My Take: By Gordon Lambie

It doesn’t have to be a fight.
When someone says, “hey, there’s a problem with this costume idea,” it’s possible to just say “okay,” and then not do that thing anymore. Societal change wouldn’t necessarily happen overnight, but at the end of the day, problematic Halloween costumes is just one more area where the base issue is one person not listening to the other. If your default reaction when someone tells you that a costume is offensive is to defend the costume and not the person, then I’m confused about your priorities.
It’s important to recognize when there is a broader context behind a costume idea, and then to take the time understand what that context is. When dressing up is literally putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, is it really that much of a stretch to try to see things from a different perspective?