Racism and costumes pt. 2

My previous post was about a student organization that wanted to increase dialogue about racist Halloween costumes (CNN reported on their efforts soon after my post). This post will provide information about some racist Halloween costumes that you want to avoid.

I recently came across an about.com article by Nadra Kareem Nittle about racially offensive costumes that brought up some points that I never really gave much thought to in the past. It lists several examples of racially offensive Halloween costumes and explains why they are offensive.

The first was "ghetto person/black person." Nittle explains that "The problem with these ghetto fab costumes is that they invoke stereotypical images of African Americans as low-class, gauche, thuggish and sexually provocative, among others." She goes on to explain that this type of costume is both classist and racist. She mentions "ghetto fab" parties being thrown in the new millennium which I have to admit I am not very familiar with, but I can attest to the fact that I've had (Asian) friends who decided to sport a "gangster" look as their Halloween costume. Each year I might see a picture or two of a group of girls in my facebook newsfeed dressed in baggy pants with tilted baseball caps and bandannas on their heads which I never gave much thought to, but I realize now how they were displaying a representation of a very negative stereotype and by not having a problem with it I was feeding into that stereotype as well.

The next costume in the article is the "Redneck." She describes it as the "flipside of the ghetto fab costume" and explains that is also racist and classist. I would always see these type of attire in Halloween stores and party stores alike and I can vaguely remember owning a set of hillbilly teeth (similar to the vampire teeth that you can stick into your mouth) as a child. I thought nothing more of them than some funny looking teeth. What's wrong with funny? Well, Nittle explains that "Such costumes promote the stereotype that poor whites are ignorant and worthy of ridicule. They suggest that poor and working class whites are inherently inferior to their more affluent counterparts." This kind of classism would even allow more affluent whites to insensitively be representing members of their same race as an inferior group to themselves. This is particularly interesting to me because as an Asian American family, our racist stereotypes about whites are usually about them having an easy life and being rich. I would never give much thought to a less affluent group of whites who face a similar ridicule to racial minorities.

The next costume is also one that I never gave much thought to, but turns out to be one of the most appalling; the "Geisha Girl." Nittle also lists "the dragon lady," "china doll," and "lotus blossom," as additional offensive portrayals of Asian women and goes on to explain that they are racial and sexual stereotypes "thrust upon Asian women." She explains that "the geisha stereotype is one that paints Asian women as submissive, doll-like and existing only to sexually gratify others." I find this as one of the most appalling because this sexually driven stereotype is is often seen as a children's costume which just makes this even more wrong on a whole new level. Again, this is a costume that I had previously given little to no thought about in terms of being offensive in any way.

Nittle lists a few more costumes in her article including Muslim, American Indian, and Gypsy. She concludes by suggesting that people go as specific people or characters as opposed to a member of a race (her examples are Barack Obama and Bruce Lee) and adds that one should not change their physical features in historically offensive ways such as using blackface (for Obama) or taping your eyes so that they slant (for Lee). I would also like to add the suggestion of racially sensitive characters such as zombies. When the Apocalypse is upon us and the zombie virus spreads, it will know no race or favor any group. It will eventually consume us all so it is safe to assume that everyone will inevitably be a zombie.

So get creative and really think about your costume and about the costumes around you. If you put in that little bit of effort you might be able to enlighten yourself and those around you and help in spreading that knowledge that needs to get across to as many people as possible.

There are however other people who will be thinking that this is "not that big a deal" and "it's just one night in the year where people just want to have some fun," but the fact is that these costumes are based on offensive racial stereotypes and if you think these costumes should slide then on some level you probably think these stereotypes should slide too. Think about it.

Racism and costumes

Making a blog about racism around this time of year would mean that I am pretty much obligated to mention the issue of racist Halloween costumes (in addition to the sexist, classist, or even those costumes that manage to be an ambitious combination of offensive stereotypes).

A college senior from Ohio University has successfully launched a poster campaign to raise awareness about the offensiveness of some Halloween costumes-- she has done this as the president of a student organization from Ohio University called Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS). She posted some images of some of the posters (a couple are seen here) on her tumblr account and has become "tumblr famous." Her latest post of poster images posted only 3 days ago had 15,000 notes when I started writing this post and at this moment reached 16,000 notes and is still climbing.

