The Ugly Truth of Being a POC Cosplayer

Cosplay has helped me make numerous friends at conventions, make memories, gained a moderate following on social media (specifically on TikTok), and allowed me to express myself. However, with the good, comes the bad. POC stands for person of color. It’s also known as non-white. These are cosplayers who dress up as characters who are not white. We’re often told by others that we’re either the wrong race or body type for a specific cosplay. The most common thing I’ve heard from people is “(insert character here) is not black.” I’ve been doing cosplay since 2014 and still love it. Unfortunately, I’ve occasionally been the target of racial and sometimes bigoted attacks towards me on social media because of two cosplays I love doing.

Above are two of my favorite cosplays: Superman and Miles Morales. My belief has always been that as long as you’re passionate about the character, you can be anyone you want. Cosplay is about having fun and making people feel good. I’ll never understand why some people are so fixated with consistency when it comes to a black or person of color cosplaying as someone they admire. There has been a black Superman and we have a black Spider-Man. Most don’t bother to do their research before speaking.

Calvin Ellis, or Kal-El, made his debut in Final Crisis #7 in March 2009.

Meanwhile, Miles Morales debuted in Ultimate Fallout #4 in August 2011, making him the first black Spider-Man and second Latino character to take on the Spider-Man identity.

Non-cosplayers assume that you have to strictly cosplay as black characters only and nothing more. That’s false and society doesn’t tell us who we can or can’t cosplay as. Racism in the cosplay community is a huge problem and still exists today. It may not be talked about as much, but sharing our stories and experiences will motivate other POC cosplayers to be confident within themselves.

The month of February is an important month for us. Not because it’s Black History Month. It’s also 28 Days of Black Cosplay, which celebrates visibility, representation, and celebration in the black cosplay community. The hashtag #28daysofblackcosplay was created by Chaka Cumberbatch-Tinsley. We can use someone’s hateful demeanor and use it as a motivational tool for us to inspire others. No one should ever feel uncomfortable or unsafe on social media, all because of doing something that we love, which is cosplay. We can all be role models and positive influences to everyone, including each other. As of this story, the aforementioned hashtag has almost 60,000 posts on Instagram.

I want to shout out a few black cosplayers who are my favorites, because I give praise to those who deserve recognition. They are Sano The Lantern (@sanothelantern), The Real Prince of All Saiyans (@realprinceofallsaiyans), Jonathan Belle (@jonathanbelle), Cutiepiesensei Cosplay (@cutiepiesensei), Panterona Cosplay (@panteronacosplay), and Lady_J Cosplay (@ladyjcosplay). There are others that I can’t think of right now, but I haven’t forgotten about you.

In closing, I’ll always stand up for someone who’s being bullied online. Sadly, hardly or no one does the same for me. People would tell me to ignore the trolls. That’s good advice, but I refuse to turn a blind eye on ignorance. I’ve been verbally abused for too long and I’m not going to lay down quietly. If no one is willing to stand up for me, then I’ll be the one to stand up for myself and others black cosplayers. We deserve to enjoy our hobby without feeling discriminated against. The one way to shut the trolls up is to keep on posting those cosplay pics. Remember that they know your name, but not your story. The ones who have the most things to say about you are the loudest in the room. In other words, keep on doing you.

Be a black Daredevil, a black Wolverine, or be anyone you feel has been inspiring to you. In the name of cosplay, we aim to be bold, fearless, and ambitious. So how can you support POC cosplayers? Follow them on social media, like their pictures, and comment on them. Show how much you appreciate them. I’m also on social media, so you can find info on my pages by going to my bio. Also, support me even more by sending me a one-off tip, big or small. Either way, it’ll encourage me to keep on writing more stories.