Blackface Goes HD? The Case of Resident Evil 5 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Blackface Goes HD? The Case of Resident Evil 5

by guest contributor Jason, originally published at microscopiq

OK, we all know zombies gotta die. And I loved Resident Evil 4. So why do these early images from the next installment of the Resident Evil franchise make me so queasy?

After all, in RE4, you spend the game shooting equally out-of-their-mind Spaniards. But, then, the Spanish haven’t been so egregiously misrepresented as blacks through the ages, have they? Not even close.

From Birth of a Nation to Black Hawk Down, black folk are apparently responsible for some of the most mindless and evil activities you got. Rape, murder, satanic voodoo. With bulging eyes, simian super strength, and a room temperature IQ, we’ve been portrayed as savages beyond redemption. So, when we see images like these, it doesn’t just resonate with the long lived zombie genre, it also triggers memories of so many awful stereotypes — and what those stereotypes have been used to justify past and present. Put down the crazed negroes before they take the white women! And so on…

But perhaps the most troubling part is that these scenes seem to be set in Africa; the “dark continent.” With all the positive steps being taken of late to raise awareness of the good things happening in Africa as well as the urgent need in some parts of the continent, we really can’t afford this kind of step back. We need to find ways to humanize Africans, not dehumanize them. CONTINUE READING>>

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Official Shrub.com Blog » Blog Archive » Racial issues in Resident Evil 5: Link Roundup on 09 Aug 2007 at 5:09 am

[…] Goes HD? The Case of Resident Evil 5 at microscopiq (x-posted to Racialicious): With bulging eyes, simian super strength, and a room temperature IQ, we’ve been portrayed as […]
Of Race and Resident Evil 5 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 15 Apr 2008 at 7:47 am

[…] Reading: Blackface Goes HD? The Case of Resident Evil 5 Video Games and the Usual Amount of Racism Denial and Delusion - Why Public Conversations about […]

Comments

Kai wrote:

If anyone’s still under the illusion that the gaming community is not packed with utterly moronic misogynistic racists, raging responses to racial critique of Resident Evil at Black Looks and elsewhere should easily dispel that silly notion. It seems pretty clear that large swaths of the gaming community are disturbed adolescent sociopaths.

Peace.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 8:13 am ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:

i checked out the original page for this article and the comment section is…wow…very heated. i suggest people check it out after reading the article. some commenters take “you’re being too sensitive” to a whole new level…

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 8:24 am ¶
gatamala wrote:

I concur Kai.

I love games too, however, it is clear that sitting in your folks’ basement all day and all night does nothing for reading comprehension.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 8:27 am ¶
BlackBloc wrote:

Calling them sociopaths serves to portray them as marginal elements, when the awful reality is that they are all too mainstream. The reaction to these comments about the problematic racial portrayal in RE5 is a symptom of the fact that gaming is still a white, heterosexual male bastion. Any attempts by minorities to be included is met with a backlash by the dominant social group, and the reality is that this is not limited to gaming. I work in software engineering, and similar comments were spammed in a woman’s tech blog where she writes about usability (a field which is seen as a woman takeover, and an attempt to ‘dumb down’ computer software… because ‘real men’ love arcane command line shortcuts, or whatever). The purpose is to bully someone who the dominant group sees as ‘uppity’, and to show them that even if they’ve been ‘accepted’ within the group it is still the exclusive playground of white hetero males, so the person should shut up and agree with the dominant group’s position.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 8:42 am ¶
Neil wrote:

the thing is when you spend the majority of your life living in front of a computer living off your parents, your world view is shaped accordingly.

you create your opinions on various issues through the only process you learn in school (the only social interactions you’ve ever had). that process is western logic.

western logic doesn’t leave room for empathy. it doesn’t recognize the hierarchies of race and class, and it’s implications on the consequences of conflict between white people and people of color. all factors are equal; if a black person can call out a white person on their racism, then it MUST be true that a white person can call a black person racist for introducing the notion of racial connotations in a video game. which is why these wastes of space are even capable of calling a woman of color racist, nigger, whore, hooker, etc.

and don’t even think about being able to reason with these degenerate amoebas. because from their dark little space in the basement beside the boxes of daddy’s collectible ‘remember 9-11!’ plates, the only voice that will ever penetrate their skulls is the sound of mommy shouting ‘dinners ready!’ from the kitchen…

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 9:19 am ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

I understand that we’re all disturbed by the terrible comments on Black Looks, but I think it’s wrong to stereotype all gamers as people who live with their parents and stay home all day gaming.

