am ¶
Natasha wrote:
This is the first year we haven’t stuck to (homemade) animal constumes. The kids have been a mouse, cat, dog, lizard, rabbit, rhino, pig, lion, and duck. This year they made their own gender-stereotyped choices. My eldest daughter is a princess (in a hand-me-down wedding party dress, pink sparkly shoes, and a homemade crown), my son is a (generic) football player–he drew some tigers and chose number 67 (is that a real football player?), my 3-year old is a baby (it’s all about the pacifier), and I think the toddler will go as a dragon in the handed-down lizard costume.
For months, the ‘princess’ said she was going to be a telephone (next year, she says now). The conversation about what to dress up as *next* Halloween will invariably start at the breakfast table tomorrow morning.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 12:20 pm ¶
Mayhem wrote:
My boys desperately wanted to be football players this year.
I am a little nervous about the “Black hero athlete” aspect of their costumes. I’m sure they’ll get that message quite enough as they get older.
But, I consented. Partly because I’m cheap, and football player costumes are easy. (Sweatpants, jersey, and black stripes of mascara under their eyes.) And also because they both so very much wanted to be football players together.
In real life, one of my sons says he wants to play football, and the other wants to be in a marching band.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 2:45 pm ¶
Phillipe Copeland wrote:
I’ve never thought about Halloween this way before. I do not have kids yet, but this has my mind going. I’ve included this blog as a link on my own by recommendation from one of my readers. You are raising some cool issues.
Keep it up.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 7:48 pm ¶
Ryan wrote:
I don’t know… my 5 y.o. is white and chose to be Belle (Disney Princess) this year and we picked Jack Sparrow for my (white) 2 y.o. and Yoda (for my Korean) 1 year old. Our choices (and my daughters) had nothing to do with skin color… in fact I didn’t give it any thought at all. I don’t know if that’s good or bad though.
Perhaps when my children are older I may feel differently, but I don’t think I would have a problem if Arie (my Korean son) chose to be a “white” character like Prince Charming or Superman, just as I wouldn’t have a problem if my (white) daughter chose to be Princess Jasmine or Mulan; or if my (white) son chose to be Mr.T, or Bruce Lee.
I agree that it’s sad that there aren’t more asian/hispanic/black “hero” type characters, but at the same time I want my children to enjoy themselves. I really don’t think my kids will grow up with anger toward me because of the Halloween costumes THEY chose to wear. Trust me… I’m sure they will find plenty of other reasons to be angry with me
Ryan
Posted 01 Nov 2007 at 12:25 pm ¶
Scrapsbynobody wrote:
Our seven went in costumes of their own choosing and making. Eldest daughter and hubby went as Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and Mr. Rogers. Fourteen year old son was a baby cowboy, with hat, cowboy bib, and bottle. Next daughter(13) was a pirate. Next daughter(12) was a bat. Next son(11) was a chef. Next daughter (10) was a sleepyhead, in PJ’s, slippers, and nightcap. We only had difficulty with the youngest, trying to explain why Snow White was the one Disney princess she just couldn’t pull off. But she decided PJ’s would be “way more comfortable”, so no problems after all.
Posted 01 Nov 2007 at 6:34 pm ¶
Gillian wrote:
I’m British, and Halloween for me is about ghosts, ghouls, witches, monsters, zombies, mummies, vampires and anything else that is scary or reminiscent of the Celtic origins when the dead crossed the bridge to teh world of the living. Although we now live in North America, I have explained the origins to my daughter and have got her to agree that we can dress up as princesses anytime, but Halloween is special and not for princesses. She’s 6, so we’ll see how long it takes before I have to renegotiate.
Posted 01 Nov 2007 at 9:39 pm ¶
L&N's Mom wrote:
I read this article last week and went home to discuss it with my husband. I thought maybe I was missing something, and he gives me a different viewpoint seeing as we are from different racial backgrounds.
Well, we are in agreement. Why should children have to avoid characters because of race? Shouldn’t we as parents teach them they can be anything they want to be? Shouldn’t we encourage their imaginations?
My oldest daughter has been a princess now for 5 years. I tried adding wings and convincing her she was a fairy, but to her, she was a “fairy princess”. This year she was “just a princess”. So, I decided to investigate “Princesses”. Alive today are 35 real life princesses: Bulgaria, Denmark, England (4), Japan (5), Lesotho (2), Luxembourg, Monaco (2), Morocco (5), Nepal (3), Norway (5), Spain, Sweden (2), Thailand and Tonga. I need to go buy a map.
We are now learning about the countries they are from.
We recently got a book “Princess and the pea” by Rachel Isadora. It re-tells the story in Africa, and the artwork is beautiful. L wants to be THAT princess next year. But she is not black. Should I tell her she can’t because she’s white? Or that she should save that idea for her biracial sister? Or should we learn about the costume choices of real life princesses?
Maybe I’m way off base. But if imitation is actually done without meaning harm - isn’t it still flattery?
Yes, Disney has issues - but if you want a real-life Cinderella story for your girls, google Sarah Culberson.
To be honest, I felt a bit put off that someone would be negative about a princess with Ivory white skin - after all, I have ivory white skin. Isn’t that a color too?
Thanks for hearing my opinion.
Posted 05 Nov 2007 at 12:01 pm ¶
Ka_Jun wrote:
I’ve grown to hate Halloween, a consumerist “holiday” that seems to encourage bad behavior and is now being marketed to adults, as opposed to kids. From my perspective, it seems to have a lot of problematic issues, including the fact that of late people seem to be using it to engage in blackface, yellowface, and brownface. Halloween sucks.
Posted 08 Nov 2007 at 3:41 pm ¶
Heather wrote:
I’m with L&N’s mom…In all honesty, these are just kids, and unless we as adults tell them what is or isn’t “wrong” with a costume, they think nothing of it - they’re just wanting to have a good time, and to them, it’s still just a costume. I think we need to let our children be children for a while and not put undue pressure on them while they’re still too young to understand it. Just because you look at a costume and think it to be offensive doesn’t mean everyone else is -and in fact, I highly doubt anyone will be looking at them in that way. I think at some point it seems that some people are just looking for racial stereotype in anything and everything, and I think Halloween is an example of that.
Posted 09 Nov 2007 at 7:41 am ¶