I want to apologize to anyone I may have offended for my last column. I always strive to evoke thought through my writing or take on a different view for the pure purpose of conversation.

That being said, my intentions for expressing such a minority opinion were not to hurt or degrade anyone.

Had I not received all of these comments, I would not have realized the pain some of my words may have caused.

My decision to include the comparison of an Oompa-Loompa was thoughtless.

Elaborating on the similarity between an Oompa-Loompa costume and a human being was a mistake.

But it was also horribly misconstrued to the point where many believe that I was actually stating how a black person and a fictional character are the same thing. I severely apologize for the way that comparison came across.

I do not believe they are the same.

I poorly attempted to show the innocence of two different Halloween costumes.

Like all of the commenters, I also do not believe that we live in a post-racial society. But I strongly feel that as a nation that is constantly progressing, we need not be scared to talk about race, because that is what perpetuates its divide.

Further, my point was not that Hough’s decision to go as a black character for Halloween wasn’t racist because she did not intend for it to be racist, but that Hough’s costume should not be perceived as racist because donning blackface and merely making your face darker with black makeup to appear more like the character are inherently different.

However, like many of the comments pointed out, I do not understand, nor will I ever understand, the long and painful history that is associated with blackface. And therefore, my opinion, which is that blackface and making one’s face darker are different, is null.

So again, I apologize to whomever I have hurt by opining that Hough’s costume was innocent because it did not explicitly identify itself as blackface.

The history associated with blackface is not any less important today than it was 200 years ago, and the pain and suffering that so many felt because of blackface is not any less real than it was 200 years ago.

My column was not intended to diminish such an important part of our history, and it was not intended to claim that our society is post-racial so donning blackface is now OK.

I made an inappropriate and insensitive comparison, and attempted to innocently discuss something with too much history to be taken lightly.

Again, I am eternally sorry.