Racial Tension over Halloween Prop...

Is it a question of "is it a prop or not?" Does it look so "real" that one might think of it as human? Is it in a shadow that obscures the fact that its only a zombie prop?
If it is, the simplest maneuver would most likely be moving him to someplace where the fact that the zombie is a prop is more obvious. You said something about a bush, take him out of there, or stick a light on him to make him obvious.

If the situation is honestly more complected than that, if its a matter of "that zombie is (insert some variation on the human form here, no matter WHAT it is)" then make him more zombie and a LOT less human... turn him more green or slather on more gore, you know later stages of zombie development...

Just make it very obvious that this prop is a prop zombie and not some perceived racial commentary thing....
I don't have a picture of the prop in question so I cant make a specific determination. The image of the mask is gone BTW.

You can never satisfy everyone of course. If this woman had told me the same thing, i would have assured her that it was not what she was thinking and told her to have a nice day. If you are firmly within your rights (and the prop does'nt convey hatred or prejudice toward anyone) i would stay on the high ground (and she can climb off her soap-box) and continue on with the display. It was meant as a horror display and nothing more. As Sigmund Freud once said "somes a cigar is just a cigar" and how right he was. I would'nt get involved with the hoopla over this. I can understand certain "sensitivities" towards things like this but c'mon, this woman must be off her rocker to make such a claim. Brush her off as a busybody wack-job and stay the course, that is, unless you have a Zombie loving whack job living near you as well........

So, she's ok if it looks like a Hispanic man hiding in the bush? How about Caucasian? Eskimo? Neanderthal? Green alien? If you really had a racist display, like a giant burning cross and zombies parading by with torches and white hoods or something, I would agree with her that you should rethink it. Having one person with a wild imagination and sense that everything is race related is one thing, but blatant racism is something completely different.

It's great to be sensitive towards racial issues but, no matter what you do, someone will be able to say what you do is racist. You'll either be saying something negative about some race without even knowing you did it (like your zombie), something positive about your race, which will be seen as cutting down someone else's race, or something positive about another race which will be read as negative towards all of the other races that weren't included. You just can't win. Better go hide under a rock while you can. Oops, don't do that. You might offend the rocks.

Seriously, I would not change anything because one person has a problem with it. How does she know what the people doing double takes are thinking. If it's negative, it's probably because a lot of people think you're crazy to put so much effort into Halloween and set up so early, unless you're one of those "demon worshipers" or something. More than likely they're doing a double take because it's so rare to see displays that are more than just a pumpkin on the front porch and a paper witch in the window. Is it bad to do a double take at a big Christmas light display? Maybe. That Santa could be too fat and you'll offend the obese. (There's another holiday for you to offend entire classes of people unintentionally!) If she looks at a zombie and sees black people hiding in the bushes, she has a big problem you're not going to be able to fix, no matter how politically correct you try to be. Relax and go back to what you were doing 5 minutes before her comment. Spending time with your kids and making something you can all be proud of that will also bring enjoyment to tons of others. Don't let one person's comments ruin your Halloween.



(I apologize to all of the Blacks, Hispanics, Caucasians, Eskimos, Neanderthals, Aliens, and Rocks I may have offended. All opinions are mine alone and are not intended to offend. If you took offense to them, look closer at yourself and please grow up. Oh, I now apologize to those who don't want to grow up. I didn't mean to say what you do is wrong or anything.)