(I have to confess that I actually bought and wore a similar poncho and sombrero to the one featured to the left as a Halloween costume while in high school)

She mentions that they intended to "educate and create dialogue" and also mentions that STARS will be posting the posters around their campus. They probably intended to create dialogue on campus, but they managed to attract attention all over. She even mentions in her tumblr that she is consulting a lawyer to protect their rights to the posters which are spreading across the internet and getting attention from places far from Ohio University. One of her latest posts is about her having just done an interview with CNN.

What this student organization is doing is very important and I think they have gone about it in a very clever way with their simple, attention-grabbing posters with a short and concise message. I encourage you to think about your potential Halloween costume and maybe even reconsider wearing it so that we may attempt to change this practice of annually wearing offensive costumes.

There will of course be those who will still go out to Halloween parties in insensitive costumes, but with outspoken opposition to such costumes and increased dialogue, perhaps we can spread knowledge in the same way this small student organization has spread their posters.

White Rappers on Black Entertainment Television

Lately, I haven't been able to get over the absolutely amazing awesomeness contained in this cypher. It's been a while since one of my favorite rappers of all time has rapped at the level that he is rapping at now. Eminem, has started rapping again over the past few years after battling a serious addiction (which like any other reformed addict he is still battling everyday). He's been missed by his fans and after his newest number one album Recovery, many would say that he is truly back.

The video also features another white rapper recently signed to Shady Records; Yelawolf. It's not that big of a deal that there are rappers in this world that are white, but what is amazing is that these rappers were featured on the 2011 BET Awards Show (in case you don't know, BET stands for "Black Entertinment Television) and they were even considered (by pretty much the internet) to have been part of the best cypher of the evening.

As I've been enjoying the verses on this video while simultaneously starting a blog about racism it occurred to me that Em faced a very rare case of black on white racism. The world of hip hop is predominantly black and-- as a white rapper-- Eminem has been constantly trying to prove himself as a top tier lyricist despite the color of his skin. I realized that his struggle is an example of how the racism = prejudice + power definition could work in a different situation. A situation where the tables are turned and a white man is actually the one who faces ridicule in a world dominated by blacks. Luckily for Yelawolf, Eminem has broken down a wall to allow him a chance to show the world of hip hop what he can do.

I struggled at first with finding a definition for racism, but this example showed me how this definition works and can be applied in different contexts.

If you're interested in the other cyphers

Racism and humor pt. 2

My previous post was about racist humor and it tried to support it, but I recently came across something that made me change my views. I feel like racist jokes could be divided in at least two categories: those jokes that sound ridiculous and offensive on purpose and those that come purely from a place of hate. The problem however, is that one could tell and enjoy the former out of hate as well.

What I came across in my research is a website literally dedicated to hateful jokes. They proudly display their slogan at the top of every page: "The face of Hate on the 'net!" I think I was unable to explore much of the site because it was recently hacked by the "hacktivist" group Anonymous who most recently organized protests against Bay Area Rapid Transit's shut down of cell phone service claiming that it was a violation of our freedom of speech.

The hateful website accepts joke submissions from other hateful people. It appears that only the "Niggers" section of jokes is available. Some of the jokes are indeed quite hateful, like "Why do niggers call white people "honkies"? Thats the last sound they hear before they get hit!" I don't see how jokes about harming or even killing members of a race are funny unless you are coming from a place of hatred. 


On the other hand, a joke on the site that I thought was funny was "Everyone should stop being racist... racism is a crime, and crime is for niggers!" First of all, the derogatory use of the slur "nigger" is definitely not okay and since it comes from this website it probably is used out of hate which is also not okay, but as one who enjoys irony I feel like the rest of the joke can be appreciated. It pokes fun at the idea of someone who says they are against racism, but still blurts out extremely racist statements. As mentioned in my previous post, my professor said that laughing at racist jokes means that I am condoning racism, but I still feel like I can appreciate a joke without being racist. 

Racism and humor

I'm currently in a Asian American studies class about Asian Americans in mass media. We recently watched a short film by David Knupp entitled Hey, Have you Heard the One About? (Sorry, I was not able to track it down and provide a link). It was a silent experimental film featuring offensive jokes based on Asian stereotypes shown in white text against a black screen, followed by an image of Knupp from behind. In the end Knupp is finally turned around and seen crying. As explained to us by our professor, David Knupp is himself part Asian, but appears to be white so offensive jokes of this nature would often be told around him or even to him because the person telling the joke would not realize that Knupp was in fact Asian.

