In America’s war between cultural sensitivity and free expression, Halloween is a familiar battleground.
The holiday, which originated with people dressed in costume to ward off evil spirits, has morphed into a day that celebrates all kinds of creative self-expression. It means not only do people dress up as witches and monsters, but also as one another. This is where things get complicated, and why you keep hearing the term “cultural appropriation” in a heated debate each October.
On one side of the controversy are minorities and their allies who say they experience prejudice all year long, so seeing the people who discriminate against them (intentionally or not) dressing up as them on Halloween can be deeply offensive.
On the other side are those who believe “political correctness” has gone too far.
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