It’s officially the first week of October, and if you’re currently planning out your Halloween costume, let this be a word of advice: don’t dress up as a Native American, don’t change the color of your skin for “accuracy,” and whatever you do, please do not under any circumstances post pictures to social media of you or others dressed in a sombrero while holding up a pinata with the caption “Fiesta!!!” on it.

I recently came across a picture on social media in which people were wearing SLU merch and smiling widely for the camera in a “Mexican get up.” 

If it wasn’t obvious to you so far, the picture is a clear case of cultural appropriation and should not have been posted to social media during Family Weekend with the caption mentioning, “Fiesta!!!” 

Yep, you read that right, and I won’t even get into the fact that for whatever reason the parents were awarded a Mexican sombrero and pinata as a prize, and someone’s mom–who was very much not Mexican–was wearing a Mexican Poncho.

Now, before all of you start jumping to conclusions and judge me for taking the time to bring attention to this incident, remember that we are in a tense time in America where photos of politicians sporting blackface during their college years surface very frequently. 

Don’t do it. Don’t put yourself in a position where your photo could one day be used against you in your professional career. Let us not follow in the mistakes of our politicians and people with power around us and instead embrace the idea that, yeah, maybe appropriating a minority’s culture just isn’t the best move.

As young professionals, the first advice you may hear is to be careful what you post on the internet. The way you present yourself online is your brand, and you don’t want to ruin your brand with offensive imagery. 

But most importantly, what happened to the whole “Diversity and Inclusion” campaign SLU is aiming for? I don’t think this was the intention in that mission, but it is important to acknowledge that at the very least we are taking a step in the right direction by acknowledging that there needs to be more diversity and inclusion on campus–just maybe not in the sense of dressing up like said diversity.

Where do we go from here, when it seems that not everyone is on the same page about what it means to put on a costume or wear a prop to represent stereotypes of another person’s culture? I am baffled at the fact that in 2019, this is still something that has to be explained to others.

I suppose all we can do is send our “thoughts and prayers” people’s way…OR, we could work on opening up more dialogue about why it is offensive to our friends whose cultures are constantly being stereotyped and made into a “fun” insta post.

But I digress, and would like to leave those who took the time to read this far with a fun list of appropriate costumes to plan for Halloween: vampire, nurse, sexy kitty, witch, a football player, a historical figure (skin color not necessary for accuracy), a princess, a sexy fruit, anime character. Honestly, I could list all day. Feel free to ask me for suggestions if you’re stuck and the concept of appropriateness becomes hard.