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

So I take it you’d never wear a sarong then?

Apologies to @ComtesseDeSpair - that is my fault for not reading the whole thread (RTFT exists for a reason, lesson learned)

Probably not personally. The sarong has no symbolic meaning to SE Asian people but if someone from that background had issue with it, I would listen to them and try and learn why.

SE Asian people comprise a variety of ethnic groups and cultures and yet you have just dismissed a sarong as “ having no symbolic meaning “?

Because individual backgrounds are nuanced and varied and not one dimensional.

It's important to avoid stereotypes and to teach our children what a stereotype is and why we try to avoid stereotyping.

It's more trouble to find and adhere to the fine lines in a portrayal of a character than it is to just slap on a costume and do hair, but the message around stereotyping is worth teaching.

Ultimately, focusing on a physical representation of a character, or a character's accent, can reinforce stereotypes.

Then you should have read the thread. Your post absolutely is telling them that they are in the wrong for being uncomfortable with the OP’s suggestion - unless your second paragraph isn’t meant to relate to the post you quoted, in which case, I really think you should’ve made that clear.

And, fwiw, I do believe that a person’s race does give them authority on a matter of potential racism directed against that race, even if they cannot express it to an arbitrary level of satisfaction.

Because it doesn’t appear to? Not from anything I have read. Happy to be corrected - we are all constantly learning.

Agree.

Please don't do the hair modification, OP.

It's important to avoid stereotypes and to teach our children what a stereotype is and why we try to avoid stereotyping

But why are you assuming that's happening? If the children are responding so positively to a character, there will be multiple reasons for that. I don't understand why you would reduce this to 'stereotypes'

Dressing up as Anne Frank for world book day seems hideously distasteful to me.

But OP's daughter would be curling her hair to look like this specific character, not to look more black.

Anne Frank did not have a distinctive nose. Are you being deliberately anti Semitic?

Ultimately, focusing on a physical representation of a character, or a character's accent, can reinforce stereotypes.

But how else can they represent the character for world book day other than physically? If it's done with respect and from a place of admiration, what could he the issue with that?

But that's literally the whole point of dressing up as someone...to look like them. You aren't doing it to represent the finer points of their character! Black people don't all have curly hair but this particular one does. I'd suggest copying the hairstyle instead e.g. does she wear her hair loose or tied back etc

She’s a 4yr old who likes a book character, I don’t see the problem. I’m asian and would have no problem with a white child getting dressed up as a asian character from a book.

Truly society is fucked when this can cause outrage. Who wants kids to be hyper aware of race from an early age, why introduce anxiety about how they interact with other people for no damn reason. Theres a difference between saying “everyone is different and thats ok” and “dear god no! Don’t dress up like, you may as well dress up as a klansman DD”.

I'm white so don't think I should vote on it it's acceptable or not. Black people should get the final say.

But I do think white people should be reading books with black characters. What if it were the other way around and we said black people cant read books about white people? If it were taking resources or protection or something substantial from black people then it would be wrong but to me recognising a non white character is a good thing? If we tell a child to avoid choosing a character because they are a different colour who it this the message we want kids to hear?

I know I've learned a lot about things I don't experience in my life from books. I would be so incredibly ignorant of other people who are different if I couldn't read work about them

A white child has much more in common with the mixed race child in the book than they do with Cinderella or a flipping mermaid.... People are so hung up on skin colour they can't see past it.

Anyway wbd is about a favourite book not about identifying with a character. It's perfectly possible to love a book without identifying with anyone in it. People are disappearing down rabbit holes over this.

I think its beautiful. She just sees another girl who she loves and has curly hair like her.

Well you are very welcome to do your own research!! The history of clothing is complex and continuously evolving - you quoted in your earlier post about puletasi worn in Samoa, some forms of clothing in many of the pacific islands arose partly because of the incursion of Christian missionaries who, rather distressed by the amount of bare breasts and body parts on show, encouraged women to cover up and adopt modest clothing. Moana in that day and age would be more like topless and wearing something around her waist. It’s incredibly easy to go down the route as saying that only x should wear y but that only works if we think that people of any colour or culture should literally only marry and reproduce with people of their “own” colour or culture. When you start having a mix of cultures in your own background you start to realise how there are still people in this world who want to continue to separate us out and continually reinforce difference …I really don’t get why? It’s fab that a child these days can admire people of all backgrounds, I’d far rather this than be back in my childhood…anyone for a blond ,slim, americanised Barbie?

Anyway wbd is about a favourite book not about identifying with a character.

But equally, why wouldn't children identify with a character - because they are brave, funny, kind, adventurous, mischievous - hundreds of reasons that haven't got anything to do with skin colour?

On a side note, I'm olive skinned, black haired, mixed ethnicity. When I was told by an adult as a kid I couldn't be Wednesday Addams as I wasn't pale enough I was fucking crushed.

I wasn’t trying to be, no. I was remembering a thread from last year which went on for some time about whether or not a non-Jewish actor portraying a (real) Jewish person in a movie was inappropriate in wearing a prosthetic nose to look more like that person.

But I suppose this a real life “Explain it to somebody as if they were 5” example. If your small DC said they wanted to colour their face to look more like the beautiful brown skin of an admired black character, would you paint their face? If they wanted to make their eyes look more like the lovely almond eyes of an admired Japanese character, would you tape their eyes back? If not, why not? Both of these examples are just about a small child wanting to look more like an admired character, there’s no suggestion that it’s about mockery. But I’m guessing (and hoping) that most people on this thread would say absolutely not to both of those. So how do you explain to a small child that it’s not okay to make their eyes or their skin look like the character of a different race that they really like, but it is okay to make their hair like theirs? What’s the reasoning?

This is a good question, I think it's that blackface, false noses, taped eyes etc are caricature and mocking. People don't do these things unless wanting to impersonate and historically it has never been a positive impersonation when these things have happened.

I just want to reiterate that there was never any question of me painting her face. She has not mentioned it but even if she did, it would not be happening

But the hair is something we do anyway. She has curly hair and she knows if she asks for me to plait it or put mini bunches in etc it will be even curlier in the morning, sometimes that's what she wants, sometimes she wants it conditioned and blow dried a bit straighter (albeit it is never fully straight). To me she is beautiful either way and I tell her so

The character has jeans, red jumper and yellow wellies. DD has all these things anyway, so it could conceivably have happened that she has ended up in that exact outfit on one of the days when she has curly hair! Obviously I know it's different when it's not just a coincidence and the intention is to emulate someone else. But I guess I'm not sure what the justification is for saying to her ok we can do the hair on some days, but when you want to do it to look like this girl you like, no we can't do it on that day.

When she's said in the past that this girl looks like her, I've never asked specifically, but I'm assuming it's the hair that she's picking up on

But I fully appreciate that might be too simplistic hence why I'm asking. I mean no offence to anyone.

It's world book day. A child only needs a loose interpretation of a character, not an exact impersonation.

Similar clothes will be fine .

Anyone who would have an issue with a 4 year old dressing as a character in a book that they admire has a problem.
Those objecting: does that mean black children can only dress as white characters? Black s tors can o it play “white” characters, etc? That would severely limit their careers.

No, that’s not what it means.

HTH.