Each and every year, eager and bright-eyed children flood costumes stores all over, from Party City to Target to Walmart, beleaguered parents following their excitement with sheepish and apologetic statements to customers and employees alike. Everyone knows the anticipatory feeling that pairs with having a killer costume for the Halloween season, whether it be for trick-or-treating, competing, or partying with friends. Some of the most well-known costumes include those that depict Native American headwear and ceremonial wear, and the use of other cultures as an outfit to put-on or take off at will are plenty present. As such, there is a hot debate over whether those who are not within a culture can partake in their symbols and garb in a way that is respectful.

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, cultural appropriation is defined as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” The Week furthers this definition: “Unlike cultural exchange, in which there is a mutual interchange, appropriation refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.” In the case of Native Americans, taking headdresses that are worn for those worthy of great respect amongst their tribe and using it for laughs during the Halloween season can be seen as majorly controversial, especially considering the history regarding America’s colonizers and the original tribes of this land. In this particular case, the Guardian says it best: “There are 564 federally recognized tribes in the US alone, but fashion smushes them into one vague stereotype with all the sophistication of a B-grade 1950s western.”

For those at the head of the campaign for ending cultural garb as a trend, the ideal would be for companies to stop producing these costumes altogether. However, a profit is a profit; the responsibility lies in the mentality of the people in order to ignite change.

Whether one believes in the offense taken by cultural appropriation or not, there are certainly bundles of costumes stocking the shelves of stores that will be all the buzz on Halloween – for positive reasons!