University of Louisville president slammed for Halloween photo in ‘Mexican’ costume 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –  “The University of Louisville apologized to the school’s entire Hispanic community Thursday after a photo surfaced showing President James Ramsey among a group of staffers at a Halloween party dressed in matching stereotypical Mexican costumes.” 

This is a portion of the article that came across my news feed the other day. My oldest son, Bryce, is an alumnus of the University of Louisville, so this piqued my interest.

The article quoted from The University’s student newspaper, The Louisville Cardinal, that read:

“Don’t dress like a culture. They aren’t costumes, they’re people,”

What a world! This started me thinking about offensive Halloween costumes.

Readers, Halloween is serious, so here is a list of costumes that should be avoided:

• Any ethnicity, race or culture that isn’t your own is racist. Dressing up as Aunt Jemima, a sheikh, geisha, ninja, gypsy, Viking, Cossack, Caesar or anything in which you have to alter your natural skin color is unacceptable. Unless you’re planning on being a Smurf, this is a given. Think, people!
• Caitlyn Jenner: Don’t dress as the opposite sex as it might hurt the feelings of someone struggling with gender identity.
• Hannibal Lector or anything including a straight jacket: may be humiliating to individuals struggling with a mental illness.

• Hobo: homeless people have feelings.
• Sexy “anything”: Hookers are people, too.
• Zombies or Costumes depicting the dead: may offend gangs, and domestic violence victims.

• Skeleton: Do you really want to demonstrate insensitivity toward those with an eating disorder?
• Sumo Wrestler: This is bad for those with body image issues (everybody).
• Werewolf: Do you want to mock animal activists?
• Flapper: Demeans women.
• Pirate: Amputees are sensitive.
• Old man or old lady: The elderly deserve our respect.
• Chewbacca: Star Trek fans may feel scorned.

This is a little much. Hopefully you’ve detected that I’m being over-the-top here to make a couple of points.

First: U of L’s President James Ramsey, is 66 years old. People in this age bracket (me included) are not completely savvy to today’s PC attitude. When we selected costumes for Halloween, we didn’t dress to offend, and we don’t today. Does intention count? Who judges intent? I hope that the youth of today will be easy on us “old folks”. We aren’t opposed to learning and will certainly try to be PC (within limits).

Second: for my children and I, a life where we would be sheltered from hurt feelings was never expected. I think it’s made my children (and me) stronger. Remember, it’s not ok to expect everyone to think the way you do or impose your expectations on everyone.

Lastly, Halloween is not serious, (as stated earlier). It’s a chance for people to escape the everyday expectations of “proper” behavior, get a little nutty, let loose and have fun. It’s time to relax. It’s Halloween.

With that said, I never considered dressing as a suicide bomber, but if you did, you may want to check with costume consultants or flowcharts for Halloween sensitivity that some colleges provide.

If you’re still disturbed, go do a puzzle or something and please don’t worry about offending me in the comments section.