The other day I realized... Halloween is racist!

[Shana OHara]

Dion Necurat

I agree with this post. People make things out to be too much.

[Shana OHara]

Valtiel the Watcher

also
Abercrombie and fitch
aeropostale


in fact.... just start looking through various clothing catalogs of popular clothing stores and tell me which ones have a good quantity of african american people in it.

What percentage of television shows depict a protagonist that is not caucasian?

Let's make a game out of where we can dig up racism.

I don't think it's racism I think it's education value. Black women are becoming seen more in a beautiful light. Why? Because they are education. Black men however, are taught other means of making money and they don't get educated.

[AYOO-ITS-SHORTY]

GOD DANM WHIT PEOPLLE >{

[Iggy The Balrog]

The companies who produce the items of clothing clearly have a set demographic in mind when outlining their package design. The onus lies with them to sort that out.

Only lamers use store bought costumes.

[How Far]

Geezus.

You guys should check out the warning labels on some products. I see it on every single ladder that I use and on some appliances.

The demonstration picture always shows the white figure using the equipment properly and the black figure always using it the wrong way---with a big red slash through it.

Go look at your ladders and call the ACLU

[Valtiel the Watcher]

Shana OHara

Valtiel the Watcher

also
Abercrombie and fitch
aeropostale


in fact.... just start looking through various clothing catalogs of popular clothing stores and tell me which ones have a good quantity of african american people in it.

What percentage of television shows depict a protagonist that is not caucasian?

Let's make a game out of where we can dig up racism.

I don't think it's racism I think it's education value. Black women are becoming seen more in a beautiful light. Why? Because they are education. Black men however, are taught other means of making money and they don't get educated.

exactly, I'm just saying that you can find racism in everything people do if you're looking really hard. It's like how you can find the number 23 or 666 in everything if you're looking for it.

[ORgasmic Pigeon]

AYOO-ITS-SHORTY

GOD DANM WHIT PEOPLLE >{

Excuse me; stop being so racist. if i said:
"God Damn Black People."
Everyone would be in uproar.

[Stemboing]

People who sell costumes prefer white models obviously. Take it up with them.

They are like maniqiuns. Non-memorable, blank slate people that are pretty and yet average.

[Vixianna]

Valtiel the Watcher

also
Abercrombie and fitch
aeropostale


in fact.... just start looking through various clothing catalogs of popular clothing stores and tell me which ones have a good quantity of african american people in it.

What percentage of television shows depict a protagonist that is not caucasian?

Let's make a game out of where we can dig up racism.

Wherein you assume lack of minority representation in the media ISN'T racist. Funny.

[Siphilis]

Nitroglycerific Rainbow

So if something is done for money, it isn't racist?

Right. If it were racist it'd be done because the person finds some race inherently inferior to another.

Nitroglycerific Rainbow

Does that make all the demure Indian Princesses acceptable mascots for food companies, cause it's for money?

Why are you confusing the words "unacceptable" and "racist"?

Nitroglycerific Rainbow

"Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril Among the Black Middle Class" by Mary Pattillo-McCoy. Published in 1999, so chances are African Americans' conditions have, on average, improved in the past 10 years.

Poor citation. Page please. Your English professors need a smacking.

Nitroglycerific Rainbow

She defines her class divisions by pointing out that a bit more than 1 in 4 African Americans are below the poverty line, which leaves almost 3/4s of African Americans in the oft-ignored above-poverty-line area. While simply being above the poverty line does not make you middle class by any means, there is still a massive number of African Americans in America that could, and likely do participate in Halloween. I ballparked around 2/3, but I may have been a bit off. Skimming for statistics online, I came across recent studies that showed 48% of blacks are householders [though that say nothing of apartment residency and the like], and that 86% of blacks aged 25-29 had graduated from high school as of 2006. These data suggest that while it might not be quite as large as I estimated, there is still a sizeable amount of African Americans who have enough means to be part of the Halloween corporate machine. So where is the black representation in the generic costumes? I doubt all African American middle class Halloween-goers want to dress up as pimps and hos.

Don't care about the Halloween thing, just checking your stats and definitions, which were exactly what I expected. Bunk. Moving on.