Let’s chill with the personal attacks on them please (sociopaths, amoebas, wastes of space, etc.)

Gaming didn’t become a multi-billion dollar industry by relying on that tiny demographic. It’s mainstream now.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 9:30 am ¶
Neil wrote:

that is what’s mainstream now though. my critiques are based on honest-to-god true experiences i’ve had with ex-roommates, old friends, and family.
we’re living in an age of a unique form of apathy being cultivated by the obsession of videogames. the reason the outrage is so passionate is because of the value it has on their lives (this isn’t all speculation, i was down that road too a few years ago). you don’t seethe with that much rage unless you feel like something incredibly dear to you has been threatened.
and if videogames have become THAT dear to you, it’s a clear sign that priorities are messed up somewhere.
don’t get me wrong, as an animator i absolutely adore video games and always will. it’s just that this IS the majority of the online populace you will come across in games. it is the mainstream. it’s the new babysitter for kids, replacing tv from the 90’s. i’ve seen too many of my little cousins and nephews get raised on them.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 9:48 am ¶
Kai wrote:

Yeah I hear you Carmen. I don’t think all gamers are adolescent sociopaths and should not imply that; but I do think a disturbing percentage are. I don’t know what percentage, but unfortunately I’d honestly guess (and it’s only a guess) that maybe a good fifth of the hardcore types have serious issues and that’s pretty bad given the size of the market.

Black Bloc, I’m a software developer too and have been in the business for 15 years, so I have a lot of exposure to the gaming community. A majority of my business partners and associates have been gamers (none of them sociopaths living with parents, by the way). But among gamers I’ve also met an unmistakably skewed ratio of maladjusted emotionally-adolescent males who don’t look you in the eye when they speak and display very erratic social behavior. I don’t want to judge all gamers by any means (indeed I’m even in the midst of exploring certain business opportunities in the gaming industry, so I’m actually considering getting deeper into all this, which is partly why I’m looking at this hard); but I believe this pattern is a reality that needs to be forthrightly addressed. I think the hate-filled pile-on at Black Looks is just a symptom of a festering problem that we need to come to grips with.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 10:37 am ¶
Jeff wrote:

Stereotyping an entire subculture isn’t a good way to engage them in a dialogue or open their minds to your viewpoint. If this is the first post a gamer saw on this blog he’d just walk away thinking that he shouldn’t even bother discussing or thinking about race in video games.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 10:43 am ¶
tstorm wrote:

The original post currently has 226 comments, most of which label it as oversensitive “victim-complex bullshit.” I can picture a lot of my high school students opposing the analysis vehemently; it’s very much a mainstream response to say that people of color see racism where it isn’t.

As for the vitriol of the commenters, I don’t think it’s necessarily representative of the entire gaming community any more than it’s representative of our entire society. YouTube videos draw the same level of idiocy in their comments, and I think part of the problem is that this is the internet. It’s a lot easier to be an asshole when the only thing we know about your identity is that you chose the name guitarhero420 for yourself.

On the other hand, I think people like Jason at microscopiq should keep in mind that the comments, while representative of many people in our society, are going to be disproportiately negative. There are plenty of people out there who read posts like the ones we see here at Racialicious but don’t respond because they don’t want to get dragged into the mud. Dialogue about race requires more listening than anything else, and some of us are listening, so keep up the good work.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 10:47 am ¶
Neil wrote:

no, you’re absolutely right jeff. and i don’t want to go into ‘well they started it!’ territory.
..
…
….
….. but they started it!

just kidding.

it’s just disheartening and overwhelming, when you spend so so much time trying to explain to one person the complexities of race and it’s subtle insertions in all forms of media, finally succeeding in getting through to him, only to find a plethora of people making racist attacks, and having to build up the energy to start explaining all. over. again.

but that’s what we need to do i suppose. i definitely stooped to their level in attacking them personally in my previous post, and i apologize for it.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 11:01 am ¶
Neil wrote:

seriously, how would you go about even beginning to start a dialogue with a response like this:
“I confess I don’t know much about blacks. I don’t know any blacks, but I occasionally see blacks being violent on youtube. However, given the response from blacks… I think we should all be very afraid. Many of these blacks seem like the type who would try to reenact scenes from youtube. Can you say Black Panthers?”
source: http://microscopiq.com/2007/07/blackface-goes-hd/#comment-13216

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 11:21 am ¶
jccalhoun wrote:

Many of the comments left by people at both black looks as well as gamepolitics just make me sad and angry.

