Even Fido can be racist this season!

Okay. So we all got this email:

Dear Harvard, As we approach the Halloween weekend, Native Americans at Harvard College (NAHC) would like to urge Harvard University students, staff and faculty to think critically about their costume choice. While some look forward to the annual Halloween festivities many people brace themselves for the recurring parade of Harvard students in culturally insensitive costumes whether it be the quintessential Pocahontas or Indian Squaw or the hypersexualized Geisha just to name a few.

And for those of you who didn’t have the patience to read the entire thing, we sympathize… kinda. Except we read it in its entirety out of sincere love for you and because they made us feel really, really guilty. Here is a paragraph-by-paragraph summary of its content:

• Wearing costumes that culturally appropriate is RACIST. It’s like wearing blackface, you ass. Also, your hipster Minnetonka Moccasins are tacky.
• Traditional dress ≠ costume. Traditional dress = an outfit.
• Think of the children….the Native American children.
• You can’t count your crummy costume as “honoring” Native Americans, but you can do your part on Sunday, the first day of Native American Heritage Month, by schoolin’ your racist ass.
• A paragraph on the interwoven histories of Native Americans and their contributions to the United States and Harvard University that we so love.
• “If people take the time to learn about other cultures and to get to know the Native American students at Harvard perhaps they would realize that we are not a costume. We are Harvard. And we have been since 1655.” (Sorry, that’s sort of hard to gist.)

Now, we understand the message but a picture is worth a thousand words isn’t it? Here are several long emails worth of pictures plus some controversy, after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »