Race & Video Games Update – Animal Crossing and Black College Football
by Latoya Peterson
As I have mentioned before, I am behind on my game related reading. So luckily, reader Tony sent in this item from Game Politics, as it would have slipped under my radar:
Louisiana game publisher Nerjyzed Game Studios is readying the launch of an Xbox 360 version of its Black College Football Experience game, reports The Advocate. The release of BCFx will mark the first-ever publication of a console game by an African-American owned studio.
A national ad campaign for Black College Football Experience will kick off today during the Bayou Classic as Southern University and Grambling square off in their 35th gridiron tilt.
I had read about Nerjyzed a while back in Black Enterprise so I was pleased to see that their game has finally made it out of development and into rotation.
However, I should have known that racism patrol was going to come out in full force. Tony warned me about the comments being a gaming update to the “What if there was a White Entertainment Television (WET) channel” – and he was right. Notice, the racism patrol never comes out in favor of more ethnically diverse gaming or protagonists of color. It’s just fine and dandy that the heavy majority of console and computer games feature whites people doing things in white environments, with PoCs as extras or a potential option separate from the game default.
Oh no, that’s fine.
They get angry because we had the nerve to label something “black”. You know what – I think we should start labeling all the white focused games too. I would love to solve this one really quick. The shelf would be full of games for whites, or other “non human/robots/animals” with about 34 games labeled black (and that’s pushing it), perhaps one or two games called “Latino”, and if we can ever resolve the “why do Asians draw white people” debate (the argument I linked to is for manga, but it applies to video games), maybe some games (combat games and RPGs) that say Asian.
But the shelves will blare the truth. Wish the damn racism patrol would get on that, then we could really have a conversation on race and gaming.
Game Politics Commenter CommiePuddin also shed some light on why Black College Football would need its own game:
Consider two things:
1) HBCU* football has a significant fan base, but not significant enough to warrant inclusion in EA’s NCAA Football XX (not to mention that the entirity of HBCU football exists in FCS and below, which is completely ignored by those creating the video games), much like college ice hockey has a significant fan base, but not significant enough to warrant inclusion in EA’s NHL XX.
2) HBCU football is vastly different from your average football game in many ways, not the least of which is the significance of the bands. The Magic City Classic (Alabama A&M vs. Alabama State) brought 69,113 fans to Legion Field in Birmingham and only 10,000, if that, actually saw the conclusion of the game, as the rest leave after the halftime show. Not one video game has ever incorporated this element of the event into a video game until this one.
The entire Southwest Athletic Conference disqualifies itself from the Division I tournament because the member schools find it more profitable to play classics amongst themselves and the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference and culminate in a SWAC Championship game.
“Black College Football Experience” has little to do with black people in and of itself, it has to do with the culture and atmosphere that is “Black College Football,” just as “NCAA Football XX” encapsulates the atmosphere and experience of FBS football. It is comperable to the difference between Vietnam War games and World War II games. They’re both war games, they just focus on different subject matter. Unfortunately, too many people get caught up in the word “black” here.
*Historically Black Colleges and Universities
And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention:
In addition to its football action, of special note is BCFx’s drumline game play, which is compatible with the Rock Band drum kit for the Xbox 360. 35 tunes and 65 drum cadences are included.
Moving on, I did force myself to start wading through the blogs that are updated less frequently than Kotaku and Joystiq. Over on the MTV Multiplayer blog, Stephen Totilo made an interesting discovery while playing Animal Crossing: Wild World:
In my mailbox yesterday was a copy of 2005’s “Animal Crossing: Wild World” for the DS out of the shrinkwrap and accompanied with a letter on Nintendo stationery written in the voice of the game’s Mayor Tortimer, encouraging me to use this copy of the game to import all of its unlocked items and its character to “Animal Crossing: City Folk” on the Wii.
Nintendo must have known that I’m terrible at “Animal Crossing” and thought I’d need help. So they unlocked a lot of content for me. They appear to have quite accidentally gotten a bit hip-hop about all this. Whoever played this game for me back at Nintendo trained at least one of the characters to greet me with the line [censored here]: “How are you, N—a?” [...]
