It's late October, so you know it's that time again — no, not hoodie season. I'm not even talking about election season. It's ass-whooping season for people who decide to have a racist Halloween costume.
As a Black man wanting to educate my less melanated brothers and sisters, I offer this as a useful PSA on handling Halloween this week. I thought we were beyond these warnings, but ya know, expecting something racist to happen on Oct. 31 is as evergreen as it gets.
For the record, this isn't something we have to remind many people about. Ally and half-creator of the "Chappelle Show" Neal Brennan observes on his X account, "Somewhere, a white person is planning a costume for tonight that's gonna f— up their whole future." Neal has the self-awareness we can get around.
Not all Halloweens are equal, but these things usually only happen lately when an election is involved (I can't imagine the racist-related costumes coming to antagonize Kamala Harris) or there's a pop-culture-related event. On social media, a picture began circulating of a White young man in Blackface and a White woman in a pink shirt with a sign reading "Johnson's baby;" the joke being about Diddy and the reports of baby oil found in his home. I'm not sure if they thought it was okay because Sean Combs's public stock is lower than Boeing's right now, but don't get it twisted.
You mess around and may not need shoe polish to have a black eye. Someone would donate one to you. This reminds me of a time years ago.