Cosplay is a staple of the comic book/sci-fi/fantasy community.

As the industry becomes more mainstream and conventions continue to gain traction as big revenue generators for corporations involved, every facet of the genre is increasingly accepted, including cosplay.

The term was coined as an abbreviation of costume role-play by Nobuyuki Takahashi at the 1984 Worldcon, but the practice itself goes back much further. Since then, the cosplayer community has only gotten bigger, better, and more dedicated to the cause every year, sometimes working for weeks on custom-made fits that’ll earn them legendary status for their cocky fresh interpretation of favorite characters. Cosplay is a mix of the football/basketball jersey craze in the early 2000’s and haute couture fashion – where fans can rep their squad while draped in all designer.

As is the case in most situations, racism is not absent in the world of cosplay. For years now, blerd cosplayers continue to come through killing the game on an entirely new level, while a certain group of the community gives us salty looks. The aforementioned group is doing its best to put blerds in a box in regards to who and how they cosplay. Their collective belief is that cosplayers of color should not portray fair skinned and white characters, for many varying arguments that never make sense… because there is no possible way to make it make sense (especially when black face is still something people think is ok).

Photo: Giphy
Photo: giphy

There is nothing new about the fact that white people try to police us due to their bigotry masked as nondescript discomfort, and their need to be in control of spaces they believe they own – which is everywhere. However, we as a people have always understood the need to create safe spaces where we can celebrate each other, and the blerd community is no exception.

Like most great ideas, this year’s 29 Days of Black Cosplay was born in a conversation on Twitter:

Created last year by Chaka Cumberbatch (@princessology) as 28 Days of Cosplay, she  reached out to the ladies at BGN for some help shedding light on the movement for an even bigger year this Black History Month.

And the homies at Black Girl Nerds did not disappoint:

As if you didn’t see this coming, there have been serious concerns from white cosplayers that blerds creating a place where they are represented could be divisive, and have made suggestion that maybe we should all just consider removing race from the equation.

Photo:Giphy
Photo:Giphy

If you’ve been following  the #29DaysofBlackCosplay hashtag, you’ve seen peak blackness like this:

https://twitter.com/CatladyShazza/status/696387364013248512

I like my cosplay with baby hair and afros.

In a world where we’re still being marginalized, discriminated against, and underrepresented movements like this are needed. Black cosplay can’t stop, won’t stop because there are people that still have a problem with the color of our skin, physical features, or the texture of our hair. We exist. We deserve to exist. We can’t help that we have the juice. And we are proud of who we are and what we can do together.

Photo:Giphy
Photo:Giphy

Thanks for reading Strictly 4 My Blerds.

I do this because I love the culture and the community. If you enjoyed this post let me know on Twitter and share it with the homies on Facebook. If you have any suggestions on comics I should write about, things I should write about in the column, or people I should interview, tweet me or leave a comment. Make sure you use the hashtag #S4MBlerds.

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