PrintOctober 17, 2009
Wise Latinas Spike Illegal Alien Costumes at Target
Like me, you might have wondered what all the rest of America's wise Latinas have been up to now that Justice Sotomayor has assumed her position on the U.S. Supreme Court. Well it seems that the Facebook site, "Wise Latinas Linked" is organizing busybodies to subtract every last trace of whimsy from Halloween celebrations this year.
Apparently the discount retailer Target was offering a space alien costume for this Halloween season featuring a Star Wars creature look-alike in an orange jumpsuit with the words "Illegal Alien" printed on the chest.It was offered complete with a generic "Green Card." Perhaps the Wise Latinas believe that Mexican-Americans should have a monopoly on the concept of "Illegal Aliens."
Target issued the clumsiest and most transparent of apologies in announcing it was withdrawing the costume from its website. Jackie Crosby of the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis writes:
"Target spokesman Joshua Thomas said the item was put on its website by mistake when an employee entered a wrong number into the system. Target has a strict review process with its vendors, he said. "We apologize. This was never intended to be part of our assortment. We are moving as quickly as possible to remove it from our website."
I suppose the retraction was issued on the website in Spanish as well.
A spokes-Latina for the League of United Latin American Citizens, Lizette Olmos, was quoted:
"It's really disturbing," Olmos said. Besides the complaint about Target, the organization has received a number of others this year about costumes that she said are racist and degrading.
Apparently the wise Latinas missed the various "Sexy Illegal Alien" costumes offered at several sites, most of them sold out, I might add. Other costumes banned or restricted or just plain tasteless this year include:
4.) Tighty Whitey
6.) Mac Daddy
So lighten up a bit there ladies! As you can plainly see, no particular group is singled out for derision, it's simply time to drop the grim agenda-driven humorlessness and take a light-hearted look at ourselves. Don't let your petulant political correctness take all the fun out of Halloween. And don't make me break out my Wide Latina costume!
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target
