HALLOWEEN is a time for scary costumes. Many kids walked across the Lawn this year dressed to induce fear, but all with a comic aspect to it. But shopping at a Halloween store last weekend, I encountered a frightening costume that wasn't funny. There was a child-sized Confederate soldier costume hanging right there between the black cat ears and the cowboy hat. People bought them, too. Only three Robert E. Lee costumes remained at The Party Starts Here in Seminole Square by Halloween night. A Confederate soldier is a completely inappropriate costume for a child to wear for Halloween because, to many Americans, it represents racism and general Anti-Americanism.
Many Southerners preach that the Confederacy represents heritage, not hate. However, one of the underlying, if not main causes of the Civil War was slavery. This doesn't mean that every soldier involved fought either to free people or keep them enslaved. However, slavery was at the root of many of the issues about which the North and South clashed.
Many Confederates, including prominent politicians, believed that the Confederacy was founded on the principle of white supremacy over a necessarily subservient black race. Confederate President Jefferson Davis admitted that slavery was indispensable to the American South. The politicians who formed the Confederacy that the Rebel soldiers fought for made clear that support of slavery was part of the ideology of their newly formed federation. Slavery was ingrained in Southern culture. The Civil War was the manifestation of these ideas. Halloween costumes of Confederate soldiers are an obvious physical personification of the war.
Yet many would protest that the costume is historical. That sweeping generalization could apply to thousands of offensive Halloween costumes. Few would hesitate to be appalled if a child went trick-or-treating dressed as Hitler. And while we could argue that Hitler had positive qualities such as political ingenuity and strong leadership, the ideology he stood for still was offensive. A confederate soldier uniform represents a similar negative ideology - that blacks should be subservient to whites. These Halloween costumes thus are not only offensive to black people but to all humans.
In comparison, a recent Washington Post article mentioned that Halloween stores are reporting numerous requests for Osama bin Laden costumes ("Uncle Sam, Beware," Oct. 29). Most would agree that dressing up like the terrorist would be insensitive and inappropriate, but in some respects, dressing up like bin Laden is less offensive than a Confederate soldier. Most bin Laden impersonators will be purposely portraying their character as dislikable. Like a devil or serial killer, the reasoning behind a terrorist costume would be because it is scary, or even humorously offensive. For every kid dressed up as bin Laden, we could expect another dressed in red, white and blue to join in a scenario leaving the fake bin Laden lying mock-dead on the floor. But a kid in a Confederate soldier costume would attempt to embody pride and honor, supposedly falling in the positive category of costumes like a princess or a superhero.
An essential part of every Confederate soldier costume is the patch of the Confederate flag which links it to the arguments against the display of the flag. This wearing of the flag is worse than the flying of the "Stars and Bars" because it involves naive kids. Children wearing these costumes have been miseducated that Confederate pride is a good thing. They may not understand that the Confederate flag flies at Klu Klux Klan rallies and that it was used vehemently as protest of the civil rights movement. They do not understand that, to many, the Confederate uniform, emblazoned with the Confederate flag, represents racism, division and white supremacy. Also, the actual costume not only glorifies the Confederacy but war.
The Civil War wasn't about the South versus the North - it was a war of the South against the United States. Many Southerners would admit this in dubbing it the War for Southern Independence. Therefore a Confederate uniform is emblematic of division - it's anti-patriotic. This especially is potent now, when we all need to be united against a common, foreign enemy. We shouldn't allow reminders of a negative past infiltrate a country that is striving to bond together.
The simple solution to the problem of wearing Confederate soldier costumes is simply to don't do it. So, if next Halloween a little boy arrives at your doorstep wielding a pillow case, a musket and a Confederate flag patch, give him his candy but admonish his parents for treating a symbol of disrespect as a way to a enjoy an intentionally fun holiday.
(Kimberly Liu is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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