It is a mistake to view cultures and their products as exclusive to those of a certain skin color.
With Halloween came a new batch of articles, news segments, and podcasts lambasting and warning of unintended cultural appropriation. In an Oct. 14 PBS article, author Beatrice Alvarez admonished families that many costumes are “actually hurtful to many people because they are a form of cultural appropriation.” She offered readers an example of such appropriation: little girls choosing to dress up in the traditional Native American attire worn by the titular character in the PBS children’s show Molly of Denali.
