I'm yet to buy into the American halloween custom, and recently asked no one in particular what made a costume relevant for Halloween? Is it meant to be funny, is it meant to be scary, it it meant to honor something/someone you like, or maybe the TV show/movie you're a fan of?I asked that question when a costume ad on TV showed someone painted silver in a Gandhi costume, I found that disrespectful. This news takes the cake!
As reported by The Smoking Gun
A pair of Florida men decided to celebrate Halloween this year by dressing up as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, complete with blackface and blood-stained hoodie.
The image of the duo (click to enlarge) was uploaded Friday to the Facebook page of Caitlin Cimeno, a Martha’s Vineyard native who captioned the photo “Happy Halloween from Zimmerman & trayvon.” Cimeno, flanked in the photo by the two men, followed those words with a smiley face emoticon.
Greg Cimeno, 22, portrayed Zimmerman, complete with a “Neighborhood Watch” t-shirt. Cimeno lives in Cape Coral, Florida, where he appears to work for a carpentry firm.
William Filene, 25, dressed up as Martin, covering his face in black paint and donning a gray sweatshirt with a single bullet hole surrounded by fake blood. Filene, who also lives in Cape Coral, was arrested in June for felony auto theft. His rap sheet also included collars for loitering/prowling and failing to register an automobile.
This is a tragic idea of a joke! Forgetting about the offensive nature of Blackface to most African Americans, it is so unfeeling that these people did not even consider the personal loss of Trayvon Martin's parents when they chose this look for their "hilarious" costumes.
The worst part is that on Smoking Gun and Gawker where the pictures have been reported, thousands of comments are in support of these people and what they have done. And some say racism is dead in America?
Absolutely shocking that anyone would think this is okay or try to justify it irrespective of their race. Post racial era indeed.
ReplyDelete