A Southern Utah University campaign is reminding people to dress respectfully this Halloween by not reducing racial and ethnic groups to stereotypes.
A series of posters, launched online and around SUU’s campus on Friday by the school’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, shows diverse SUU students holding photos of racially and culturally insensitive outfits, under the tagline “My Culture is not a Costume.”
Center director Maria Martinez said in a statement the campaign is intended to start a dialogue about cultural appropriation on the Cedar City campus.
“We don’t want to perpetuate the culturally inaccurate stereotype,” Martinez said. “I think this campaign gives the underrepresented and marginalized students a voice to speak out.”
With offices located in the university’s Sharwan Smith Student Center, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion has a stated mission of providing academic, emotional, financial, and social support to SUU's multicultural and LGBTQ students.
Its “My Culture is not a Costume” campaign includes images of SUU students who are black, Latino, American Indian and Polynesian.
Sunny Sims, a junior at SUU, said she is proud to be featured on a campaign poster, which shows her holding a photo of a woman dressed in blackface and false breasts.
“Representing an entire race as a Halloween costume is wrong and offensive,” Sims said in a statement. “You are turning what I look like into a joke and mocking historical oppression.”
And Erick Peña, a freshman, said people need to be aware of the pain their costumes can sometimes cause.
“You generalize my whole culture and heritage when you dress-up like an ‘amigo’ and shout in broken Spanish,” Peña said in a statement.