How do you think mean is ok?

On most holidays, the standard 'rules' of polite society are reinforced. On Valentine's Day, you extra show your love. On Thanksgiving, folks who normally hate their family sit around the table discussing how they're so thankful for those same folks.

Halloween, however, is a bizarre holiday in that it takes the rules & turns them upside down. Nobody dresses modestly; people get unapologetically wasted; and every celebrity who has died gets reincarnated as a zombie version of themselves.

But, perhaps because Halloween turns all the rules on their heads, some folks have a hard time seeing where they become completely inappropriate.

Two white men dressed up this year as George Zimmerman & Trayvon Martin, the neighborhood watchman & teen he shot dead in a Florida community. My stance on this case is that Zimmerman was wrongly let go (he followed Martin after expressly being told not to). But, even if you disagree with me on that, I'm not sure how you can think this is an appropriate costume decision for many reasons.

1) Martin is a dead teenager.

Now, his parents are probably being subjected to the fact that some people think his death is a joke. How horrible for them to go through this. And, he wasn't one who chose fame. (Some would argue those who chose fame are free-game for zombie costumes, but Martin would've been ineligible for even this.)

2) The man who portrayed Martin painted his face black.

It has long been established that this IS racist behavior. Why would you pride yourself on hatred? (I'll likely often joke that I hate everyone on this blog, but that's not hatred of entire groups of people - other than children - it's an expression of annoyance.) 

All in all, I'm disappointed in the people who did this. Why hurt people - even if Martin's parents don't see it - who felt affected? It was clear this trial was a huge deal & many were emotionally invested.

I'm not sure what to even say. I just had this on my mind and can hardly believe it's real. Support to anyone affected negatively by this costume. Most of us support you.