As a gamer I go to gamepolitics quite often but have never seen so many ignorant and hateful comments. Part of it certainly has to do with the fact that it is largely anonymous. They don’t know the person who wrote that so they feel like they can just say whatever they want. But when someone proceeds to call someone a racist for suggesting that a game might be problematic and then throw in a couple of misogynistic terms for good measure, it is really sad that they can’t see the problems with their own posts.
Not all gamers are like that, I assure you.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 11:37 am ¶
La - msviswan wrote:

I just want to say that I read the article and I agree with it in many ways. I don’t think the author or the others that agree are being too sensitive. I also read some of the comments on the original blog and I was annoyed to some point, so I stopped reading them.

One of the things that stuck out for me in this entire article was this very statement.

“With all the positive steps being taken of late to raise awareness of the good things happening in Africa as well as the urgent need in some parts of the continent, we really can’t afford this kind of step back. We need to find ways to humanize Africans, not dehumanize them”

I think this is also the key here to understanding one of the good points the author is trying to make. That statement goes a long way.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 11:40 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Writing about gaming through the lens of being female brings about the same kind of venomous attacks that Jason received on his blog.

Still, with this one, I understand both sides of the argument.

Jason is absolutely right in discussing the issue of image and perception in Africa, and trying to overcome the negative stereotyping that persists about the continent and the inhabitants. (And in the comments, we see a lot of posts from people who DID buy into that hype, so Jason is accurate in his assessment.)

However, as gaming is a young medium, a lot of people feel the need to defend gaming against perceived outsiders. Jason’s analysis (though he is a gamer) sounds like the perception of someone who is not a fan of the series - similar to the people who charged that GTA rewarded people for beating prostitutes. While that is a small part of the game (and really a choice), it was used to try to skew the points and motives of the game to further someone’s agenda - someone who most likely had no interest in playing the game in the first place. Hence the quick spew of hateful speech.

Personally, this was why I withheld writing about RE5 - the game isn’t out, I haven’t played it, and it may be shortchanging the series a bit to make a judgement based on the screencaps. Yes, the main character will be white - but we do not know who he meets along the way, and what supporting cast wil arrive on the scene. And while it appears that some of the zombies may behave stereotypically - I did raise an eyebrow at these new superfast, super strong zombies - I would wait until the game comes out to see for sure.

Also, I didn’t really have an issue with the portrayal of rural Spainards in the last RE so I would feel kind of hypocritical to complain now. It is portraying a fictionalized zombie outbreak. Maybe if we get voodoo zombies who cut chickens over you while chanting (which I really hope isn’t in there) or savage Africans from the wild stomping around in loincloths and bare feet, I would be more perturbed.

I must admit what bothered me wasn’t really the limited glimpse of character portrayals…what got me was this new found existential crisis. “Why am I doing this?” could turn into “Why do I have to save _these_ people” - I know that’s what I’ll be watching out for.

So, to end this increasingly long-winded post (which is helping me procrastinate on yet another deadline), I believe racism in gaming has to be examined…but carefully.

Jumping over something that isn’t released yet is not really going to pull gamers over to our cause. Let them play it, absorb the images, and then put up a cultural critique. Let them think through the gameplay while your critique lies accessible to them, a few clicks away.

I think starting the critique on the game this early is actually doing a disservice.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 1:17 pm ¶
Honesly wrote:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYo3eh2uHU

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 1:50 pm ¶
Jeff wrote:

No worries, Neil. I doubt there is a way to engage in a dialogue with a person like that but there are plenty of other people who are more open to discussion. Those are the people to talk to.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 1:57 pm ¶
Kai wrote:

Latoya, but if the criticism of RE5’s imagery is premature, then aren’t the rancid attacks against the criticism equally premature and an order of magnitude more of a disservice to gaming because of the language that is being invoked in the game’s defense?

