Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays growing up. It was a reason to stay up late, eat candy, and watch Disney Channel original movies. When I was in elementary school in Nebraska, my school put on a Halloween parade where all the students would walk around the school in our costumes to show all the parents. In the first grade, my older sister finally gave me one of her old Halloween costumes that I’d dreamt of wearing. It was a long black velvet dress with electric blue spider web sleeves that came with a matching hat. This costume was the first costume I’d ever worn.
The hallways were decorated with cobwebs and tombstones. The intercom played the Monster Mash to signal to all the students roaming the halls that we needed to find our class. I found my best friend Katie, (we were both witches) and excitedly ran to class. But as soon as I stepped into the class, my stomach began churning. One of my classmates, who was not Japanese, was dressed as a Geisha. She cheerfully came up to me and said “Look! I’m just like you!” and pulled the corners of her eyes back.
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Back then I didn’t know what to call what she was doing, I just knew it made me uncomfortable. Since then, I’ve learned. She was culturally appropriating Japanese culture.
Cultural appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society. Cultural appropriation is the manifestation of one of the most enduring racist ideas in America, that people of marginalized cultures are less human and less deserving of respect. Their dress, language, and practices aren’t worthy of the respect that you reserve for your own culture.
So to the girls who wanna wear a cheongsam when you’re not Chinese. To the boys who want to throw on a sombrero and fake mustache to go drinking. Stop squatting and putting your hands together like you’re praying when you take your pictures. Stop dressing up like an “Indian” or “Ninja”. Stop wearing our culture like a costume.
I am no longer a seven-year-old confused little girl from Nebraska. I am a strong, confident young Asian American woman who will no longer be complicit in her own dehumanization. I’ve been told that we should share our culture, but when I brought lychee jelly to school for a club potluck people spat it out in front of me and told me that it was disgusting, they asked how could I eat this regularly? When I wore my cheongsam to school for Chinese New Year I was laughed at and ridiculed. When the Vietnamese girl in my class brought you pandan cakes you told her the neon green color was gross. When the Navajo girl told the class what her tattoos meant you told her she looked like a savage. You don’t want us to share our culture with you, you want to cherry-pick bits and pieces of our cultures and water them down for your own consumption, and I won’t stand for it.
I know most people don’t pick out a costume purposely trying to be offensive. However, regardless of intention, cultural appropriation still perpetuates harmful stereotypes that contribute to the continuing violence towards marginalized groups.
You can appreciate our cultures. You can earnestly learn about it in an effort to broaden your perspective and connect with me and others cross-culturally. But as soon as you want to take our cultures for yourself, you are appropriating it. So if you are looking for cute and quirky Halloween costume this spooky season, do not wear something that stems from a culture that is not your own.
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