And then there’s the word in question. I didn’t expect a sheep named Baabara to walk up to me n the game and say “I almost forgot about you n—a.” (I confirmed that Kotaku editor Brian Crecente received a similar copy of the game with similar player-added lines.) But I can tell that it isn’t meant as an offense. It’s clearly meant more as a hip-hop slang greeting.
Totilo even included a screenshot:
Now, just to be clear, this was not Nintendo generated content. Users of the game can customize their characters and what the characters say, and in order to access someone else’s characters in Animal Crossing you have to trade “friend codes.” So this situation is a little unusual.
Totilo heard back from Nintendo about the matter and also got input from the ESRB for good measure:
Nintendo quickly apologized and called for a return of the games, but the incident indicated a possible vulnerability in the ratings on used games.
“Animal Crossing” is rated E for everyone. And while the box does indicate that the “Game Experience May Change During Online Play,” nothing on the box indicates that someone obtaining a used game might be exposed to some non-E-rated content.
I contacted the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and GameStop, which includes sales of used games as a significant part of its business, to get their thoughts on this apparent loophole.
ESRB spokesperson Eliot Mizrachi, told me over e-mail that the type of content in the “Animal Crossing” incident would be considered user-generated content. “Just as with online-enabled games that allow features like chat, ESRB ratings cannot anticipate and therefore consider user-generated content in the ratings we assign,” he wrote. “Besides, as you mentioned, saving content to the actual game medium is pretty uncommon in today’s games. Most games are read-only with the saved content being stored on the system and not on the game medium itself.”
So, a strange little anomaly in the otherwise chill gaming landscape.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Tony wrote:
Having read the site since the days of “mixed media watch” it’s nice to have finally contributed besides just a commenting reply.
Or in shorter terms “Woohoo the link I sent got used”
I actually love the idea of actually labeling the games already out there with their predominant (sometimes exclusive) race.
The sad thing is, thinking about it, outside of sports games and games where you customize your lead character, I can’t really think of any major games I’ve played that wouldn’t have the “white” label.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 12:17 pm ¶
Elton wrote:
FIRST MARCHING BAND VIDEO GAME EVER, DO WANT
Also, non-HBCU Cs and Us have marching bands, too. They just rarely seem to reach the level of crowd appreciation that exists at many HBCUs. I wonder if this is a cultural difference. Obviously, white people enjoy and support marching bands, but perhaps it’s just more culturally acceptable at HBCUs to pay attention to what’s happening at halftime. There also seems to be a stigma associated with “band geeks” in white culture (at least), which I don’t understand for the life of me (jealousy?). Dare I speculate, is white culture music-phobic? An examination beyond the obvious commercial success of music as a product reveals a great deal of people (not just whites, but perhaps particularly so) who quit music lessons after a short period of time, who fear singing and dancing, and claim they have “no talent.” Who call young musicians “band geeks” and decide that halftime is a good time to stand in line for nachos.
In any case, as an Asian-American, I am annoyed by the Asian reverence for European art music, e.g. piano lessons and orchestra (which is a good start), but disdain for marching band, jazz band, wind band, rock band–any band, really. I know trumpets and drums are loud, and marching band requires human contact and physical exertion and BEING OUTSIDE, but those things are not so bad, Asian parents!
And maybe some of these loners and outcasts wouldn’t be so prone to violence and self-destruction if they would just stop listening to what society tells them is cool or not cool and do something as life-enriching as band.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 2:34 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:
Wow, what a surprise. Considering most games out there are geared to men, a lot of them white, one little game about HBCU football garners the kind of ignorance I see at LGF…
I don’t know why people keep trying to educate the ignorance, but kudos to you. I just can’t deal with people who lie to themselves all the time. The RE5 furor I won’t weigh in, but there are so many more games to use as examples of all white characters, or no black characters, or the ability to make black women…sigh.
I have Wii, so I can’t support the effort, but I’d buy one just to show the market that we’re out here and we want to game, too.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 4:07 pm ¶
Raine wrote:
I mean no offense and I may just not see the full picture, if this is the case, I welcome and thank anybody to politely inform me where I may be in error. It just seems to me that the defense presented of an “all-black” game as not being racist merely attacks “all or mostly white games.” In other words, it seems to be that it’s okay for a game to be all-black and not for a game to be all-white, but regardless, the fact that there are all-white games justifies all-black games? Shouldn’t we all be in support of games that include several races consistently instead?