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 2:16 pm ¶
Kai wrote:

Honesly, I was wondering how long it would take before we started seeing the Appeal To Melanin.

Note the frequency in the comment threads on this topic with which the standard list of Wite-Magik Attax are deployed.

The truth is, I really have no opinion about this game at this point, but I have a definite opinion about many of the commenters on it.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 2:24 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Kai -

Cosign on the first part - yes these people who are freaking out are equally premature on their assessments of what is being discussed.

However, I’m not really suprised to see that - look up an article on a benign topic like the Wii outselling PS3 and you get the same type of bullshit - just without the race aspect.

When Cerise launched, you got the ugly fat chicks rant, and worse.

Gamers - most fueled by strong opinions and cloaked with internet anonimity - are just highly uncivilized in terms of how we communicate with each other - which is a topic of some concern in the gaming community.

Even with that though, I don’t think it is a disservice to gaming. Asinine comments and overreactions aren’t unique to gaming by far. And, in my opinon, most gamers who are spouting off are just trying to defend their favorite franchise. There are some racist assholes in gaming (and in development) but I feel like most gamers just aren’t thinking about it that way. Their investment as a gamer is stronger than their investment as a racial activist - hence the reactions coming through.

Also, please don’t discount what I am coming to think of as the silent mass in gaming - people who are gamers, but don’t spend their time lurking on the Kotaku boards. So, I know a lot of people who will pick up RE5 and come to their own conclusions - and that number will probably be far greater than the people who took the time to spout off about someone else’s opinion.

Hell, I analyze gaming for an online zine - and I still didn’t feel like commenting, though I saw Jason’s article and a few others a week or so ago.

I just don’t have an opinion on the game yet - and I will be you that the clearer-headed gamers are probably doing the same…

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 3:16 pm ¶
dnA wrote:

I love games. I’m a gamer. But I read books. Hundreds of millions of people didn’t die as a result of chattel slavery and genocide in rural Spain. Anyone who thinks that this game isn’t acting out a repressed (or in the case of some commenters not so repressed) desire to murder large swaths of black people is fooling themselves.

When I play Knights of the Old Republic, it’s because I enjoy imagining myself as a badass with a lightsaber severing arms and legs for justice. Attempting to detach Resident Evil from the latent violent and in this case racist inclinations it satisfies is absurd.

The game is racist. Period. And I’m not going to play it.

Now, If you’ll excuse me, there are some evil Sith who need decapitating. VOOM!

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 5:33 pm ¶
Bianca Reagan wrote:

This seems like one of those instances when there is no need to apologize for your feelings of anger towards a game where black people are depicted as uncontrollable beasts and the sole white man must destroy them all and emerge as the savior. What is defensible about this game? I understand that the people who posted those ignorant comments on microscopiq, Black Looks, and Village Voice do not represent the gaming community at large. However, I saw very few, if any, comments that acknowledged the overt stereotypes that I could see by just looking at the pictures.

Like Kai alluded to, the problem isn’t just the (potential, nay probable) racism of Resident Evil 5; it’s the reaction to those who suggest that there is something wrong with a form of entertainment in which a white man goes to Africa or Haiti or some other place full of diseased black people to kill them all. As if suggesting that the creators the game harbor bigoted tendencies, or implying that someone is racist, is worse than actually being subjected to years of indoctrinated racial discrimination. God forbid anyone examine the merits of a massively violent gaming franchise. If you do, you’re a “reverse racist” and you owe the gamers “a formal apology.”

What a crock.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 7:44 pm ¶
phunk wrote:

I’m reposting my comment from the microscopiq blog, because I think it’s pretty pertinent to this conversation:

If anything, this whole debate..from the perception of people outside the gaming arena seeing it as biased, to some of the outright vitrol from inside the gaming arena at those who do, illustrates the fact that the gaming world, for the most part, is still pretty marginalized and concentrated among very specific demographics.

Yeah, I know lots of different types of people play lots of types of games, but there’s something pretty significant to be said that:

A) An black female non-gamer would find offense at the game movie

and

B) That seemingly so many of the people that play video games would come out with such spitting vitrol at this woman..and…(and this is the important part)..seemingly have absolutely no perception as to how someone looking from the outside in could possibly view it as that.

