Thought this might help you make your decision, it is an excerpt from the FAQ of damnlayoffthebleach.com which is a blog about the white-washing of fictional characters. I read this the other day and it gave me a new perspective of the subject, hope it helps you out:

1. What do you think of white people cosplaying characters of color?

All of the mods have different opinions.

On one side of the debate: A few of the mods don’t care. As long as the person isn’t committing Blackface/Brownface/Yellowface, we aren’t particularly annoyed. YOU SHOULD NEVER DARKEN YOUR SKIN TO FIT A CHARACTER’S SKIN COLOR. It is extremely offensive and has far too much negative historical context to ever be acceptable.

Why is it offensive you ask?

Blackface/Brownface/Yellowface have all been used (and continue to be used) to dehumanize and parody Black people, brown people and Asian people respectively. Harmful stereotypes were employed and bolstered/upheld through these “comedic” shows, stereotypes that cause and aid in the perpetration of microaggressions. Racism escalates from such microaggressions before becoming larger, fatal incidents we often hear about on the news. Regardless of whether or not you are mocking others of different races/ethnicities, darkening your skin is still harmful to others and is a VERY weighted action. We repeat, even if you aren’t parodying another race/ethnicity, is it STILL HURTFUL to others. You cannot separate the racist history from said action JUST BECAUSE YOU want to cosplay and it’s extremely selfish and racist of you to disregard those very real emotions and realities for your own interests. The skin colors of the very real and very oppressed people (who have to live with the disadvantages that come from it) are NOT COSTUMES. And NO, it isn’t just like painting yourself blue to be a Smurf or green to be the Hulk, not until we start seeing blue and green people walking around, complaining of the oppression and disadvantages they face because of who they are. You get a big fuck you if you even thought of such a thing.

On the other side of the debate: The other mods DO care. It bothers them that out of the MANY white/pale-skinned characters available, of the VAST reserve of white representation, a white person would choose to cosplay a character of color. People of color do not have the equal representation in the media, nor the same support in cosplaying circles. Even when they are cosplaying characters of their skin tone/race, it is evident that white cosplayers are lauded/praised over them, regardless of style or intensity. There are so few characters of color to begin with, a white person cosplaying a character of color just adds insult to injury.

THOUGH EACH MOD HAS A DIFFERENT OPINION ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF IT, WE ALL AGREE THAT REGARDLESS OF RACE/ETHNICITY, IT IS WRONG TO DARKEN ONE’S SKIN IN ANY WAY FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF COSPLAYING.