With regards to the “N word,” shouldn’t we be offended that the word is in there at all, even, or maybe especially, if a person specifically put it in there for another person? Shouldn’t the word either be offensive when used by anyone or acceptable when used by anyone regardless of their own race? If those that are black can use it’s “-a” ending form as a friendly term, can not a person that is white do so with a person who is black? Logically, can one realistically condemn ANYbody for saying or doing what they say or do themselves?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 5:20 pm ¶
Xiphactinus audax wrote:
On a related note, have some Japanese peoples’ reactions to the protagonist of Mirror’s Edge.
http://kotaku.com/5101715/what-do-some-japanese-commenters-think-of-faith-from-mirrors-edge
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 6:28 pm ¶
Bohemian Bookworm wrote:
Wow, I thought the Animal Crossing post was going to be about how there were no black characters (protagonist). I haven’t played it on the Wii, but I played it heavily on the Gamecube years ago, and all the characters were basically white, with varying hair colors. I do remember you could customize what the animals say to you, you had to change it quite often or they would get mad.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 6:31 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
I’m loving the drum major, he should be out front high-steppin.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the end of an HBCU game. The Battle of the Bands is the best part. Face it, the best players are at The U/The Ohio State…
Elton~interestingly the only non-blacks I have known who appreciate the black bands are those who were exposed to them (as you obviously were). During Mardi Gras I saw a high school band (maj white boys/prep school) from St. Tammany (north of Ponchartrain) put their instuments down and drop it! Clearly they were influenced by the black high schools who were influenced by the Bayou Classic. NOLA is the only town where children ride bikes while carrying trumpets. Floridians of all backgrounds know about FAM’ due to personal exposure.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 6:32 pm ¶
BSK wrote:
I think part of it has to do with the music that is played by the different bands. I went to a high school that was predominantly black and we had a *phenomenal* marching band. For the first three quarters of football games, they played fairly “traditional” marching band music. For the fourth quarter, leadership of the band was turned over to the Senior members, who would incorporate contemporary music and styles into the show. It was a HUGE hit and drew massive reactions from both fan bases, regardless of race. It seemed that the more upbeat, identifiable music made the show far more accessible and enjoyable to the younger fan bases. Our band was great at playing all types of music, and won contests with the more “classical” stuff, but they won the hearts of the students with more contemporary stuff. Perhaps this explains the disconnect seen between how bands are perceived at HBSU and elsewhere. What a shock I was in for when I went to a predominantly white, Irish-Catholic university and had to listen to the drones of the band there!
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 7:13 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:
It doesn’t surprise me that the usual suspects are getting pissy. Never mind the myriad of games out there that are there that aren’t exactly inclusive; on the rare occasion that something is made with another demographic group in mind then the “OMG, how DARE something not include ME” butthurt comes out. My hat’s off to the people who still attempt dialogue going with those sorts because IMO they honestly aren’t worth my time. Especially since half of the people bitching are the same ones who are going to rent/buy the thing “just to test it out” and play it anyway!
Also, what is UP with the women’s boobs on the packaging?
re: Animal Crossing: What the HELLLL?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 8:00 pm ¶
K. G. wrote:
@Elton
Your mentioning of the Asian reverence for European art music made me think of a good book I read a couple of years back titled SPEAK IT LOUDER: ASIAN AMERICANS MAKING MUSIC, which spotlights Asian American musicians who play jazz and rock ‘n roll as well as rap. I’m African-American and even I’ve wondered how come it seems that young Asian/Asian American musicians always seem to only be promoted/guided into the classical music field, as if that’s the only music they can excel at—-you never see any young Asian jazz/rock/blues prodigies. It’s as if they’re been brainwashed into the belief that classical music is the only music worth playing because it’s of European origin—I’m disgusted with that,too. Like, why can’t Lang Lang, the classical prodigy from Shanghai, collaberate with Kanye West on his next album or something? Just a goofy but possible thought.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 9:11 pm ¶
Kelvin wrote:
@Raine
I’ll square you aware. The real focus of the game from what I’ve read is the football and half time traditions found only at HBCU’s. I graduated from a HBCU so I understand what the makers of the game are trying to accomplish. I think the real question here is do you think that because the game has “black” in it that means white folks are not allowed to play it? Or is it that white folks see a game about black people and don’t want t o play it?
