Of all the reasons to be offended by Halloween — schools that scrap their celebrations for fear of wounding political correctness, people who hate on candy corn — you’d think jack-o’-lanterns would be pretty far down the list.
Alas, employees at a New York law firm removed some black pumpkins from its doorstep this week after a complaint that the dark pumpkins with white features were racially insensitive. More significantly, Bed Bath and Beyond followed suit by pulling the pumpkins from its shelves, according to News 12.
Less than 48 hours after setting up the pumpkins, which playfully displayed the names of each partner at the firm, employees at Feerick, Nugent, MacCartney Law Offices took them down in response to complaints.
The store says it took action after News 12 reached out but would not say if it had received any other complaints – https://t.co/Lg8rSYwcbH
— News12WC (@News12WC) October 21, 2019
“… for blackface use”? Yes, I’m afraid that’s what it says.
“We understand that someone complained about them, and so once we got word of that we immediately took them down,” Mary Marzolla, a partner at the law firm, told News 12. “We represent people of all colors and faiths, and we would never do anything to exclude anyone from any community.”
Alak Shah, an associate at the firm, said he wasn’t personally offended by the pumpkins, but “since it did offend someone, we took proactive steps to take it down.”
When it comes to concerns over carved pumpkins, we ought to consider how sensitivity can descend into absurdity. They’re just pumpkins, and they’re black. It’s not blackface.
We already know that fashion has a blackface problem, as do politicians ranging from Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. From clueless politicians to the truly strange Gucci sweater, there are many instances of racial insensitivity that merit a call-out. But then, sometimes a pumpkin is just a pumpkin.
Local NAACP Director Wilbur Aldridge said the black jack-o’-lanterns demonstrated an “extreme lack of sensitivity.” No, not really. They are just decorations, and they happen to be black, the other traditional Halloween color aside from orange.
Without such hyperbole, it would be easier for all of us to enjoy harmless holiday decor. Then we could criticize things that really matter.
