Maybe Don't Dress Your Kid Up As Moana This Halloween?

Chances are, you have a child that is enamored with all things Disney and wants to be all of the princesses. All of them! Especially Moana.

The New York Post recently highlighted an article on raceconscious.org about how that's probably not a good choice if your kid is white, and revealed that "moms are freaking out" over the culturally appropriative costume.

If your child's dream costume feels questionable, don't just throw up your hands and hand over your credit card. You're the parent here, and the onus of what your child wears falls on you. If your kid wears a racist costume … you're kind of wearing it too.

Recognize this: Moana is a really special character to young girls of Polynesian descent who have never seen a Disney Princess who looks like them, just like how Tiana from The Princess and the Frog likely resonated with young Black women who had waited decades to see themselves represented. White girls have plenty of princesses to choose from — there's Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty … you get the idea. If your Caucasian son or daughter doesn't get to be exactly what they wanted for Halloween, encourage them to take a step back and realize that they're awash in privileges that the real Moanas and Tianas of the world will likely never see, because the world is full of racist assholes.

To pretend to be a racial, ethnic, or religious minority when you're not makes light of their history — and reinforces a deeply problematic power dynamic, wherein white people use, then discard, pieces of cultures they've subjugated for centuries just because they can.

Disney heroine who relies on more than just her CGI perfection to save the day. But there's no better time than when a kid is in their formative years to teach them that it's not OK to mock other people's cultures.