HBCU’s have a unique tradition and I find it refreshing that someone is making an attempt to put a product out there that caters to that niche.
Another thing is you do find white players on HBCU sports teams. One of my good friends from my college days was a White guy who ran track for the HBCU I went to.
P.S Ice Hockey games are pretty lily white but no one bitches about it. When will I see a black harry potter or a black kid discovering some magical fantasy land via a wardrobe?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 11:28 pm ¶
BSK wrote:
Kaonashi-
For what it’s worth, the cheerleaders in the “regular” NCAA football games are also outrageously endowed. I don’t think that visual has a racial component to it, though it certainly has a gender one.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 12:02 am ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
“Shouldn’t we all be in support of games that include several races consistently instead?”
Of course. But “we’re” not — well, probably you and I, but, you know. A few people are in support of that, most people, however, could care less. That’s the reality of the situation. I think part of that problem is that the people who say all-black games are racist do totally ignore the aforementioned fact that the vast majority of mainstream games lack black characters. Convincing them that it’s an issue is like pulling teeth. As a result, a niche goes underserved, games like these fill it, and here they are, completely out of nowhere, castigating the group for “doing for themselves” — which is a throwaway suggestion that’s been given time and time again as a solution to lack of representation by mainstream media. What do you recommend that people do when their concerns aren’t shared, and those with much more buying power prefer the status quo?
I also think the problem they see is with labeling something explicitly “black”, as opposed to more subtle marketing of the exact same non-diverse content. There is most definitely a WET… it’s called CMT. Virtually no one notices, and virtually no one complains. Yes, they have the occasional non-white artist/host… just like BET has the occasional non-black one. It seems like merely a name change confers plausible deniability, and it’s all about maintaining a facade of accessibility, as opposed to having real inclusion. It’s also about “gotcha” games, as opposed to real, honest concern.
“Logically, can one realistically condemn ANYbody for saying or doing what they say or do themselves?”
When did the author say that he personally used the N-word, or say that if the player encoding it into the game was black, it would be fine and dandy? Personally, I’ve heard Jewish people, Latinos, and white ethnics refer to themselves with words that are seen as totally derogatory when hurled at them by outsiders, and I don’t feel slighted or wronged in the least by the fact that I can’t go up to them and call them those names without offending them. I think that the “reclaiming” of racial epithets is an uphill battle, I don’t participate in it and never have, and I generally find it uncouth, but I definitely don’t think it’s a double standard. After all, Irish guy can’t walk up to a black guy that constantly refers to himself as the n-word and call him a n****, but black guy also can’t walk up to an Irish guy that constantly refers to himself as a m***, and call him that, without an ensuing conflict. (Yes there’s issues with equating the two, but I’m trying to keep it simple, here) Everyone’s got way more license regarding the way that they refer to their own group than others, and the analogous question would truly be, “if a black person can say n**** in a non-offensive context” , then why can’t a white person say (insert anti-white epithet here) in a non-offensive context”? But they’re totally able to, and usually don’t want to, and as a result, that question never gets asked. So why are they fighting for the theoretical right to use other groups’ epithets towards them without social repercussions/offense being taken? It’s a social “right” that the vast majority of people of all races don’t have. Furthermore, it’s also very telling that non-black members of the non-”conscious” segment of the hip-hop youth subculture — the group that uses the word in this way most commonly — very rarely ask this question, and/or decry the supposed double standard. It’s almost always a total outsider to the culture that wants the right to adopt this aspect of it and this aspect alone — I’ve often seen the “double standard” decried right after the same person proceeds to slam rap music and the subculture (!) — and I really wonder why that is.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 1:05 am ¶
michelle wrote:
okay, so I’ve been reading racialicious pretty regularly for a while now, but I’ve never commented or anything. I just thought I’d comment here because I was surprised that nobody responded to Raine’s comment.
Hi Raine. Well I will try to inform where I believe there is error:
when you say,
“It just seems to me that the defense presented of an “all-black” game as not being racist merely attacks “all or mostly white games.” “,
it seems that you are trying to ascribe a certain “reverse-racism”(which doesn’t exist*) to something that to me seems to be a form of empowerment.
* “Racism” is not just “individual prejudices within an individual’s heart” or whatever, but is a system of oppression.
