I recently wrote about one of the cosplayers I followed, named Ashley a.k.a Squidkid, in a recent post, and my thoughts were not all the way finished on the matter.

This incident, the one in which Ashley took her life due to bullying and harassment based on her skin color, should not have taken place. As I wrote my post, I realized that there were no charities or groups in which I could give money for the specific cause. There were groups scattered here and there, but there was no dedicated group to support black cosplayers.

Since the beginning of my cosplay career, I have been hosting and moderating panels that talk about how important it is to have these spaces within the community (check out my Creativity in Cosplay panel), and this is the very reason why they matter. I am considering starting a charity that gives back to the POC community myself, because of how needed these spaces are.

I have been taking time this year to reflect, and have not been posting on social media. As an observer, I have been heavily discouraged from posting for similar reasons to Ashley. Feeling like I wasn’t good enough or that I simply could not emulate a character ‘perfectly’ because I wasn’t fair-skinned. This incident has lit a fire under me to create that community once more. So let’s talk about the elephant in the room: blatant racism within the cosplay community.

Every single black identifying cosplayer I have met has told me a story of harassment. Whether it was online or in person at conventions, I have yet to meet a single cosplayer who has not dealt with ethnically or racially targeted bullying.

Imagine dealing with some level of harassment already existing as a black individual, and then, when indulging in a medium that you take part in for fun, an additional wave of harassment hits. This is what black cosplayers deal with daily.

“<insert said character> is not black”

“You have ruined this character.”

“This is not accurate to the character.”

I have seen and heard a million variations of these statements. Cosplay is a form of art, an art form that can be expressed in so many different ways that I cannot understand or imagine why anyone chooses to put such restrictions on this medium. Comparing real-life humans to fictional characters, drawn with ungodly proportions, often holding bigger-than-life weapons or props, is not healthy. Bringing real-world hate into the fictional world and stories.

Let EVERYONE have the chance to do what they love. How does anyone else enjoying the same medium offend? Quite literally, we are all playing pretend and letting our inner child free. If you find yourself critically fixated on someone else’s cosplay, that may be a sign to touch grass.