By Shalise Manza Young
The past several years have been filled with shocking moment after shocking moment, each one seemingly more vile than the previous, such that the things that not too long ago would have been career-ending or an offense worthy of Scandal’s Olivia Pope are now just a normal Tuesday.
But even by the current, so-low-as-to-be-subterranean level of civility from public people and corporations, Target’s “clown Halloween costume” revealed last month was absolutely jaw-dropping in the worst possible way.
A black-and-orange set with a zig-zag top and harlequin bottom seemed innocent enough.
But the costume also came with a sheer, dark head covering printed with an exaggerated smile and bright red lips framing big white teeth.
Black people and anyone with a passing knowledge of the antebellum era immediately recognized how insulting the getup was. It was, for all intents and purposes, a minstrel costume like those worn by white performers, their faces blackened with burnt cork and their lips red, dressed in dirty and raggedy clothes. They traveled the country entertaining all-white audiences through “imitations” of the enslaved and formerly enslaved as lazy, hypersexual, cowardly, and unaware of how stupid they were.
Target’s costume — and the pose of the child wearing it for the store’s website — was a near-carbon copy of a 19th-century illustration of Thomas Dartmouth Rice, called the “father of minstrelsy,” dressed as the character he called Jim Crow.
That it was even considered as an option for the company to sell to the masses is instructive of why diversity, equity, and inclusion matter. Any Black person in the chain of command for non-character costumes would have struck it down immediately.
It is hard to imagine a Nazi-style uniform or a costume with a mask of the grotesque exaggeration of Jewish facial features re-popularized by anti-Semitic Twitter accounts even being suggested, let alone getting to the point of production. Americans are taught about the Holocaust and its horrors, so anyone at the decision-making table knows to never pitch those costumes.
But rare are the in-depth and unvarnished lessons about the horrors of chattel slavery, the violence of the Jim Crow era, and the bloody fight for basic civil rights in the 1960s that might have led to someone at Target realizing how degrading the blackface minstrel costume was.
Minstrel shows brought anti-Black racism to cities across the country, particularly in Northern states where people had limited interactions with Black people. The shows helped poor white people feel better about their lot in life because at least they weren’t Black. Minstrel shows also helped ingrain the negative stereotypes of Black Americans that persist to this day.
Target has been shunned by many Black folk and allies for over 18 months. For years, the company seemed truly committed to diversifying both its shelves and staff, going beyond just selling Black history merch in February to committing billions to initiatives like adding products from Black-owned vendors and increasing the number of Black employees in stores and offices. Yet as soon as Donald Trump signed his glorified press release calling for an end to DEI (pro tip: swap the n-word for “DEI” every time it’s said by a MAGA acolyte and the hatred of it makes a lot more sense) in the first days of his current term, Target ended it all.
That tangible commitment — which former Target CEO Brian Cornell once said was helping to drive sales in its stores — is why it felt like such a slap in the face when the company folded like a house of cards to appease the racists of the hard right and why activists in the Black community pushed for us to stop spending our money there.
It has worked: In-store foot traffic decreased, sales declined, Target’s stock price dropped, the company lost billions in valuation, and Cornell announced he was stepping down six months after the boycott began.
Now, some think the Halloween costume is proof that the company doesn’t want Black customers to return.
At least Target’s apology statement actually reads like an apology, again an incredibly low bar to clear these days. In announcing that the costume will no longer be sold, it said, in part, “We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. We are looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again.”
The short answer to the investigation, assuming one happens, is that people from marginalized communities should get a seat at the table and a chance to opine on such things before they are green-lit for production — a diverse set of people getting an equitable chance to be included in the discussions, one might say.
Shalise Manza Young is an award-winning writer focused on the intersections of race, gender, politics, and sports. She is the director of track and field at Phillips Andover Academy. She and her family, including Contrarian Pet of the Week Coco, live in Boston. You can find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.
A very thoughtful and important editorial comment about something that is so wrong!
Karalee