Racism = Prejudice + POWER.
You go on to ask,
” If those that are black can use it’s “-a” ending form as a friendly term, can not a person that is white do so with a person who is black?”
I would answer, “hell no.”
There is a difference when say, gay people reclaim the term “queer” and african-americans reclaim “n—a” amongst themselves and when people of privilege (in your example, white-skin privilege) use such terms. The difference is not only intent (whether conscious or otherwise), but most importantly,
HISTORY.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 1:23 am ¶
Denis wrote:
A friend directed me to this post. We were discussing the recent white-washing of the cast for the Avatar film (an all-Asian cast suddenly all-white!) when this link was provided, especially as we all blog on videogames (and a diverse group we three discussing this were, now that I think on it). Therefore, I haven’t fully read your blog (but making sure it makes its way to my RSS reader).
It shouldn’t strike me as odd that there is all this fuss, but it is frustrating. Earlier in the year N’Gai Croal of Newsweek questioned Capcom’s trailer for Resident Evil 5, especially as it used some very insensitive colonialist imagery, and was lambasted by many in the gaming community. It’s a struggle to push forward, but one which seems to be making steps (however slowly).
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 2:05 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
K.G.
I’m sure Lang Lang has to be familiar/interested with Kanye’s music in order to collaborate with him. I don’t speak for the entire Chinese community, but I have cousins who grew up not being allowed to listen to any popular (as in top 40 stuff) music at all. Every one of them took piano lessons and they did own jazz and musical theatre CDs. However, even “clean” popular music, such as stuff by Mariah, Jewel, Whitney or Sarah McLachlan weren’t allowed in the house. They weren’t even all that familiar with Hong Kong pop stars!
I could see a collab with someone like, oh, I don’t know, Diana Krall or Natalie Cole (is she still singing?).
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 9:22 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@All – I’m actually traveling so I won’t be able to really participate in this thread.
For those wondering about the racism analysis in this particular piece, I write about racism in gaming a lot. So, this is more of a post intended for regular readers.
Search “video games” on this website, read through the other pieces I wrote, go to cerise.theirisnetwork.org, read through the stuff there, and go to Pat Miller’s blog, Token Minorities. That should give you the framework for why this is problematic.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 9:30 am ¶
Ike wrote:
Hmmm… I’m black and I don’t know about this. I don’t really see the point. Especially since it’s being promoted as the “Black College Football Experience” and not just “HBCU Football.” I don’t see what HBCU culture really has to do with playing football in video games?
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 12:54 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
Do critics realize that “Black College” isn’t about the people, but about the institutions also known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities? Silly people, do some research.
Also, drumline game inside a football game? It’s like two games in one! Well played, very well played.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 1:39 pm ¶
Raine wrote:
Wow, a lot of responses. Thanks everyone for responding.
Kelvin- To be honest, I had no belief that white people shouldn’t or weren’t allowed to play black games. Actually, I think it would be good for them to, especially when you mention the certain traditions that are unique to HBCUs. You may be right, unfortunately, though, about white people not wanting to play it when it’s about black people.
I do want to stress that I was not necessarily attacking this game, nor do I at all condone the fact that tv shows, history books, video games, cartoons, commercials…etc ad infinitum constantly portray white people with little to no portrayal of non-white people.
DivergentDana- First, I want to thank you for your very detailed response. Your point is a fantastic one and I found it very agreeable and very impressive. I do, and always have, believed that there is a WET and I do not believe that there should be.
I also want to clarify that I never intended to imply that the author said it was okay for the inclusion of the word, nor did I mean to imply that saying it was a universal custom within the black community. Honestly, it was just a thought that popped into my head and was not meant in any way other than my own curiosity.
Michelle- It wasn’t my intent to ascribe reverse racism. I was attempting to look at the argument itself and analyze it as a piece of debate, it could have been about anything, this one just happened to be dealing with race. It had seemed to me that part of the argument, though by no means all, had been the statement “Some people are upset with A, but A is good. B is bad, but is similar to A. Since there is B, there should also be A.” After reading the points made by Kelvin, Dana, and you, I do agree with the conclusion and am in full support of this video game, it was merely my nitpicking of the debate presented.
