2018 has been the year for cultural diversity and acceptance in the US. Many people have learned what is acceptable and what’s not when it comes to choosing a costume for Halloween, save for that small percentage of people who still think it’s fine to use blackface, or any other offensive stereotypical aspect of a culture or group of people, as a Halloween costume.

Its November 6, so of course we’ve all seen, or at least have heard of, all the costumes that have sparked an outrage on social media. The boy, whose mother dressed him up as a slave, complete with scars and chains. The group of teachers who thought it was ‘funny’ to dress up as Mexicans and the proposed border wall. Or even Shaun White’s “Simple Jack” costume that made fun of people with disabilities. This topic causes much discussion and disagreements, and for a good reason.

So, what exactly is considered stereotypical and offensive?

Dressing up like a sexy cat? Go for it! Wearing costumes that embody the stereotypes of Native Americans? Don’t go there.

Dressing up as a clown? Scary, but okay! Dressing up as anyone black and/or darkening your skin tone to ‘fit the role’? Nuh uh, not today honey.

Dressing up as your favorite character from a cartoon, like Tigger? Cute! Wearing something that is part of a culture’s religion or beliefs, like Hindu gods or Catrinas? Be something else!

Dressing up as Dwight and Michael from The Office? Hilarious! But dressing up as a terrorist, bomber, or shooter? What kind of sicko are you?!

I could go on and on about this topic, these examples are just the ones from off the top of my head.

We need to drill it in our minds that it’s just not okay to dress up as people who still exist, or people who have struck fear into people’s hearts, or a stereotype that degrades a certain set of people.

You never see a 9/11 survivor costume, or a Holocaust survivor costume, because people respect the fact that these were tragic events.

So why can’t they respect the minorities that they are basing their costumes off of?