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Schoolteacher decides dressing as blackface Kanye West is a good idea

by Jeremy Mersereau

You’d think everyone would have realized by now that blackface occupies roughly the same realm of acceptability as wearing a fanny pack, or more accurately, wearing a fannypack with extremely racist connotations: yeah, you can do it, but the tradeoff is total social ostracism and ridicule. Apparently that’s not the case though, as there are still tons of people every year who not only think blackface is the perfect Halloween costume but also can’t wait to post their mock-melanin’d mugs all over the internet.

This year, an Alabama fifth-grade teacher is in hot water after his wife posted a photo of herself dressed up as Kim Kardashian, while he stands beside her, costumed as a bronze statue of ET Kanye West. It comes complete with shutter shades, gold chain, and that Kanye costume essential: extremely problematic face make-up. According to the Facebook comments, the costume worked: “Haha some people thought Heath was really a black man”, Kim K/Shannon Morrow posted. Heath Morrow was forced to apologize earlier this week for his poor judgement, and the district is investigating. School officials would not comment on his current or future employment status.

Nevermind clearing the mental hurdles to get to the point where Halloween blackface seems like a great idea, I’m more interested in where you go from there? We need to take on these reckless Halloween pop-up shops selling problematic face make-up. Solution: let’s just restrict the sale of black face paint to those who can prove they’re going as a more socially acceptable monster, like a demon, a Nosferatu, or the yeti from the Yeezus tour.