With regards to the “N word,” I enjoyed your thoughts, but I can’t say that I entirely agree. Now, I want to mention that it’s not a word that I use. I have spoken it before, but never to or about somebody. My use of it has always been exclusive to sociology or history classes, where I felt, especially with regards to history, that the word, those who adopted it and those who were victims of its hatred needed to be acknowledged. I apologize if this offends anybody.
But I’m not sure I agree otherwise. I wouldn’t use the word in casual conversation or as a greeting. However, I’m not sure I believe that, ideally, all words would be available to all. To clarify, I do understand the historical perspective of it, but it is history, not the present. I realize that there is still a great deal of racism and that there likely will always be. However, if the term is being used as one of empowerment by the black community, why is it that non-racist members of any other community can’t join in the empowerment of the black community? Why can’t certain white people say “we, non-racist white people, are with you. We reject and despise the history of the word and see you and ourselves as one” and not be excluded from the word use? Is ideology not more important than skin color? I realize there are cultural differences, but isn’t creating exclusions based on skin color still a bad thing? Again, I understand that this concept is placed 100-fold on non-whites and I want to stress that I am strongly against that as well. But divisions based on hate and divisions based on love are different things but still end up with a division. I realize the horror that was perpetrated by the mass majority of the white community and realize that many members still hold hatred within them, but is it okay to hold those who don’t feel that way to the same restrictions as those who do feel like that? I don’t know. I will not use the word, both out of respect and the desire to not cause pain to anybody. But I remain unsure that having any restrictions to anybody based on their skin color is what we should be striving for.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 2:19 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
@Denis,
You had me freaked out about the cast for Avatar. I looked up the casting, and the video that’s circulating has the voice acting cast in it. Most of those voice actors don’t act on screen, so I’m relieved.
If M. Night white-washes the casting for a specifically pan-Asian cast of cartoon characters, I will kill him.
Which brings me to the debate on whether or night “Japanese” anime characters are whitened, the answer is yes. The argument made in that link is absurd because some shows and movies do in fact have Japanese looking characters. This is especially true of old manga, but also lots of new things contain characters that aren’t stereotyped (”slanty eyes”), are cartoonish, but still look like they’re meant to be Japanese in contrast to White people. Check out Samurai Champloo or Cowboy Bebop for shows that successfully juxtapose European, Asian, and African characters in a cartoony way without falling into standard stereotypes (overlarge noses and blonde hair for whites, big lips and harsh features for blacks). There are creators that are conscious of this, and make a point of not Europeanizing their characters in their designs. It is not a figment of Western imaginations.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 3:41 pm ¶
Kat wrote:
I don’t see what’s the problem here. HBCU football is not extactly mainstream so they created a niche market for the game. It encompasses the some cultural aspects of HBCU football that you don’t get anywhere else. Why are people complaining? because it has the word “black”? would people prefer African-American? Who ever said the cast was all-black? Who ever said the buyers had to be black to play the game?
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 5:03 pm ¶
Dirge wrote:
“white” folks who imagine themselves “enlightened” by bringing up black “segregation” continue to embarrass themselves in the cybersphere.
Its no use replying to those idiots because they know that what they’re “saying” is nonsense. Its really a way of putting those “negroes” in their place.
People have a problem with HBCU’s(which are increasingly graduating more and more non-blacks who are smart enough to realize that many HBCU”s represent a decent education at a bargain price), black history month, BET and any other black cultural institution because they are not not so easily appropiated like a consumable artifact is.
They claim its black self-segregation but I would love Juneteenth to be a national holiday celebrated by all much like St. Patrick’s day, a formally ethnic holiday turned national celebration if there ever was one.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 7:21 pm ¶
Dirge wrote:
What is such a shame is that those reverse racism arguments betray such a lack of empathy on the parts of whites.
This goes for any argument these fools mobilize against any sort of diversity or beyond that, any sort of institution or cultural product that is minority white.
They don’t see the irony in their statements.
An All black cast alienates whites yet somehow all-white cast wouldn’t do the same to non-whites because there “Just human anyway right”(I’ve actually heard this argument. read: whites=human, non-whites=something else)
Little black boys can have Rambo on their wall and identify with white heroes but a little white boy can’t do the same unless it’s Michael Jordan.
When you look at its an illusion many whites have gotten themselves trapped into and its only to their detriment.
They have so “universalized” and “normalized” their experiences they can’t really experience any one elses because all others are “deviant”.
