Black character for World Book Day?

[WorldBookDayChoice]

My almost four year old is white with wavy/curly hair. She has a story book whose main character is black with curly hair, and DD has always said this character looks like her. She now wants to dress as this girl for WBD. In practice this will just mean wearing specific coloured clothes and holding the book up, but she's also mentioned making her hair even curlier to match the character's hair.

Basically is this okay? Or disrespectful?

YANBU it's okay
YABU it's not okay

I’m mixed heritage. I think different poc would feel differently about it. On the one hand you wouldn’t want any poc to feel they couldn’t come as a white character; on the other the history of white people dressing up as poc is grim and tone deaf.

So - I don’t know. I wouldn’t do anything to her hair, it’s a loaded issue for people with African heritage.

I think it depends on what the character is, surely?

I would never, for example. let my white DD dress up as Moana.

Just seen the book.

Fine to match the clothes but would leave her hair alone.

Nothing wrong with it at all so long as you don't paint her face black. The curly hair is neither here nor there.

Honestly I didn't see the bit about her hair before. That's a no in my opinion but dressing like the book character is fine.

Gonna read the whole thread shortly.

Please don't stop her imagination, fun amd having a black role model. She's just 4.

I'm a black mumsnetter. If anyone wants to beef me over my opinion have at it.

I have been wondering the same about Ada Twist.

It's completely acceptable IMO
Movies coming out now don't adhere to certain ethnic groups playing certain roles as they are characters, not real people. Anyone can play Cinderella, The little mermaid, Tiana. It's all fine nowadays

I imagine a lot of girls will want to dress up as the Little Mermaid and have mermaid parties after the new film came out. I don't see a problem with wearing the same costume as your favourite character.

The hair would be a line for me. Children with afro hair are still unfairly penalised by school uniform codes, and still have to deal with people touching their hair without permission. There are only really just now swim caps for afro hair coming out in the UK that are affordable in comparison with swim caps for white hair. It's complicated and by just styling your daughter's hair in that style I think you'd be over simplifying something that is still a political issue.

As long as you don't face paint her brown this is fine I think.

I think it's fine but maybe just dress up like the character not do the hair

I wouldn't do this personally.

What is the book @WorldBookDayChoice and what is the name of the character?

What’s wrong with making her hair more curly? People of different races “make their hair more curly” or straighter depending on their personal preferences. Straight- haired people sometimes pay big money for curls, some curly-haired people straighten their hair. Your post is making it all about the hair.
And on noses… don’t get me started about the lengths some go to, to have shapes that they prefer. It’s not always about race.
Let’s not even talk about the surgical processes to get bigger hips, butts etc… and this too is not about race…The child should go as her chooses character and enjoy it.

My very pasty white son went as an Asian character for WBD - a samurai - but clothing only obvs. No one blinked.

10ThousandSpoons - How can a 3 year old be racist? They wouldn't even understand what the word meant.

A tiny child, who knows nothing of history, likes and admires a character who happens to be black. She'll learn about more about the world eventually, but right now she just loves that character, and is essentially colour-blind. That's lovely and absolutely fine for a three-year-old.

Don't we want little children to feel that way? When I was small, it wouldn't have occurred to me to dress as a black character because there simply weren't any for me to choose from. No black Disney characters, no black storybook heroines.

Some people here seem to prefer the idea that little white children should stay well away from anything to do with black people.

OP - I think it's fine for your daughter to go as her favourite character.

Maybe move your question to the Black Mumsnetters board, OP?

My (white) DD went as ADA Twist Scientist last year, who is black or mixed race. I just copied the hair style (bunches) and back-combed DDs to give a bit more volume.

It's her white privilege??!!! Are you having a laugh? She's 4!

Yes I think I agree with this.

She's four. She likes the book. No other explanation needed

In my opinion it's views like yours that encourage racism not ops

I wouldn’t let her mimic the character’s hair texture. There’s too much history and culture associated with black peoples hair for it to be used as part of a costume by any non black person.

Dressing up as a black character that she looks up to is fine though (in fact, it’s a really positive thing, IMO).

I could understand people being upset if you said you were going to put her hair in cornrows but are people really upset that you might plait her hair and let it down to be a tiny bit more curly? It won't look anything like natural black hair to anyone but dd who is just basing herself on the 2D pictures in her book.