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Isabelle:
I was wondering if I could maybe be for Halloween.
Okay.
So, Jasmine from Aladdin.
Maybe. Maybe. That one depends.
OK.
Pocahontas.
Absolutely not, no. You can't do that.
What about Drake?
That depends, like, on blackface or not.
OK.
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Halloween is coming and I'm excited because
I love dressing up.
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If Justin Trudeau taught us anything during the recent
election campaign, it's this:
dressing in blackface and brown face is never a good idea.
Well, it's troubling.
I mean, it's really -- it's insulting.
I shouldn't have done that.
I should've known better, but I didn't.
And I'm really sorry.
So when does a Halloween costume cross the line?
I asked El Jones to meet me in a costume store to take a look.
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So let's start with face paint.
Why is painting your skin a different colour a bad idea?
For a long time there were these shows that were called
"minstrel shows"
and what that means is that white people used to put on
black makeup and then like big red lips
and they'd have like white around their face and stuff.
So it was a really ugly portrayal of black people.
And then they would get on stage and sing songs and do
plays about like how lazy black people were,
how black people were greedy.
So really bad stereotypes.
So a stereotype is when you take a person,
and you just reduce them to one thing about themselves.
That's what blackface is from.
So when we see somebody doing that,
it's a really offensive image for people.
What about these? Do they cross the line?
So I'm not saying you couldn't find a situation where you could
wear this wig. Like maybe you're just being
a clown with black hair. That's possible.
OK.
But definitely don't do this.
If you're like I'm going to dress up like a black person
and make fun of black people.
And what about this?
OK.
So I'm guessing this is like a
Yeah, I think so.
Jack Sparrow? So
I guess if you're actually being Jack Sparrow, this is OK.
But what we're kind of looking at is,
like, fake dreadlocks.
So if you're not being Jack Sparrow, that's a bad idea.
Indigenous themed costumes used to be a thing but
now you hear people say culture isn't a costume.
What do you think about that?
So you said it the best. Culture is not a costume.
Indigenous people are living people.
If you're an Indigenous woman and girl in this country,
you often don't have as much power as other people and
because of that, a lot of people commit crimes
against Indigenous women, or even kill them.
You definitely don't want to go as like sexy Pocahontas
or as like Indigenous princess.
That actually hurts Indigenous women because it sends a message
that they're just there to be somebody's toy.
Isabelle:
why is it so important to know all this?
So I don't know if you've ever been --
maybe you've been at a party or you've been sitting in class
or at a sleepover or something and then everybody
starts making a joke behind your back.
Has this ever happened to you where
everybody's having fun but they're having fun
because they're making fun of you?
That's kind of what we're talking about, that
Halloween is supposed to be fun
and it's supposed to be a time when we can play
and we can dress up and we can be anything we want.
But if we're wearing something that somebody else feels like
they're being made fun of or make somebody else feel like
they're not a real person or makes fun of something that
that person has to deal with every day,
then they're being left out of the fun.
And it's a party that's happening but
they don't get to be part of that.
El taught me some good tips in there.
What do these customers think about
her costume do's and don'ts?
I find I'm on the liberal side of things so I don't
particularly find any of the costumes...
..unless it's terribly wrong,
I don't find them offensive at all.
People have the right to express themselves
and I don't take offense to cultural appropriation,
if that's -- that's a hot button issue, I know, but
I don't think that's a big deal.
This day and age a lot of people are offended easily.
So I think anything that has to do with
something that happened in the past and not very good
is probably not a great thing to wear.
We tend to be quite sensitive to not doing things that would
be offensive to different groups.
We feel pretty strongly to be inclusive and respect diversity.
I think I have a pretty good idea of what to avoid
so I don't offend anyone with my Halloween costume this year.
But as you can see, there is still a lot of options.
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The question is, which one do I choose?
For cbckidsnews.ca, I'm Isabelle MacNeil.
[door closes]
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