That’s what is incredibly eye opening to me.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 9:50 pm ¶
Angel H. wrote:

Please go show Kym some love over at Ask This Black Woman. It’s gotten nasty over there.

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 10:46 pm ¶
Carlos wrote:

It’s refreshing to read the comments I’ve seen here. The comments made on microscopiq are outright disturbing.

It surprises me that exec’s at this video producing company will allow it to be sold, considering the obvious racial distinction between the “good” and “bad”. It’s a video game, they could have been creative and made green or purple looking people…why select a specific continent and race and portray them as barbaric?

Posted 02 Aug 2007 at 11:26 pm ¶
Bobo wrote:

It’s sad to see people getting hammered for exercising the right to the freedom of speech. Being a gamer (I don’t believe myself to be a moronic misogynistic racists, or a sociopath. Believe what you will, but please do hear me out), and a person of color (weird how that works, isn’t white a color too?), I can understand where both sides are coming from.

From the gamers’ point of view, saying RE5 is racist to the gamers is like saying “you guys don’t have the ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and if you play it, you must be racist”. Judging by all the comment’s I’ve read from the other blogs, many have taken it rather personally. On top of that, there’s been many cases before this, where people that don’t know anything about gaming comment harshly about games. Take the GTA example given in an early comment, and when the Christians lashed out against Pokemon and calling it evil because one of the characters had a star on its forehead, or when games like Counter-Strike were blamed for violence. Gamers have always been looked down on, so it is only natural that they feel attacked, and lash out when such comments are made.

From the point of view of a person of a minority, well, I can understand why those images may trigger a bit of a cringe now that it’s been pointed out. But honestly, I didn’t make that connection myself, and I’ve watched the trailer several times. Truth be told, all I saw was a guy with guns shooting a bunch of zombies. That may sound ignorant, or perhaps even sounding like I don’t care, but these African zombies acted exactly like the Spanish zombies in RE4, and they acted like the zombies from the previous games. The only difference between the zombies of RE4 and 5 is that 5’s zombies have black skin (well, that, plus they seem to run faster).

It might seem twisted and sick for non-gamers, that someone can sit there for hours on end just killing these “zombies”, but the focus of the game is to survive, instead of mass killings of zombies (of any race). It’s just like watching a horror movie, only that it’s interactive.

In a few of the comments I’ve read else where, it was pointed out that no one complained about RE:Outbreak, where the player may play as a black character, and go on a rampage killing all white zombies. And how it makes the “RE5 is racist” comment hypocritical. I find some truth in that.

Before I get flamed for saying that, I will say that I am well aware of the racial history. But I have to disagree with the people that claim the history shifts the balance of things. Because if the history truly shifts the balance of things, then we are not truly equal. Reverse-racism is not just, in fact, all reverse-racism does is elevate the minority over the majority, further singling out the minority. Thus making people unequal, which totally defeats the purpose of anti-racism movements.

What the white people did was wrong, and something like that should never have to happen again, period. But those white people are long gone, so is it really fair to keep poking at, and placing the guilt on to the new generation for something they, themselves haven’t actually done?

But I digress. Did you know that the game wasn’t made by white people, but by the Japanese? True, this isn’t a strong argument. But I know from personal experience, that the Japanese love everything non-Japanese. Be it black, white, red, whatever. Why? Because in terms of appearance, it is a lot less diverse in Asia. The Japanese people have a lot of respect for the black people, especially in sports, all thanks to NBA and major league baseball. So I can say with a fair degree of certainty that what appears to be isn’t what it is in reality. You don’t make money by alienate people, and that’s what the game developing business is all about, making money.

I won’t say that the comment about RE5 is people being over sensitive, because I believe we should be able to discuss issues like this freely, and like civilized people. But blogs like the one posted by Kym Platt is rather provocative, and not very well thought out, and there was obviously no trace of research into the subject.

I won’t quote the whole thing, but this one line jumps out at me. It reads “this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.” First of all, the game is rated M for people of age 17 and above, no children should have their hands on it. As for the second part of the quote, it really makes me wonder. I believe the majority of the gamers won’t think like that, because they’d be way too busy trying not to die. Contrary to popular belief (that gamers are all morons with no life), many can tell between right and wrong.

