Earlier this month, the Benjamin Franklin Day Elementary School in Seattle caved to team woke and cancelled their annual Halloween celebration. When asked for the reason the school ruined the joy of so many children, the school responded by claiming that Halloween is not inclusive to all children.

The elementary school released a statement to KTTH Radio suggesting that the holiday is distracting and “uncomfortable for kids” and it “marginalizes students of color who do not celebrate the holiday.”

“Halloween is a very complex issue for schools. Yes, I agree this event marginalized our students of color. Several of our students historically opted for an alternate activity in the library while the Pumpkin Parade took place. This was an isolating situation and not consistent with our values of being an inclusive and safe place for all our students — especially students of color and those with a sensitivity to all the noise and excitement of the parade,” said School principal Stanley Jaskot.

Instead of Halloween fun, kids at Ben Franklin Elementary will partake in “fall events,” like “thematic units of study about the fall” and reviewing “autumnal artwork,” according to the school’s newsletter put out on October 8.

Ironically enough, the cancelling of Halloween by school officials is being called an act of “white privilege” by the anti-woke crowd, and they are right. Vivek Ramaswamy, author of “Woke Inc.” referred to the school’s decision as an exercise in “white privilege” by blaming the holiday instead of the school’s failed policies of including all students.

Parents of children at the school also agree. David Malkin, whose 7-year-old son attends the school called the decision an “exercise in affluent white vanity that is wokeism.”

“I don’t see any way in which this actually addresses any inequities to the extent that there are any inequities,” Malkin told Jason Rantz, host of the show on KTTH Radio. “You know, this just seems like grandstanding on behalf of the principal and the staff who are predominantly white.”

Malkin, who is Asian, said parents weren’t involved in the decision.

Unfortunately, it seems that this wokeism is spreading and people like principal Stanley Jaskot cannot help but act as the great white saviors of folks they claim are oppressed. All the while they remain entirely oblivious to the fact that they are further perpetuating racism by claiming that their actions and their actions alone, are the only thing that can save minorities from their ostensible constant plight.

The great white savior role only serves to further the victimization of minorities by constantly telling them they are victims and that they need woke white principals to come to their aid or else they’ll continue to be persecuted. It’s an endless loop of negative feedback that has no end in sight and is beginning to grow into a leviathan of mass censorship and divide.

The Anti-Defamation League, who claim to prevent such hatred and divide but who actually serve to perpetuate it, weighed in on Halloween this year too, giving us a list of acceptable costumes and activities that don’t offend. Anything short of wearing a brown potato sack, according to the ADL, aids in the perpetuation of stereotypes, cultural appropriation, racism, bigotry, and gender norms.

Like the folks at the Ben Franklin Elementary school, instead of allowing kids to have fun for Halloween, the ADL is advocating for parents to explain to their children how a 7-year-old girl dressing as a princess is oppressive to trans people by promoting gender norms and how “many Halloween costumes perpetuate gender stereotypes and exclude those who don’t conform to traditional gender norms, especially those who are transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming.”

Instead of allowing kids to go trick-or-treating in the outfit of their choosing, we should discuss why “costumes based on stereotypical representations of ethnic groups (e.g., dressing like an “Italian” or “Mexican”) generalize groups of people, which is a detriment to fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment.”

Sadly, the folks at the ADL and the elementary school and all the other folks — who likely have very well-meaning intentions but are clearly confused — are missing the entire point. Just because some kid wears a costume that alludes to another culture, does not mean that kid is racist or participating in cultural appropriation. It’s a kid and they are having fun.

The ADL and the rest of the woke supremacists are sucking the fun out of Halloween by constantly searching for the oppressive nature of all the things. If we look hard enough at literally anything, we can find something to complain about. Even bobbing for apples could be considered cultural appropriation of traditional Celtic societies from the 18th century. There is no end to the ridiculousness that ensues.

That’s a miserable existence and only leads to a humorless society and eventually, dark times. It’s okay to have fun and it is also okay to fight for social justice but claiming every aspect of our lives is a battle is simply not true. Life is nuanced and it should be traversed as such.

Halloween is fun for the entire reason that it is not politically correct. Kids and adults expressing themselves by dressing up in costumes does not make them a racist, transphobe, Islamophobe, anti-Semite, misogynist ableist, or classist. It makes them human beings having fun.

Contrary to what team woke will have us believe, though there is actual provable disparity in this country, not everyone is oppressed. Those who constantly attempt to relate everything to racism or transphobia or marginalization are doing a disservice to groups who are affected by actual implementation of this hatred and oppression.

Zimbabwean-born author, Africa Brooke summed up this point perfectly in an open letter she wrote when she left the woke cult, stating that:

“A world that tells me that because I inhabit a black body; I will forever be oppressed and at the mercy of some omnipresent monster called “whiteness.” That because of the color of my skin; I am a victim of an inherently racist system by default – and me rejecting the narrative of oppression means that I am in fact, in denial. How empowering!

As someone who comes from Zimbabwe, a country where the general population is truly oppressed, it perplexes me that oppression is now being worn as an identity piece in most parts of the West, especially by those who claim to be “progressive.”
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What I’m truly afraid of is existing in a world that forces me to consider the color of my skin and my gender (and that of others) at every f***ing turn, instead of living by Martin Luther King’s teachings and prioritizing the content of mine and other people’s character.

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This absolutist, authoritarian world is being fiercely crafted under the guise of “social justice,” and I want no parts in this. I AM OUT.

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I believe that we should all have equal rights and opportunities, and I’m also realistic about the differences we have as human beings – I celebrate those differences. In a world obsessed with labels and titles, I would rather let my values and actions speak for themselves. I was raised to not judge people based on the color of their skin, gender, class etc – no matter what. And that’s what I’ll continue to do.

We agree and you should spend this Halloween however you would like to. Dress up, or don’t. Fight for social justice, or don’t. When you move from following your own path to forcing me to follow the same one, that is where we should all draw the line.

Article posted with permission from Matt Agorist