'Don't Care About Black Folks': Outrage Over Target’s Blackface-Evoking Kids Costume

Target pulled a children’s Halloween costume after customers said its imagery evoked blackface and racist caricatures. The company apologized, but the backlash did not stop there.

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Target is facing outrage after a children’s Halloween costume sold on its website was criticized for evoking blackface and racist caricatures.

The $25 costume appeared in Target’s Halloween collection. Critics pointed to the dark hood, gloves, and the use of a Black child to model the outfit, arguing that the imagery resembled racist caricatures historically associated with blackface and minstrel shows.

Target pulled the costume and apologized, saying the product was offensive, should never have been part of its assortment, and was especially hurtful to Black guests, team members, and partners.

Roland Martin immediately pressed the bigger accountability question: how did something this offensive make it through every step of a major corporation’s internal process and reach the public for sale?

The panel was even harsher. Dr. Katrina Gamble, CEO of Sojourn Strategies, rejected the idea that an apology alone was enough and demanded an explanation of how Target’s internal process failed. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Former Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice at the EPA, said Target keeps making “mistake after mistake after mistake,” rejected the apology, and argued that Black consumers must stop “funding our own oppression.” Wen-kuni Céant, Co-Founder & CEO of Politicking, traced the imagery directly to the racist history of blackface and Jim Crow and said Target “doesn’t have the right people in the room.”

Stay tune for a RMU flashback at the end ...

#RolandMartinUnfiltered #BlackStarNetwork #Target #Blackface #JimCrow #BlackConsumers #CorporateAccountability

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