Halloween has become the favorite holiday for exhibitionists, racists and bloggers looking for something to write.

Last year I put a whole bunch of words on a page about racist costumes. Trayvon was hot last year, so were such evergreens as “Blackface tuxedo people”, worn at a costume party in Europe, and the simple generic “savage” which adorned several young men at a jungle themed birthday party in Australia. I should point out that none of the folks who wore these costumes were racists. That’s what they said, and who am I to disagree. After all, some of their best friends are Black.

This year we I have already seen two Ray Rices, one adult who was accompanied by a black and blue but smiling -none the less- Mrs. Rice, and a child who held a battered doll. All three were in Black face… Or should I say, Rice face. I’d hate to offend any racist Halloween purists who wore actual Blackface. They surfaced weeks ago. Why? Are there so many racist holloween costumes hitting the streets tonight that they wanted to get ahead of the curve? After all, nobody bats an eye at the seventh Ray Rice costume. If your first, you guarantee yourself some of that lovely internet fame.

It’s sad that my suffering amuses others.

Said Vanay Rice, who obviously doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.

Also, thanks to facebook I found that at least two families in America felt that hanging people from trees would be super scary. Which, of course, it was. Between 1882 and 1968, close to 5,000 people were hung from trees, just like their scary Halloween decorations. Three fourths of those were Black. Spooooooky! In a stomach turning, genuinely unnerving and overtly threatening kind of way. They really get Halloween.

I’m not going to touch the slutoween costumes. I mean, if you want to go out as a sexy ebola nurse, who am I to stop you? Express yourself, be it through a sexy staypuff Marshmellow Man or a sexy jellyfish. I get it. Most of us spend our lives wearing clothes we hate, going to jobs that force us to act like watered down versions of who we really are. If you are living a minivan lifestyle, why the hell can’t you pretend to be a muscle car once a year?

But, is that why all of those “non racists” decide to dress up as Black pimps or Black gang bangers (there are white versions of both, by the way)?  Is it freeing, to present yourself to the world as a hateful caricature of someone  like  Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown? I mean, after a whole year of pretending we’re all equal, you’re probably chomping at the bit to show the world the person that you wish you could be. Funny and clever, and thought provoking, like Ted Nugent and other great thinkers.

Because, let’s be clear. It isn’t funny, or clever, or thought provoking. It’s just racist, which I’m sure none of them are. Because they all said that they weren’t.