Anyway, I’ll stop here before my fingers fall off from all the typing. Hope this post doesn’t offend anyone.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 5:15 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

Flame incoming.

Bobo: “But I know from personal experience, that the Japanese love everything non-Japanese. Be it black, white, red, whatever. Why? Because in terms of appearance, it is a lot less diverse in Asia.”

I can’t decide if this statement is just plain stupid and offensive, or if it’s offensive because it’s so incredibly stupid.

Whatever you are (a budding Wapanese I bet) please know that the Japanese people are actually real, 3-dimensional, and the vast majority don’t love you, in fact they could care less about your existence.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 9:26 am ¶
gatamala wrote:

bobo (how apropos!)

I’m going to need you to click on Angel’s link (24) & read those comments.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 9:57 am ¶
Ray wrote:

As a 30 year old black man who just happens to make video games for a living. I find most of the anti-video game comments on this topic disturbing. I think people need to get informed before they start labeling the entire gaming community.

I also think that this much anger should be directed at a game that does do serious damage to the black community such as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.

Please look at the facts and become informed before jumping to judgement. Thanks.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 10:04 am ¶
lemure wrote:

Bobo, I’m sorry if your posting made me giggle then shake my head sadly because its so well meaning in its ignorance and personifies so much of what has gone wrong in racial discussions.

“Reverse racism” what it that?

And “…the Japanese love everything non-Japanese. Be it black, white, red, whatever. Why? Because in terms of appearance, it is a lot less diverse in Asia. The Japanese people have a lot of respect for the black people, especially in sports, all thanks to NBA and major league baseball.”

I.have.no.words.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 10:21 am ¶
Nana wrote:

I can’t believe that people keep missing this distinction. There is an issue with a white person mowing down hordes of savage Africans in a video game because of stereotyping and the historical position of white people towards Africans.

You can’t turn this argument around and say that it then must be racist for a black person to kill whites in the same manner. Because there’s no historical context to this. Whites were never perceived as violent, subhuman savages.

And why does everyone want to call them zombies? In RE4, the enemies were not zombies, they were parasitically controlled humans. RE5 seems to be following in the same vein.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 11:47 am ¶
Jeff wrote:

We’ve only got several minutes of footage from the game, I don’t think that’s enough information to condemn the game. The trailer definitely raised some red flags for me (a white guy killing a bunch of black zombies) but there’s currently little context for it. I totally understand the reaction people get from some of those images (heck, I got them too) but instead of declaring the game to be hopelessly racist, why not figure out exactly what could be changed to get rid of the reaction people are feeling and then let Capcom know? The game is still two years away (according to Wikipedia) which leaves plenty of time for the changes to be implemented. Remember how many different versions of Resident Evil 4 were shown before the final product was released? Constructive criticism = good. Condemnation when there’s still so much time for improvement = bad.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 11:48 am ¶
Jeff wrote:

Several things to Bobo: Unless I’m misinterpreting you, you’re saying that you are a person of color because white is a color and you are white. That would work just fine except the term “person of color” is, like all idioms, not entirely literal.

I don’t think saying that Resident Evil 5 is racist is the same as calling all gamers racist. It is merely saying that this particular game in this particular medium is racist.

Bobo, you were refering to gamers as the “they” when you said that “it is only natural that they feel attacked, and lash out when such comments are made.” You do realize that this comment applies a thousand times more to black people who have had to endure centuries of not only being “looked down on” but murdered, socially and politically shut out, enslaved, beaten and been considered to be “scientifically” sub-human, inhuman and monstrous.

As to the comment that nobody complained when a black character killed white zombies: there’s a history of white people systematically doing horrible things to black people, not the other way around. That’s why the issue was raised here and not there.

The Japanese do not, in fact, love everything not-Japanese. To begin with, that’s making a vast and sweeping statement about an entire culture filled with individuals who have individual tastes. Secondly, there are strong racial tensions between many Japanese and Chinese and Korean people. To say that the Japanese love everything that isn’t like them is both condescending and inaccurate.

I’ll agree with you that many of the blogs were intentionally provocative. Even this one. “Blackface goes HD?” Unless I’ve gotten my definition of blackface horribly skewed, this game has nothing to do with non-black people dressing themselves up as caricatures of black people.