I recently read an article about some southern politician lamenting the lack of whites in med school. His complaint ran something like,” white students won’t have any role models to encourage them to go into medicine” because clearly Asians can’t be role models to whites unless he’s Bruce Lee. Oh the irony, and these are the same ones who hate on affirmative action which basically seeks to establish just such a class of blacks that other blacks can emulate.
Its privilege at its most pristine.
The subtext is really, whites are deserving others are not.
I’m African-american and I’ve been playing video games since I my eyes opened up and I’ve always had to identify with white characters. Its no big deal now. I can easily put myself in the shoes of someone who looks nothing like me.
However, most whites don’t have to do that. I wonder if they can(outside of sports games)
Actually, they can, if its a busty Asian woman.
I wonder if the Asian fetish present in video games is really a desire FOR Asian women or a desire to BE an Asian woman considering that VG’s require you put yourself in the place of another.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 7:46 pm ¶
Eric Daniels wrote:
Tight game and nice graphics, if it ever comes on XBox I would definately buy it.but there could be some improvments, I would love it if could have an unlock code to all the College Football teams from Divs 1- 3 so Black Colleges can compete with the Georgias and Michigans on a schedule with Bowl Games like NCAA College Football ‘09. That would the ultimate game along with the Halftime Band competitions like Stanford v. FAMU, a tweak here and there it would be a legendary game on a Madden-like scale without losing the Black Expericence of College Football.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 8:16 pm ¶
K.G. wrote:
@Cynthia
Natalie’s still around,in fact she just put out a new album a couple of weeks ago after recouperating from an illness. I’ve never actually heard Lang Lang’s music—I only read a good article about him in TIME magazine a little while back, and just threw his name out there as an example of an offbeat choice for a collaboration with someone who would the total opposite of him in terms of diffrent musical genres. It’s just that Kanye West has in fact collaborated with some interesting non-rap musicians, so it would not be beyond a possibility that such a thing could happen. Especially if it turns out that Lang Lang’s into conscious rap or something like that.
Your cousins weren’t allowed to listen to ANY Top 40 music? They were deprived, I tell you, deprived! (I’m just kidding). Are they listening now that they’re grown up?
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 9:59 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
“However, if the term is being used as one of empowerment by the black community, why is it that non-racist members of any other community can’t join in the empowerment of the black community?Why can’t certain white people say “we, non-racist white people, are with you. We reject and despise the history of the word and see you and ourselves as one” and not be excluded from the word use? Is ideology not more important than skin color? I realize there are cultural differences, but isn’t creating exclusions based on skin color still a bad thing?”
I reiterate… why are so many people interested in taking on this aspect of the aforementioned subculture, and nothing else? And it’s nowhere near a given/consensus that it’s considered “empowering”, except among a certain subgroup within the race. If you were reasonably well-aquainted with black culture in its entirety, you’d have to know that. “Blacks” don’t all use the N-word. I don’t, my father doesn’t, lots of other black people have never ever used it. A certain group of blacks use it, and these people happen to turn up on television a lot. That’s not my fault, and so I, a person who keeps that word out of my vocabulary, should never have to deal with non-blacks referring to me in that way as a shallow, misguided attempt at solidarity that’s so counterintuitive to all established mainstream rules of polite behavior that it sounds like something out of an episode of “The Office.” Having to bitch out other black people for doing the same is enough of a hassle. What’s the reason that you ideally prefer solidarity with the black people who do use the word over the concerns of those who don’t?
I can contribute to the empowerment of other groups without using their “inside” terms. It’s pretty easy, and I don’t feel like it’s unfair, or like I’m left out at all. My sister’s a lesbian. She sometimes uses derogatory language to refer to GLBTs. I don’t, because I’m not part of that community, it ain’t within my rights, and as an outsider I don’t even know if it’s a sign of internalized homophobia, an attempt to reclaim the term, or a mixture of both. If I were to use the terms, I’d look as if I were exhibiting plain-old homophobia to any reasonable gay person, and I’d be rightly castigated for it. I’d also be f***ing up any fledgling attempt at “taking the term back,” because I’m not a member. The derogatory aspect was created by straights, and I can’t “take back” what “my” group already owns — the colloquial, negative definition/use. I mean, if rich white people start referring to their lower-class friends as “rednecks” (with friendly intentions, of course), does that mean that they’re fighting classism in any tangible way? Why is true equality dependent on the suboordinate group giving social permission for the dominant group to pelt them with epithets, however kindly intended?