As for the topic my assumption is black folks obviously don't care enough about it to affect sales and since when do business folk fix things that ain't broke?

[Masochist With A Headache]

So then, it's not HALLOWEEN that's racist, but the company you work for.

Also, the majority of people in the US are white.
Sure that may be changing, but whitey's still the majority here and I doubt it would be economical for the company to produce special variations for every skin color and to have each store sell all the different variations.

[Naiax Sidorenka]

Track, I think you're reading into this way too much

[xblaklitex]

Naiax Sidorenko

Track, I think you're reading into this way too much

Agreed. This discussion is crazy. Halloween isn't raceist. I just saw a black kid in a Bumblebee costume. In fact, because of people pointing all of this out, most people in the Halloween commercials I've seen are black. And this discussion has even gone to how some races "own" words, come on!! Races don't own words!! I'm not offended by the word n****r. The only way it offends me is if its meant to be offensive. Did you guys know that the word n****r means "uneducated"? So its not even a bad word! So why do people try to avoid it or assert their right to use it?
Another thing. If someone is a raceist, thats their loss. They're missing out on a lot of things. and you guys want to know something really weard? My best friend's dad is raseist against blacks, but he likes me! If anyone would care to explain that to me, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Valtiel the Watcher]

Vixianna

Valtiel the Watcher

also
Abercrombie and fitch
aeropostale


in fact.... just start looking through various clothing catalogs of popular clothing stores and tell me which ones have a good quantity of african american people in it.

What percentage of television shows depict a protagonist that is not caucasian?

Let's make a game out of where we can dig up racism.

Wherein you assume lack of minority representation in the media ISN'T racist. Funny.

Well no it isn't. That's a misconception of the term racism, which is to say that anything that shows a possible preference for one race over another is racist. It's not equal for sure, but it's not racist. I mean I can't speak for writers or casting directors. I mean for all we know they could be burning a cross in someone's yard as we speak, and their choice to put a higher percentage of caucasian actors on television is directly linked to their belief that the white man is superior to all other races, but I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume that a good percentage of these people aren't racist.

as far as the topic, if a costume company was selling a black face kit, or a set of oriental glasses that make your eyes squinty and give you fake buck-teeth then yes that'd be racist. are many costume companies promoting racial stereotypes, possibly.... does this mean that the holiday itself is doing any of those things..... no it doesn't. it's not run by these people.

[Vixianna]

Valtiel the Watcher

Well no it isn't. That's a misconception of the term racism, which is to say that anything that shows a possible preference for one race over another is racist. It's not equal for sure, but it's not racist. I mean I can't speak for writers or casting directors. I mean for all we know they could be burning a cross in someone's yard as we speak, and their choice to put a higher percentage of caucasian actors on television is directly linked to their belief that the white man is superior to all other races, but I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume that a good percentage of these people aren't racist.

as far as the topic, if a costume company was selling a black face kit, or a set of oriental glasses that make your eyes squinty and give you fake buck-teeth then yes that'd be racist. are many costume companies promoting racial stereotypes, possibly.... does this mean that the holiday itself is doing any of those things..... no it doesn't. it's not run by these people.

I wasn't talking about the holiday, only the representation of minorities in media. Throwing in tokens, while making the rest of everyone else white with fully fleshed out characters IS racist. While most people seem to stick to the most basic, simple, and narrow definition of the word, (dealing with hatred) insisting that someone has to be consciously thinking someone is inferior or consciously creating and perpetuating stereotypes or tokenism to be racist, I disagree. You can be DO racist(prejudicial) actions without being racist yourself. Understand, the representation of minorities by mass media has an effect on how America views them. Not only by the majority, but by how the minority group views itself, and feels about it's place within the majority structure. As for claiming it's about money, exploiting and perpetuating stereotypes of minority groups to gain money by PLAYING OFF the racist notions of the group is pandering to a racist action, business decision or not. Just like older advertisements for many products contained sexism or racism in order to appeal to the majority, it is entirely possible for something to use racist or sexist or and other ist/phobic notions to sell a product. And while the product itself likely isn't racist(related to Halloween here), the practices used to disseminate it to the public are.(the models in question)

And yes there are plenty of offensive Halloween costumes, however, I'll leave their exploration to someone else.