To everyone who belittled Bobo: C’mon! He took the time to type out a response that was largely devoid of spelling and grammar errors and he did not attack anyone. I strongly disagree with him and I think that he made some unintentionally insensitive remarks, but you’re not going to convince him to agree with you or even see your point of view if you just giggle at him.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 12:33 pm ¶
Jerome wrote:

“And why does everyone want to call them zombies? In RE4, the enemies were not zombies, they were parasitically controlled humans. RE5 seems to be following in the same vein.”

What do you think a zombie is? LOL! If it looks like a zombie, acts like a zombie, and trys to kill you like a zombie…gee gosh (white people lingo) it must be a ZOMBIE!

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 1:20 pm ¶
Jerome wrote:

“But perhaps the most troubling part is that these scenes seem to be set in Africa; the “dark continent.” With all the positive steps being taken of late to raise awareness of the good things happening in Africa as well as the urgent need in some parts of the continent, we really can’t afford this kind of step back. We need to find ways to humanize Africans, not dehumanize them. ”

Folks, let’s get something straight. Capcom says Resident Evil 5 takes place in Haiti and not Africa.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 3:46 pm ¶
Carlos wrote:

If we tried to identify all the unconscious processes our minds make, we would be in for a surprise when it comes to racial discrimination.

Unconsciously, your brain is recording blacks as the “bad guys”. The more it happens and the more emotionally charged each instance, i.e. killing black zombies, the more reason it gives the mind to create unfavorable views on blacks. It becomes a “vicious cycle of tainted social information that…results in a self-replicating pattern of racial stereotypes that rationalize and sustain discrimination.” (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/LOUECO.html)

This type of video game and other forms of portraying blacks as the “bad guys” will lead you to unconsciously discriminate against blacks. Tapping into your basic survival instincts, your mind will lead you to unconsciously avoid blacks and this has been tested in people. For instance, a “web test [that] measures automatic racial preference for white or black. Of the more than 10,000 who took this test, 80 percent showed a preference for white over black.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/10/981012074004.htm

Racism is real…and it is not being overly sensitive. We must dig deep into this issue and find ways to resolve this disgusting epidemic in human beings.

Posted 03 Aug 2007 at 7:09 pm ¶
eric daniels wrote:

I don’t mind being portrayed as a ‘bad guy’ either in the virtural world or in real life, If the majority society and some Black Americans think Black Men are evil, criminal, the cause for America’s problems or any other pathology they like to bestow on us that’s fine. I just want these people to leave me (and other Black Men) alone and let us live our lives, but the problem is that this society can’t even do that. I frankly do not care about people’s perceptions about Black Men anymore.

White Racialists and other ethnic groups can live their lives without having to deal with society’s appratus or being harassed in their daily lives whether it would be in stores or by law enforcment, politicans or writers commenting about their hair, the way they dress or the music they listen too. So I say let the computer gaming industry sterotype Black Men because instead of complaining about what this society does we can create our own separate industry where we can control the content of our images.

If Hip- Hop proved anything is that for all the negative things that get reported is that when the majority society companies like Timberland did not want to cater to the stuff they bought, these Black Men created FUBU, Kani, Sean Jean, Lugz, Roccawear and other compaines to empower themselves. My opinion is that we should do the same thing in video games, comic books, and music. Like Malcolm said, “I believe in the Brotherhood of Man, But I don’t believe in mixing with someone who does not want Brotherhood with me”.

Posted 05 Aug 2007 at 11:42 pm ¶
Jones wrote:

@ Neil, comment 12:

That’s a direct parody of Kym Platt’s comment about the game at askthisblackwoman.com, essentially pointing out that she’s being a little hypocritical when she stereotypes all gamers as murderous teens.

“I confess I don’t know much about video games, gamers, etc. I don’t play video games, but I occasionally play solitaire on my gf’s PC. However, given the response from gamers… I think we should all be very afraid. Many of these folks seem like the type who would try to reenact scenes from Resident Evil 5. Can you say Columbine?”

It doesn’t make it any less of an idiotic, hate-mongering statement, but I felt like pointing that out. Oh, and I know this is a little late. Sorry.

Posted 09 Aug 2007 at 11:36 am ¶