(Photo Credit: Shawn Wen)
Oakland, CA — When you’re a girl with brown skin, there aren’t that many costume options for Halloween. For years, I used to dress as white characters from my favorite movies.
For Halloween, I’ve been Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Harley Quinn from Batman.
Last year I went as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. I had the blue checkered dress, pigtails and those famous red shoes. Even though I was wearing an iconic costume, some people still didn’t recognize me. I guess because Dorothy is white, and I’m not?
I started questioning why I always went as a white character. Is whiteness something to emulate? So this year, I decided to represent my community in my costume.
I’ve decided to dress up as someone black— Dionne from the movie Clueless. I’m the token best friend now that I'm going as a black character. It’s ironic, right? When I went as a white character, I was the protagonist.
But it’s still a costume I’ll be more comfortable wearing. Because my skin, my hair, my facial features are inherent to this character. I don’t have to spend Halloween night explaining who I am.