When you hear Halloween, you’re probably thinking of spooks, trick or treating, and some good old-fashioned cosplay. A lot of fun to be had.
But you gotta be mindful your costume doesn’t trigger anyone, especially on a racial, cultural, social, or other [insert word ending in -al] level.
And while some costume stores still sell costumes of questionable reputation, some employees were having none of it and decided to simply refuse to sell costumes they deemed inappropriate.
One such employee, @RiverRobby on Twitter, shared a list of costumes he and his colleagues decided to skip out on this Halloween season.
More Info: Twitter
Costumes are a key part of Halloween, but you still gotta be mindful of what costume to wear
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So, Twitter user @RiverRobby recently went to the internet to share a day in his life as a Spirit Halloween costume store employee. As Halloween is fast approaching, costume stores get a rise in patronage asking for all sorts of costumes for Halloween.
However, this year, his team decided to do away with costumes that raise more questions than they answer. Not just to save someone from becoming a victim, but also so as to not perpetuate racism.
This guy and his colleagues decided to filter some of the racist costumes in their store so that people couldn't buy them and made a list
Image credits: riverrobby
In response to this, they decided to simply refuse to sell certain costumes or their accessories, which included everything from afros and bamboo hats to taco costumes and Native American attire. In other words, anything that can be racially suggestive.
Whether it was something tied to Native Americans, African Americans, Mexicans, Jewish—doesn’t matter, it was excluded. And so, Robby compiled a neat little list with pictures on Twitter.
Everything related to Native and African Americans, Latinos, Jewish and other nationalities was out
Image credits: riverrobby
Soon afterwards, the post started gaining some attention, currently standing at a modest 5,800 likes with a tad bit over 1,000 retweets. When the post started going viral, he also blocked Spirit Halloween’s Twitter account so as to not pop up on their social media radar.
People had mixed feelings about it. While some seemed relieved that someone is taking a stand and not perpetuating racist stereotypes by means of Halloween costumes, others didn’t understand how some of these, like the taco or Day of the Dead costumes, can be racist in the first place.
And yes, this also included things like taco costumes and random accessories
Image credits: riverrobby
Yet others pointed out that the list should have also included other nationality costumes and accessories, like those of Jamaican, Hawaiian, and Egyptian cultures.
Image credits: riverrobby
Not too long ago, this very same issue surfaced online in the form of a TikTok video by @courtwashere who began pointing out all of the “cultural appropriation” costumes she managed to find in her local Spirit Halloween store.
Here's how people online reacted to this
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You can check out the full Twitter thread and all of the comments here. But before you go, tell us what are your thoughts on this? What costumes do you think should have made the list? Let us know in the comment section below!