One costume to rule them all. . .

It being Halloween time, any resident of the blogosphere has seen posts after posts about racist Halloween costumes. I have one I’d like to share, from my own circle of acquaintances: (T/W extreme poor taste after the jump. . .)

[Image shows two young, college-age males; one, white, is dressed in a poor Amish approximation of farmer-type garb; the other, black, is shirtless, a rope tied about neck and waist, has hands in chains and is kneeling].

My biggest problem with this costume is not what they are portraying, but what this communicates to their audience. The racial dynamics of shit like this can and will be picked apart by thinkers and writers, turned upside down, shaken out, dissected, and graded. But these assholes showed up to a Halloween party in Iowa, likely full of white kids with little or no enlightenment beyond public school “separate drinking fountains are wrong”, and by their very presence reminded all present that racism doesn’t exist anymore, that racist humor hurts no one, and that the presence or involvement of a POC negates any racist intent (phoning the TEA Party!).

Commenters, I’m having a hard time elucidating my disgruntled ass more than this. What are your reactions?