And again — quoting myself here:
“Everyone’s got way more license regarding the way that they refer to their own group than others, and the analogous question would truly be, “if a black person can say n**** in a non-offensive context” , then why can’t a white person say (insert anti-white epithet here) in a non-offensive context”? But they’re totally able to, and usually don’t want to, and as a result, that question never gets asked. So why are they fighting for the theoretical right to use other groups’ epithets towards them without social repercussions/offense being taken? It’s a social “right” that the vast majority of people of all races don’t have.”
Posted 13 Dec 2008 at 4:50 am ¶
Raine wrote:
“I reiterate… why are so many people interested in taking on this aspect of the aforementioned subculture, and nothing else? And it’s nowhere near a given/consensus that it’s considered “empowering”, except among a certain subgroup within the race. If you were reasonably well-aquainted with black culture in its entirety, you’d have to know that. “Blacks” don’t all use the N-word. I don’t, my father doesn’t, lots of other black people have never ever used it. A certain group of blacks use it, and these people happen to turn up on television a lot. That’s not my fault, and so I, a person who keeps that word out of my vocabulary, should never have to deal with non-blacks referring to me in that way as a shallow, misguided attempt at solidarity that’s so counterintuitive to all established mainstream rules of polite behavior that it sounds like something out of an episode of “The Office.” Having to bitch out other black people for doing the same is enough of a hassle. What’s the reason that you ideally prefer solidarity with the black people who do use the word over the concerns of those who don’t?”
I now feel the need to reiterate. I’m not at all interested in taking that aspect, it was merely the present point of discussion. Even if it were allowable, I wouldn’t use the word, simply because I don’t see a point in doing so. The only exceptions would be if I were reading from a sociological or historical document, but I would never wish to use it as a colloquial term. Secondly, my wording may have been off in the particular section of mine you quoted, but I stated “…nor did I mean to imply that saying it was a universal custom within the black community” For instance, of all the black people I have known, I have not known any of them to use the term at all. So it was never my intention to imply that it was a universal or near-universal practice. The preference for a certain solidarity of which you speak, does not exist within me. I would, quite honestly, prefer that nobody use it colloquially, but it is not my place to strip anybody of that ability. The point I wanted to bring up was about ideology, not about actual practice. I don’t feel that you should have to put up with anybody using the term with or around you, most especially if it’s not appreciated…this would be my feeling regardless of whether it was a term permitted to be universally adopted. It’s all ideological; in my head, there should be no restrictions or divisions at all based on skin color. Sure, the communities might be different in general, but they could and should (and I believe, in many cases, do) permit others to join in them. The word is simply one of thousands of invisible divisions constructed and again, in my mind there should be none at all. It does not and will never mean that I am promoting the word’s usage, I am simply seeing no need for there to be exclusions to anybody.
Posted 13 Dec 2008 at 2:31 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:
K.G.:
Nope, they weren’t allowed. Even today, as adults in their 20s and early 30s, they aren’t all that familiar with top 40 stars on either side of the Pacific! They listen to people like Josh Groban, Diana Krall and Michael Buble.
Posted 14 Dec 2008 at 11:47 pm ¶
Elton wrote:
My personal theory is that getting more Asian-American kids into band would create a revolutionary ripple-up effect for our AA culture and identity.
Marching band, because of the association with football, is such a distinctly American and wonderfully rich tradition (whether it be high-step or military, show band or corps). More AA participation would do wonders for making AAs more visible as members of the American community, and in turn, enrich AAs’ lives with a wonderful physical/mental/artistic activity that teaches teamwork, showmanship, musicianship, and social skills.
Furthermore, it would set up, for the first time, a whole generation of AA young people to become involved in making music. Then there wouldn’t just be a few rare AA musical icons like the rapper Jin, and Asian musicians wouldn’t just be foreign-born people like Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma, and we wouldn’t be limited just to European Art Music, we could have a thriving Asian-American Musical Culture (like African-Americans have had for so long).
Anyone have ideas on how to accomplish this?
Posted 19 Dec 2008 at 6:37 pm ¶