Last halloween some friends and I decided to get dressed up and walk around the neighborhoods surrounding our college that are home to a plethora of students here at Muhlenberg. Walking around and seeing people dressed up was all in all fun, until from the corner of my eye I saw what looked to be a sombrero. For people who do not know, sombrero’s are a significant part of Mexican culture and a huge part of our identity. They are often worn in celebration or to important occasions, so imagine my surprise when I saw one out in my school’s neighborhood accompanied by a man wearing a sarape (traditional shawl like clothing item) all while holding maracas in each hand. It would have been funny to me had I not gotten a glimpse at the man dressed this way, surprise surprise he was a White man.
I bring this story to light to talk about identity as someone part of the Latine community on campus, which I would argue is very very small despite being the largest affinity group on campus. While at a PWI, oftentimes POC students must fight for their seats in class, in discussions, and so on, so when things like this happen it really does feel like a step back in the “progress” our schools continue to claim they are making. While the school is not responsible for one person’s actions, they are responsible for making sure all their students feel safe but things like dressing up as a person’s identity, blatantly calling their culture a “costume” does not make anyone feel safe. Halloween in college is a fun time to dress up and relive the fun experiences we got as kids, but not when you’re using it as an excuse to be racists. So I raise the question, is there truly a way to teach White students at a predominantly White school that they are not the only race to exist?
“Dressing up as a person’s identity, blatantly calling their culture a “costume” does not make anyone feel safe”
This is a great bit of writing that clearly encapsulates all that you have felt in that moment, but also something that feels like a social illness, a notion that a culture that builds vibrant and unique communities can be, and often are, completely ignored and disregarded, leading to instances like the one you experienced where a culture, a community, a people can be shrunk down so small that it is just a joke or funny costume that gets a laugh out of other people who also don’t understand what it means when the essence of who they are is diminished.
I think the title of this blog post says it all. There are many costumes that tends to stereotypes many cultures and traditions that many individuals do not notice at all. I know that there are individuals who does not necessarily know the importance about certain aspects of another culture but sometimes it can get out of hand. I sometimes think that if you are someone who does not a connection with a particular culture it would be best to not wear anything that is part of the culture.
This post kept me enticed from the title to the question at the end that keeps you wondering. In regards to your question, I think that white people know that other racists exist but view races other than their own as subordinate. This definitely needs to be changed. Halloween is meant to be fun not harmful, and people dressing up as stereotypical perceptions of other cultures need to think twice before putting their costumes on.
This post really caught my eye especially with the creative title! I really liked how you included a personal experience. I think this is a really big issue and I am glad you brought it up and I really liked the use of the question. I am not fully sure how to answer it, but yes this holiday should be about havin fun and it is definitely not ok to be racist. I think one way of teaching White students is to start by encouraging them to take classes like this one so that they can become more educated.