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 once sent my DC in a gruffalo costume (he was obsessed) and painted his whole face brown to match. I now look back and cringe! What must the teacher's have thought? It honestly didn't cross my mind at all to think this was not ok. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

My non white DD would always dress up as white characters.

No one ever had any issue with it and never made any sort of remark about her not looking like them.

As PPs have said, it’s lovely that kids can identify with these characters and not see their race as something that is a barrier.

But no one's aiming to mimic the characters hair texture, she just wants to plait her hair over night to make it a little bit more curly.

Really? I posted on there once and was told I wasn’t welcome because I was mixed so didn’t think they appropriate non black people posting.

This is absolutely fine!
Please do not worry.

Black face is only offensive if it’s trying to look like a black person because of the history of black face.

The gruffalo or the green witch from wicked etc aren’t racist.

Thank you!

Obviously the gruffalo is brown and is NOT a person, which is probably why it didn't even enter my head. But I still literally painted his whole face dark brown and I feel like some people would freak out over it! I wouldn't do it now.

The teacher honestly gave me a raised eyebrow 😂

We had a dress as an important person from history day.

One went as the captain of the titanic
One went as an explorer
One went as Muhammad Ali (she's ginger and white)

I didn't give it a second thought to be honest. She admired him (she does boxing) so put her gloves on and went as him.

She's not curling her hair to look more black. She's curling it to look more like the character she admires, who happens to be black. A 4 year old is seeing the similarities between her and the character, not the differences.
I wouldn't make her innocence of the world , a problem. Just let her be.

I think OK, but would not were there any blacking up.

I'm black OP. Its nice you are checking we ALL have to learn. It's fine OP let your DD have her hair even curlier too! It would be different if you was mocking but you dont sound like you are to me.

My daughter is mixed race black/white, she likes little mermaid 🧜‍♀️ and all the white Disney princesses and the non white ones, I don't think it matters at that age they are just dressing up and showing appreciation for a fictional or non fictional character for just a day.

Why not?

I'm of Asian origin and honestly, I'd be happy to see a child dressed up as a non white character. It would show other people that non white characters can be someone to aspire to.

For whatever it's worth my own children usually dress as some white character or the other. Just because that's what they are mostly exposed to. Obviously, no one questions that but then does white really have to be the default? So yes, I'd applaud your child for giving publicity to a non white character.

Tell her she's not black therefore cannot identify with a black character in the same way she can with a white one

My black niece has straightened her hair and gone as Hermoine Granger and Taylor Swift for Halloween within the last few years. Am I to tell her shes not white so she cannot identify with these ladies?

So many characters in children's books, especially older books, are white. Can a black child not dress as one of these? Superman?

Because that’s cultural appropriation. My daughter isn’t Polynesian. Culture isn’t a costume.

plenty of other things for her to dress up as.

@ComtesseDeSpair if you find it hard to articulate why something makes you uncomfortable, maybe you should examine whether your discomfort is rational or based on a fear of being seen to do the “wrong” thing, despite not knowing why that thing is wrong.

I’m so tired of our society sleepwalking into a more segregated unforgiving way of being. Of course it’s important to be respectful of and make space for all cultures, but when a child is celebrating a fictional character of a different ethnicity to them (no awful blacking up) and we discourage it, what message do we give them? Should they not have those as favourite characters, or read such books at all, because they can’t fully identify with the character’s ethnicity? Of course not, yet this lazy fearful thinking will create a more divided world, not an inclusive one

I dont know about Moana or if the mlvie is controversial or offensive in some way. Also, I am not Polynesian either and I can't speak for anyone Polynesian or for anyone from any other culture but if a child dressed as someone as a character from my culture and wore our traditional clothes I wouldn't be offended. I'd like it.

Most characters, and in particular, historical characters, belong to a culture. If you dress up as a character you'd wear the clothes they'd be wearing or do your hair the way they would do it.

I can't say I'm super well informed about cultural appropriation but I do get that it's unfair that for instance when my mother wears a saree or any other traditional dress she gets looked down on and when a white person does they don't get treated badly but it's different with world book day I think.

The kids are meant to dress as someone they look up to. A character they love and admire. Promoting this character and openly dressing like them normalises that characters of colours and that by extension people of colour can be someone admirable or brilliant. It shows that white doesn't have to be the default when it comes to characters we admire or love. I think that's something very positive.

Of course not, yet this lazy fearful thinking will create a more divided world, not an inclusive one

Exactly this.

Little children are honouring characters they admire, love, relate to. Why on earth would we tell them that characters from different backgrounds, different to their own, are out of bounds?

It’s pretty uncomfortable reading when posters start telling a PP who is mixed race (according to their longer post explaining their feelings) what they should be comfortable with, and blaming them for divisions in society…

If someone is uncomfortable with a portrayal of features or characteristics from their heritage, nobody has the right to dismiss that out of hand.

If she really wanted to dress as Moana I would perhaps put her in a red top and yellow skirt with a flower in her hair perhaps.

There is huge cultural significance of a Puletasi, Ta’ovala, Masi, Tabua, Salusalu, Lei, Valatao, Kiekie. That’s not my culture. It’s not a costume. It’s not for me.

there are other ways to appreciate other cultures than dressing up with items that have real importance to people.

It’s important that any argument can be expressed coherently, whatever reasoning that argument may be based on. A person’s race doesn’t give them absolute authority, whatever race they are, if they cannot make their argument.

It’s this sort of “right side of history” and “just be kind” thinking that takes us down rabbit holes that aren’t thought out, just blindly accepted for fear of not being “nice”.

I’m not telling the poster how to feel, I am expressing my belief that it is worth reflecting on why they cannot articulate their discomfort. Perhaps that reflection will help them to do so, and persuade others.

Fwiw that poster did articulate it later in the thread

I can't see the issue in doing a hair style you'd normally do anyway to accentuate her curls, to go with the outfit shes picked in order to look more like the character.

You're not using a wig, you're not taking dead straight hair and trying to make it look like tightly curled hair of a totally different texture, you're not changing the colour of any hair or skin.

Thanks for expanding on this, I was also wondering why. I understand that there's definitely a difference between just wearing the day to day clothes a person wears vs the ceremonial dress of their culture, or items that are earned etc.