May 3, 2024

ASK: The PSA from POCs this Halloween

I’ve never been Nicki Minaj for Halloween — but you wouldn’t know that given the comments I’ve received for dressing as Sexy Buzz Lightyear (pictured above), Sexy Marie Antoinette and Sexy Captain Hook. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be Nicki for Halloween. I just don’t have the body to pull off a pink string bikini and Jordans.

You see, when you’re brown and you put on a costume without a sign implicating what the hell you are, people automatically assume that you could only be one of a small number of people, like Nicki Minaj, the Obamas or a member of the First Family — i.e., the Knowles-Carters.

And I get it. It’s just easier to assume that people are dressing as a character of their own race, even when their costume is relatively neutral.

So this Halloween, if you’re not sure what someone is dressed as, ASK! No one is going to get upset if you ask them what they are rather than getting it wrong. You might just find that your friend “Oprah” is actually “Kris Jenner” or that “Crazy Eyes” is actually just “Miley Cyrus.”

All you have to do is ask.

About the author  ⁄ Akilah Hughes

No Comments

Leave a Comment