The silence of the film allows for a sort of tension in the room because if one were to laugh at a joke then everyone in the silent room would easily detect it. One of the jokes that I believe was finally laughed at in class-- after several jokes that passed by in silence-- include one that goes "how do you know your house was robbed by a [racial slur for an Asian (chink, gook, Jap, etc.)]? If your dog is gone and your homework is complete." One of the jokes I can remember was insulting physical characteristics of Asians by saying that you could blindfold a [another racial slur for an Asian] by using a piece of dental floss. I unfortunately can't remember most of the jokes, but they ranged from very hateful jokes about killing Asians to jokes about Asians being smart.

Some of the jokes had our class laughing (or at least smiling) at some of the ridiculous jokes on the screen. We explained in class discussion how at first we were trying not to laugh because of what those around us might think, but eventually once one person laughed it became sort of okay to laugh at the less offensive jokes. Our instructor concluded by stating that if you do laugh at these jokes, you are saying that "racism is okay." This conclusion astounded me because I often find myself laughing at ridiculously racist jokes. Although I'm against racism I'm also in love with comedy (including stand-up, sitcoms, cartoons, sketch comedy, improv, movies etc.) which is often fueled by blatantly racist jokes.

Maybe this is because of a bias towards supporting comedy, but I feel like when I laugh at these kinds of jokes I know that these are outrageous statements and the ridiculousness of them becomes what is humorous-- not the acceptance of the joke as the truth.

What do you think? Is racist humor absolutely wrong and should it be avoided because it perpetuates racism? Or is it possible to laugh at racist jokes without being racist?

About the author

I'm an undergraduate at San Francisco State University majoring in psychology. I've grown up around the San Francisco Bay Area which is a pretty diverse area to grow up in as far as race goes. I'm a Filipino-American,  born in the U.S. to first generation Filipino immigrants, who grew up among many other Filipino-Americans.

I haven't really experienced any major racial prejudice that one might experience in other parts of the U.S., but I do believe that racial prejudice is an issue that is not talked about as much as it should be (at least among my social groups of fellow college students). The most experience that I have with issues of prejudice comes from various classes that I have taken over my years as a college student-- classes about critically thinking, Asian American Studies courses, cross cultural psychology courses, and even a survey and history of Jazz course.

I realize that I am no expert on issues related to racism, racial prejudice, racial stereotypes, etc., but just as I was in my classes, I am willing to learn and try and add to the much needed conversation about these issues.

What is 'racism'?

So I wanted to write a blog about racism, but I immediately ran into a problem: I could not find a simple working definition for the topic. dictionary.reference.com defines racism as "a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races  determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others." the next two definitions mention "discrimination," "hatred" and "intolerance." This definition is important, but it is rather extreme and is not necessarily what I want to talk about in my blog.

Merriam-webster.com defines racism as "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." The next definition mentions "prejudice" and "discrimination." This is somewhat similar to the previous definition, but it's still not what I'm looking for. These two definitions talk about thinking ones race is superior to others, but it doesn't necessarily include the kinds of racial stereotypes that people might have about Asians being superior at math or being obedient students, or African Americans being superior at dancing or at sports. These types of stereotypes don't appear to consider the stereotyped race as "inferior," but I would argue that they are indeed racist (or perhaps some other term that I am not aware of).

There is also a definition for racism that I was recently introduced to in a Asian American studies class lecture which is that racism is equal to prejudice plus power. In other words, you can't be racist if you don't have both prejudicial thoughts and institutional power. So in the US, any persons of color can't be racist by this definition (if you agree that whites have the institutional power in this country).


Prejudice + Power = Racism. It's simple and it seems to make sense, but I still feel like it's a lacking definition if it's not going to allow me as a person of color or any other persons of color to be considered racist.


Then I ran into the term racialism. This term was completely unheard of to me before I started researching. merriam-webster.com defined it as "a theory that race determines human traits and capacities." This definition is along the lines of what I feel I want this blog to be about, but I would also like to include one little addition. So that it would be "a theory that race influences or determines human traits and capacities." This is simply because not everyone feels that race determines traits, but I'm willing to bet that there are many who sometimes (consciously or unconsciously) think that race might influence one's behavior or ability.


Perhaps the term I am looking for is 'racial prejudice.' Prejudice being defined in the second definition by dictionary.reference.com as "any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable." This might match what I am hoping to talk about in my blog and would indeed include both positive and negative stereotypes.


If you have any information that you could share--maybe on more commonly accepted definitions of racism or racialism--or maybe you know the term that I might be looking for please feel free to respond below and educate me.