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.
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 the police force, still sees us in derogatory ways.
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 an email headlined "Party With Spooks."
While saying “spooky” may seem harmless, it has a harmful history of covert messaging. We must question anything that picks away at us.