Also, I don't get why "sassy" is now a racially charged term. Guess I'll have to google that one.

For example, the Head dress of a Chief or to be called Chief was earn, not given. Every color of face paint has a meaning as well. Black for death and bad journey, white for the good, red if a warrior killed.

Braided hair represent the sweet grass that grows on earth, it represents mother earths hair. Not braided it's weak, braided it's much stronger so when an Indian wears hair braided that is the meaning behind that.

When an Indian dances he is not worshiping the sun,moon, eagle nor bison. When we hold our hands out and excert our energy we are thanking Creator for all these things for each one helps supply the Indian with food, warmth, and eagle was always seen over a village where sage and sweetgrass was smudge and above the smoke is where it flew so our belief is that the eagle carries the prayers to creator.

The drum was made by woman and asked for man to take care of it for it represents the heart beat of all Nations. While dancing it's not fancy foot steps in 'traditional' dancing but the feet must hit earth upon the sound, the hands are lifted at certain times or a dip with eagle feathered fan then rise of the fan brings positive energy to help the ill. In triditional oriental medicine they call it 'Chi'.

A lot of this does not pertain to the costume and some does but hopefully you can understand it a lil better.

Reason so many Natives are bitter is because our ancestors were shot if stopped to give birth on trail of tears and anyone who tried to help her. FUCK COLUMBUS! He's a retard and is why we are called Indians today, he thought he was in india! To test a knife his men would walk by and slice a huge piece of flesh off who was now their Indian slaves and to get their jacks off or to them a funny joke was to go to the field and behead a very young child. All who you call Natives of American were here first, we are not Native to America....everyone else is but we've had to accept it and all we ask is for a lil respect. Imagine someone wiping out your family and you are maybe 3 or 4; scared, dont know what to do to say the least, etc ...i think you'd be a little bitter too if you didnt get respected , when your thiving culture went from millions to barely a couple hundred thousand in all if that much.

I wont check this board again so it is what it is, you can say what you will but there is a lot that goes into this culture and to see a female paint her face, put on an indian costume for holloween shows a Lack of pretty much everything.

Enjoy feeding off this for a while.

Educate yourself. Idiot is An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person, as distinguished from the educated; an ignoramus. A human being destitute of the ordinary intellectual powers, whether congenital, developmental, or accidental; commonly, a person without understanding from birth; a natural fool
Triditional American Indian REGALIA is very expensive and also bears heavy religious significance. It is NOT a costume. A costume is something you wear when you are portraying something that are not. But when you wear a traditional dress, you are making an expression, you are expressing who you are and who your ancestors were. You are celebrating your beliefs and honoring the culture. So, first to call it a 'costume' is to misrepresent what it is. Secondly, it lessens its significance to the point that anybody feels like they can put it on and do a circus act.

These colorful outfits and accessories are not merely 'fancy clothes'. They are deeply spiritural in nature and many handed down from generations. For many years having ceremonial objects would land a person in jail for 6 months with crippling fines. Mean-while non Indians could wear, own, and use regalia without limit or penalty of any kind. The word costume isn't generally used to describe a wedding dress, graduation outfit or your Sunday best.....is it?? I'm farely sure I know the response if you walked up to a general and told him 'nice costume'. In reality these are as much regalia to them as a grass dancers outfit is to a Native American, although the ceremonial and spirituality expressed is most certainly different.

Obviously, there is a market for costumes that are based on racial discriminations. But I am guessing that the majority of people who purchase these types of costumes are not doing so out of blatant racism, but more out of ignorance that the costume is offensive, or that they are perpetuating a stereotype.

A good friend of mine's Halloween costume is just one of these types of costumes. My question is - how do you tell someone, and not just tell them, but explain to them, why a costume like that is offensive? Not everyone has acquired this level of cultural understanding/sensitivity to latent racism (for lack of a better term?) (I know for me it was in college, in a race and media class, that these types of realizations came onto my radar. It was one of those "ah-ha" moments.)

So what is a simple, nonconfrontational and constructive way of telling someone "your costume is racist" or at the very least "your costume could be perceived as racially offensive by many people" ? Thoughts?

God, how do these costume designers find work? That's what's sad. There will always be "that guy" who insists on doing uncool shit like this, but obviously there are a number of people *supporting* this douchebaggery here. People are actually *buying* and *wearing* these costumes. Bleargh.

And I really AM proud to be white, but I don't live that pride at the expense of others who, I assume, are equally proud to be whatever ethnicity they are.

Diss the costumes - absolutely. Attach 200 years of guilt to them? Ahhh....no.

http://www.bluecorncomics.com/hallowen.htm

Yes, so anyway. This = absurdly huge fail.