Halloween’s around the corner! As we think about costumes and fun social media posts, there’s a scary reason we need to watch our words.
Historically, the Dutch word “spook” meant “apparition” or “specter.” Over time it was used to refer to ghosts, spies, or as a verb “to spook” — to surprise or terrify.
But during World War II “spook” became a slur against Black people!
The Germans referred to Tuskegee’s Black army pilots as “Spookwaffe.” Waffe is German for weapon or gun – “spook” and “waffe” together roughly translates to “terrifying weapon.” After WWII, “spook” was used throughout America as a slur – and still holds underlying, deadly racist connotations.
White supremacy, especially police, still sees us as weapons instead of human beings.
In 2010 Target was criticized for selling toy Black army parachuters called "Spook Drop Parachuters.” In 2018, a North Carolina school was scrutinized for including the slur within their weekly vocabulary lesson.
In 2018 the Houston Museum of Natural Science sent out an email headlined "Party With Spooks." But, how much harm does “spooky” actually cause?
While saying “spooky” seems harmless, words hold power. Racism isn’t always obvious – often it shows up as small, day to day things so socially accepted they’re not questioned, but the covert messaging remains.
We must ALWAYS question white supremacy’s agenda!