WaPo: How Did a Costume Resembling Blackface Make It Into Target's Offerings? Systemic Racism.

Our own Just Mindy wrote about this on Tuesday in a VIP post, so for you non-VIPs out there (shame on you!), here's the gist. Target apologized for posting a Halloween costume that some people immediately associated with blackface … even though the child modeling the costume was black. "Personally, I don't think Target meant to offend anyone. Clearly, that would be very bad business. I do think the costume is overall just ugly and secondly, not a good look," Mindy wrote.

Here's the offensive "Blacklight Circus Clown" costume before it was pulled:

Target apologizes for ‘offensive’ Halloween costume after being accused of ‘blackface.’

“We got this wrong and we are deeply sorry.”

The retailer has removed its kids ‘Blacklight Circus Clown’ costume after backlash from black customers. pic.twitter.com/6gYbZZ1Rbq
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 25, 2026

If it was a white kid modeling the costume, no one would have thought twice, except for perhaps, "That's ugly."

The following day, The Washington Post was out with a piece on how the costume scandal comes down to "the systemic, institutionalized racial discrimination that Black Americans have experienced."

Column: How did a costume resembling blackface make it into Target’s offerings?

It always comes down to the money — or more specifically, the systemic, institutionalized racial discrimination that Black Americans have experienced. https://t.co/YQQAXmPEQh
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 26, 2026

Michelle Singletary writes:

The kid looked like a miniature Sambo-style caricature, a trope that still makes me mad. It was part of a degrading history that should stay in the past, one where Black people were depicted as baboonish clowns. To understand today’s outrage, you have to know how these characters were used to justify treating Black Americans as second-class citizens.
Blackface imagery was prominent during the Jim Crow era and featured on postcards, cookie jars and other retail items that showed exaggerated dark faces with bright red or white grinning lips. There were “pickaninny” characters showing Black children with unkempt clothes and hair.
Who in the world would have approved that costume? How did it ever make it into the retailer’s offerings?