Hispanic students call law enforcement costumes 'intimidating'
A Hispanic student organization at the University of Chicago is urging students to not “be problematic on Halloween.”
A flyer produced by Mecha de UChicago tells students to stay away from costumes that represent cultures that aren’t your own, and “anything that sexualizes an individual or group of people.”
[RELATED: Halloween hypocrisy: Why can’t everyone be offended?]
Along with the typical admonitions against blackface, cultural appropriation, and “sexy” costumes, the list also instructs students not to “dress up as any type of law enforcement that can trigger or intimidate people of color,” adding that “this definitely includes I.C.E.”
“A few years ago Erika Christakis asked students at Yale if we can all behave like adults. Yale students answered with a loud and clear ‘no,’ and unfortunately we’re still seeing this across the country several years out,” Matthew Foldi, the Ward Committeeman at Chicago’s 5th Ward Republican Party and President of the UChicago College Republicans told Campus Reform.
“It’s the same problem with shutting down speakers on campuses,” he said. “Who decides? Who guards the guardians? Halloween itself is appropriated from pagan rituals and people don’t care about that.”
Foldi described the flyer’s remarks about law enforcement costumes as “absurd and nonsensical.”
[RELATED: College costume crackdown ramps up as Halloween draws near]
According to its Facebook page, Mecha de UChicago is a student organization that “uses community service, political involvement, and education as a means for change,” and is open to “anyone who identifies with and commits themselves to promoting culture, history, and higher education as devices for change.”
“In collaboration with Organization of Black Students (OBS) at the University of Chicago and OLAS at UChicago, MEChA would like to remind everyone to be tasteful and respectful of other cultures this Halloween” Mecha de UChicago’s said in a Facebook post sharing the graphic.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @kassydillon
