This should go without saying, but based on a sampling of social media over the weekend, it seems we need to clear something up, and that something is this: You should not dress up as Ray Rice for Halloween. You should not dress your children as Ray Rice for Halloween. You should not dress as Ray Rice’s wife for Halloween. It is not clever.
It is not timely. It is just horrible. You also should not dress like an Ebola containment worker, a missing Malaysian flight, a Ferguson protester, a kidnapped journalist or Robin Williams, and you certainly should not dress like a member of an ethnicity that is not your own. If you want to dress up for Halloween, there are thousands—literally thousands—of perfectly fine, funny, creative options. Here are a few.
If at any moment during your Halloween preparation, you start wondering if the costume you are working on is in any way a celebration of domestic abuse, tragic events or just plain old-fashioned racism, do not do it. You are doing yourself and the world at large a service. Happy Halloween …
