We need to stop making excuses for people who make bad choices. This past Halloween a lot people chose to don costumes that were either offensive or just in bad taste. While we all inherently know that their choice in costume was a very insensitive one, for some reason we still line up to come to their defense. We can’t just give people a pass for their insensitive behavior because “other than that, they’re a good person.” You can say that about literally anyone you’ve ever met. “Oh, yeah, he killed 10 people, but other than that, he’s a good person.”

I don’t understand why our society is so quick to let acts of romanticized racism go if the person committing the act is “likable.” Julianne Hough is a grown woman and should be held responsible for her actions, bad choices and all. When she dressed as Crazy Eyes from “Orange is the New Black,” complete with heavy spray tan, she did it to get a reaction, and that’s exactly what she got. Saying that people shouldn’t be upset is minimizing a serious problem that this country has with racism that for some reason we choose not to address. I don’t see why she had to don blackface just to be a black character. She already had the orange jumpsuit, bantu twists and was doing the signature Crazy Eyes pose, so to say that no one would have known who she was without actually being black is ridiculous. If I dressed as Superman or Cinderella, would people not know what my costume was because I am a black male? To argue that blackface is necessary to portray black people not only belittles all black people, but it also belittles your own ability to play a convincing role. Isn’t that the goal of Halloween?

That being said, I’m all for people dressing up as whatever they want for Halloween. What needs to be understood is that you dress up to get people to react. You cannot get upset when people actually do what you sought out for them to do and to say that its okay for someone to wear something as hurtful as blackface only fosters the idea that racism isn’t a problem.

Be what you want, but be prepared for the consequences of your choices.

Dontonio Thomas

Senior

English major

Albany, Ga