Three weeks in and we have seen so many people share so many reasons why they think  #28daysofblackcosplay is important.  As someone who helped get the movement going, I’d like to take a moment to explain why I feel it is a great idea. It is the one reason that has been echoed this entire month: it’s positive for self esteem.  For way too long, people of color have been grossly under-represented when it comes to popular characters in pop culture. All too many times, when a POC character has been created, they follow along the same tired stereotypes: poor, a hard upbringing, or simply athletic. Very rarely are our characters celebrated for being smart, running kingdoms, or having the ability to go toe-to-toe with some of the mightiest in comics and movies.   Many people of color have been afraid to cosplay because they didn’t want to be boxed into portraying a specific character simply because they were not white.  However, I believe cosplay allows us to be characters who are traditionally non-POC without the need to change our skin color.  If the costume and portrayal is on point, there is never a need to change one’s skin color to be Batman, Superman, or Catwoman.

This week, we are going to showcase even more talented cosplayers, who will tell us why #28DaysofBlackCosplay is so important to them. (Comments edited for clarity).

Name: Helio Pixy
From: Silver Spring, Maryland
Cosplay: Dee from Rat Queens
#28daysofblackcosplay celebrates and cherishes the diversity of the cosplay and ‘geek’ communities. It’s a way of uplifting each other, especially for those who have faced relentless prejudice because of their skin color, their size, their disability, their sexuality etc, or a combination of those things. Cosplay should be fun and safe for everybody! By pushing this sort of representation, this event makes this community that much more tight-knit and bad-ass.

Name: Angel, P.
From: Akron, OH
Cosplay: Yuno Gasai from Future Diary
#28DaysofBlackCosplay is important to me because it shows that anyone can cosplay what ever they want without worrying whether or not my skin tone different. Cosplay is for everyone!

Name: Lynne F.
From: Maryland
Cosplay: Flashpoint Wonder Woman
Showcasing black cosplayers is important because we get so little recognition in the general world of cosplay. Sometimes, we’re even told to only cosplay black characters as if those are the only characters that we can pull off. Highlighting black cosplayers during the 28 Days of Black Cosplay shows the world what we can do and that we do it very well.

Next up we have a cosplay team:

Name: Chocolate n Milk Cosplays

From: Leesburg, Va

Cosplaying: Anko – Starfire from Dc Bombshells, Shido- Madoka Kami from Madoka Magica

#28daysofblackcosplays to me means more diversity in cosplay. The media constantly shows mostly Caucasian or Asian as the main cosplayers, which can be a little disheartening for other communities. So #28daysofblackcosplay gives more diversity by featuring African American cosplayers each day of February. Celebrating our history, being proud of who we are, showing how strong we can be, and displaying our talents.

~Anko