#716. The Ghost Costume for Halloween

Already, we have discussed that Black people don’t particularly enjoy Ghosts (registered mail and dogs are also on that list). Halloween is closely linked with reverence for the dead and an understanding that on Halloween, the thin line that separates the land of the living from the realm of the deceased is blurred:

“On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.”

Black people find ghosts abominable, for these other worldly specters have the ability to bestow sudden frights upon them that leave Black people petrified (after the initial striking back, as SPBDL: Sudden Frights, teaches us).

Scary movies that are shown at theaters are a wonderful place to see Black people being frightened by make-believe ghosts, which send Black people into a permanent frenzy of non-stop chatter, as they deliver play-by-play during the movie to avoid being scared.

However, apparitions in movies and the thought of a real-life floating ghoul hardly create the fear and dread in Black people, that a person donning white sheets and impersonating a ghost does.

The decision by an individual to mimic the appearance of a ghost sends shivers of paranoia and fear down a Black persons spine, for the potential of multiple people adorned in ghost paraphernalia is a thought to dreadful to contemplate.

The inscrutable and inveterate fear that Black people have of ghosts and of those who dress like ghosts on Halloween is one that SBPDL hopes they are soon manumit from, for the seemingly scurrilous nature Black people view this Halloween costume is reaching truly frightening dimensions:

"The Halloween garb worn by a Westview student last week was a ghost costume, not a Klan outfit, the boy's father said yesterday. “My son is not racist. He was more naive than malicious,” said the father, whose name is not being used because he said he feared his son could be subject to harassment.

The father called The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday after print and broadcast media publicized reports of the incident, one of two that has prompted a parents group to call for diversity and tolerance training in the Poway Unified School District.

The group, Concerned Parents Alliance, said the Westview High student wore a costume resembling a Ku Klux Klan outfit on Halloween. The group also was concerned about an incident last month in which a noose was found hanging in a boys bathroom at Poway High School in Poway….

“It was a ghost costume made by his aunt 10 years ago,” he said. “He and his brother had worn it on and off for years.”

Superintendent Don Phillips said he's been told that the boy has friends who are black, and they have said the teen is not racist.

“Sometimes kids don't understand that some symbolism can be really, really powerful and hurtful,” Phillips said.

“Whether it was meant to be a ghost costume or not, it was not interpreted that way,” Phillips said. He said the district recognizes the need to create greater sensitivity among students.”

Black people have a distinct fear of ghosts that has a correlation to their great dislike of Halloween, and for their continued fear that a resurrection of a largely irrelevant organization (whose membership consists of people living with their parents and FBI agents) is just around the corner.

There can be no denying the similarity between the robes of those who are members of a long immaterial organization and those of children or adults enjoying Halloween wearing the sheets with cut-out eye holes in a moving deference to the traditional image of the ghost.

Think back to the classic film, ET: The Extra Terrestrial, and the importance of the traditional ghost costume in helping our beleaguered illegal alien attempt to contact his friends in space to pick him up:

“On Halloween, Michael and Elliott dress E.T. as a ghost so they can sneak it out of the house. Elliott and E.T. ride a bicycle to the forest, where E.T. makes a successful call home. The next morning, Elliott wakes up to find E.T. gone, and returns home to his distressed family. Michael finds E.T. dying in the forest, and takes the alien to Elliott, who is also dying.”

The ghost costume is much maligned, for you have to remember that any attempt to defame Black people in America is grounds for social and immediate expulsion, as Black people are a protected class from any criticism or from seeing people dressed as ghosts.

One of the easiest ways to end a debate with someone who is using Hate Facts is to say they must be a member of an organization that finds great delight in dressing up in ghost costumes on days that aren’t Halloween, for the KKK inference is one any person will immediately back off from. Even Hate Facts have a kryptonite:

Two students in Leesburg were suspended for wearing Ku Klux Klansman-like costumes to class amid apparent rising racial tensions at a high school, according to a Local 6 News report.

Local 6 News has learned that besides the costumes, there has been at least one other incident reported during the week of homecoming festivities at Leesburg High School.

Two black students were arrested and charged with felonies after allegedly getting into fights with white students.

"There is a problem," student Gilliam Kamken said. "If there wasn't a problem, all of this would not be going on. Nobody would be fighting. Nobody would be in the hospital, and nobody would be in jail."

"It is not just white people against black people and black people against white people," student Elese Stein said. "I think it is more of an attention thing."

No one ever bothered to ask these students (this happened during the month of October) if they were just massive fans of Halloween and were eager to engage in trick or treating. You see, Halloween is 365white, not 365Black.

This incident has been repeated numerous times over and the confusion of the similarity between the ghost costume and the KKK accoutrements is eerie, but has had harsh ramifications for those who dare to blur the line between phantom and hate:

"A dozen Tri-state high school students made quite a scene at the school halloween dance when they put on Ku Klux Klan outfits.

Students and administrators in Rising Sun, Indiana, say they're upset it happened and shocked the students would do it.

The principal made the students take off the outfits right away, but the damage was done.

9News learned the students were told they have to go through sensitivity training or risk suspension.

People in the community are also being asked to reach out to each other.

"I think you're surprised if one person shows up [in KKK garb], but sometimes good people, whether they're adults or kids, do things that aren't the best and make bad decisions and that's what we had. We had about 12 individuals make a very bad decision," said Superintendent Steve Patz.

The students, all boys, came to the dance wearing sheets, dressed as ghosts and pulled out hoods a little later.

There was one African-American girl at the dance, 9News learned.

Although the superintendent says he's under the impression the act wasn't done maliciously, it doesn't matter.

He says this kind of action regarding race, religion, cultures -- just can't happen.”

Halloween brings out the ghoul in everyone who participates in the revelry of the day, and some parties (Fraternity parties) have been mistaken for hate filled congregations of bigots. The ghost costume was a major hit in Pre-Obama America, but still was viewed as a risqué costume for the odious connotations it inspired.

So, be careful when wearing a ghost costume to your Halloween party, for Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes the ghost costume for Halloween, as this ensemble combines a number of variables that elicit fear in Black people.

For in reality, Black people believe all white people have a ghost costume in their house ready to don at any moment, and that upside down T's will appear everywhere.