“Black face Trayvon Martin costume with George Zimmerman counterpart. Shame on us for expecting more.” ; These are the opening lines from Raven McGill’s poem, “Meanwhile, in Post-Racist America,” which she recited for the 2015 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California. In it she ;passionately critiques ;people who ;wear ;offensive and racially-themed Halloween costumes and uses the disturbing Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman costumes ;from 2013 as an example. ; In the poem McGill explains how ;insensitive costumes ;can negatively ;affect ;people of color. “Shame on us for forgetting our life is someone else’s costume,” she said sarcastically. ; She also expertly points out that some offensive costumes…
“Black face Trayvon Martin costume with George Zimmerman counterpart. Shame on us for expecting more.” ;
These are the opening lines from Raven McGill’s poem, “Meanwhile, in Post-Racist America,” which she recited for the 2015 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California. In it she ;passionately critiques ;people who ;wear ;offensive and racially-themed Halloween costumes and uses the disturbing Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman costumes ;from 2013 as an example. ;
In the poem McGill explains how ;insensitive costumes ;can negatively ;affect ;people of color. “Shame on us for forgetting our life is someone else’s costume,” she said sarcastically. ;
She also expertly points out that some offensive costumes that ;attempt to be provocative ;are actually perpetuating racist stereotypes and trivializing ;the experiences of people of color. ;”Shame on us for forgetting that it’s fun and edgy for someone else to wear our face but damning for us to wear our face,” she said near the climax ;of the poem. ;
McGill sums up the ignorance of people who choose to ;don disrespectful Halloween costumes in the last lines of the poem when she said, “I saw the pictures and shame wasn’t even a shadow in the room.” ;
Well said. ;
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Poet Nails Why Offensive Halloween Costumes Are Never A Good Idea
