Social media debates have focused on whether political correctness is spoiling the spirit of the holiday.<\/b>
\nNBC talk show host Megyn Kelly\u2019s comments about blackface on Halloween have reinvigorated a debate over costumes that cross racial lines and what\u2019s appropriate at a time when diverse movie and TV characters like \u201cBlack Panther\u201d have become hugely popular.
The issue has reverberated across social media, from magazine articles about whether \u201cBlack Panther\u201d is an OK costume for white children to protests against costumes that perpetuate Native American stereotypes. Social media debates have focused on whether political correctness is spoiling the spirit of the holiday.
The fallout was swift for Kelly, who questioned on her show why dressing up in blackface for Halloween is racist: NBC said Friday it was canceling \u201cMegyn Kelly Today.\u201d She found little support from her NBC colleagues, including Al Roker who called on her to apologize to people of color nationwide. He later was asked on Twitter if a woman\u2019s white son was OK to dress as his idol, \u201cBlack Panther.\u201d
\u201cSure he can. Just don\u2019t try to wear dark makeup on,\u201d Roker wrote.
Others chimed in on the thread, including Jeff Schwartz, whose white 7-year-old son also wants to don the Marvel character\u2019s vibranium suit.
\u201cWe should encourage our kids to have black heroes whether they\u2019re white or black kids. That\u2019s healthy,\u201d Schwartz told The Associated Press.
Some articles warn white parents away from such a choice, arguing that while Black Panther\u2019s fabled homeland \u201cWakanda\u201d isn\u2019t a real place, the character\u2019s race is essential to his identity.
Elise Barrow, a black mother of three in New York City, said she and her husband tried to persuade their 5-year-old son to be Black Panther, but he opted to be a dinosaur instead. Barrow said she was torn by the debate.
\u201cKids want to be what they want to be. I\u2019m not going to prevent them,\u201d Barrow said. \u201cIf my son wants to be Captain America, I\u2019m not going to say no.\u201d
A similar issue cropped up in recent years with the animated features \u201cMoana,\u201d set in ancient Polynesia, and Pixar\u2019s \u201cCoco,\u201d which centers on a Mexican boy named Miguel and his family. A few months before \u201cMoana\u2019s\u201d November 2016 release, Disney pulled a costume based on the character of Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson. The ensemble included a brown bodysuit with Polynesian tattoos and a faux-grass skirt. Some argued that it was off-putting to have a child wear the skin of another race.
Jim Quirk, a white father of three in St. Paul, Minnesota, said adults should stop projecting concerns about race and gender onto what is essentially \u201ca kids\u2019 holiday.\u201d
\u201cThey want to be princesses, doctors, Black Panther or whatever,\u201d Quirk said. \u201cThey do it because they want to be like them. It\u2019s adults who put meaning onto these things.\u201d
But he acknowledges there are some things that are over the line, such as blackface.
\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be disrespectful,\u201d Quirk said.
Calling out cultural appropriation is what drives Amanda Blackhorse, a longtime activist against the use of Native images for mascots and logos.
On Wednesday, Blackhorse and others demonstrated outside the Phoenix headquarters of Yandy.com, a lingerie company that has been selling \u201csexy\u201d Native costumes including one marketed as \u201cChief Wansum Tail.\u201d
Her group delivered an online petition with thousands of signatures calling on Yandy to stop using Native American culture for costumes.
\u201cThe people have always looked at or seen Native people through stereotypes \u2014 through headdresses, buckskin and fringe,\u201d Blackhorse said. \u201cThis company is perpetuating that. They think that\u2019s who we are. They don\u2019t see us as different tribes.\u201d
The group wants Yandy to discontinue the line, issue an apology and donate any proceeds from the costumes to agencies that help Native American women. A spokeswoman for Yandy did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Yandy\u2019s far from the only retailer offering such costumes. Amazon.com and other mainstream sites offer Halloween-wear based on Asian stereotypes such as a geisha or \u201cdragon lady.\u201d There are also Mexican-inspired outfits that include a poncho, sombrero and mustache and a \u201csexy senorita\u201d dress.
Kelly\u2019s comments, meanwhile, left many outraged.
\u201cBack when I was a kid that was OK as long as you were dressing up as like a character,\u201d Kelly said in discussion with an all-white panel.
Blackface dates back to the 1830s when white performers would put on dark makeup, wigs and exaggerated costumes, mocking slaves, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. They often depicted black people as lazy, ignorant or cowardly. Decades later, movie stars like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland wore blackface on screen.
In 2013, \u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d pro Julianne Hough showed up to a Halloween party as \u201cCrazy Eyes,\u201d a black character in Netflix\u2019s \u201cOrange Is the New Black.\u201d Her look included blackface makeup and bantu knots, a hairstyle traditionally worn by African women. The backlash was swift and Hough apologized on social media.<\/p>\n

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