City Councilman Promoted Violent Anti-Immigrant Video Game
by Guest Contributor Cara, originally published at The Curvature
I just came across a post at Sociological Images about an outrageously racist flash video game called Border Patrol. They note that in the game, “you try to keep three types of Mexicans from crossing the border: drug dealers, Mexican nationalists, and ‘breeders.’” Video game site Kotaku — which thankfully also calls the video game racist — gives a highly similar description. As you’ll notice in the image above, which is of a heavily pregnant and barefoot caricatured woman crossing the border, she is also on her way to the welfare office.
But you may also notice something else. Looking at the image, there are bullet holes in the sign that says “Welcome to the United States” (with a picture of a flag that seems to indicate an anti-Semitic message that the country is run by Jews — am I missing something?). The woman in the game also looks like her head is in the cross hairs of a gun.
That’s right, in this game we’re not “stopping” Mexican immigrants from crossing the border without documentation by, oh, calling the police. Or by using another horrific and degrading option like catching them in a net to send them back over the border.
No, players are shooting them dead.
So, what we’ve got here is a game that is horribly racist and promoting the murder of undocumented immigrants. The game is also highly misogynistic, in calling women “breeders,” treating them like “welfare queens” (an equally racist and misogynistic stereotype), and encouraging their bloody demise. Of course, no attention is paid to the extreme violence that women crossing the border are already subjected to. Nor is there any attention paid to the fact that violence against women is committed at much higher rates against women who are pregnant. Or even that “we should just shoot ‘em” is not an uncommon utterance out of the mouths of anti-immigrant types.
Because the people portrayed in this game aren’t seen as people by those who play it.
The game was created in 2006, but is getting attention at the moment because yet another public official has decided to radically fuck up and show their true colors through a racist email message. Kennesaw, Georgia city councilman John Dowdy circulated a message promoting the video game as a fun away to pass the time and get out your anti-immigrant aggression:
Dowdy forwarded this game to [three Kennesaw employees] among other people, along with a message which read, “THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes you feel better anyway, I did my part today, I kept a few from coming over!!! GET READY — THEY ARE FAAAST! ! !”
Har har. Imagining that you’re murdering people from a group already at a high risk of violence is tons of fun.
Dowdy has resigned, and employees of color from the same town have sued, alleging mistreatment by white coworkers, supervisors and elected officials.
Of course, regardless of how relatively lowly Dowdy’s position in government may have been, it’s impossible to divorce the violent anti-immigrant sentiments of public officials from the actual violent and abusive treatment that undocumented immigrants face at the hands of our government. From what I can tell, it doesn’t sound like Dowdy was in a particular position to actually enact government-sanctioned violence against immigrants. But the fact that he was personally promoting it and the fact that government-sanctioned violence against immigrants is a reality are indeed related.
We’re talking about an overall culture of hatred, promotion of violence, and complicity. And in discussing this racist jackass, and this racist and misogynistic video game, we can’t forget that.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
atlasien wrote:
Kennesaw is an Atlanta exurb… oddly enough, I just left a comment a few minutes ago on the gentrification thread complaining about terrible white Republican Boss Hog wannabees feeding on Atlanta like parasites. AND THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF PERSON I MEAN!!!! ARRGHH!! GAH!!!
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 9:38 am ¶
wendi muse wrote:
wow…that is so disturbing. thank god he resigned
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 9:49 am ¶
Mary wrote:
This is why it pisses me off when arguments about “intellectualism” and “elitism” are raised. Or the “it’s how they are, they don’t know any better” train of thought.
Sorry, no. You could be the stupidest person on earth, and still be able to figure out that getting your kicks from fake-shooting pregnant women IS WRONG.
Where is the pro-life crowd on this, by the way?
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 9:51 am ¶
Hilary wrote:
Ugg, don’t even know where to begin. Naturally, people are going to try to defend this by saying it’s “just a game” but, as you’ve excellently laid out, it reflects actual attitudes and (however crudely) reality on the ground. Just blown away by the hate over here, ew.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:04 am ¶
sejw wrote:
*Ugh*
I’m just wondering how anti-Mexican immigrant sentiment will progress with the growing alarm about swine flu in Mexico. If this is the kind of racist crap that’s coming out now….
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:25 am ¶
Matt wrote:
Regarding the Star of David:
It’s a major, major theme of white supremacists in the US that everything they hate, including multiculturalism and immigration, are the work of a “Zionist Occupied Government.” You can appreciate some of that just from reading the Wikipedia entry on The Turner Diaries, the Bible of the far-right.
I don’t think many people understand how central antisemitism is to far-right rhetoric.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:34 am ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:
Having grown up in a city on the boarder involved in ‘boarder-related’ (or as we called it ‘people-related’) activism I’ve seen and heard a lot of things. A lot of horrible, disgusting things. But the tone here is beyond beyond. Beyond.
That anyone, save a sociopath, could stomach let alone promote this is hard for me to believe. But, I guess that’s how hateful hate works, isn’t it.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:36 am ¶
jen* wrote:
I am not surprised this is coming out of Kennesaw. I have known some people who spoke of moving there because the sentiments of the town were in line with their beliefs. One notable town fact is that a city ordinance requires every household to own a gun. I’m not entirely sure how this is enforced…
Anyway, I can just add this to the list of reasons why I won’t be moving to Kennesaw.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:37 am ¶
Lorraine wrote:
This is horrible. Is there a way to contact the makers of the game? Or even Dowdy’s office?
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:40 am ¶
R. Prince wrote:
@ sejw, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday… this swine flu problem although concerning may just be on its way to being another Mexican stereotypes, “don’t let those mexicans in our country… look they could give us the swine flu!”
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:41 am ¶
Celeste wrote:
In addition to all the other disgusting things in that game. Why does she have underarm hair?
@sejw: if swine flu does become a big deal we will see showing of asses on a whole new level.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:48 am ¶
Guerita wrote:
God, sometimes I’m glad I’m a loner! I recall reading that a bunch of college students created a similar game expect this one far more misogynist.
@ R. Prince I thought the same thing too, but the sad part is that I often hear Mexican American kids saying thing like that that.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:07 am ¶
elle the elephant wrote:
Just disgusting. In between this and Resident Evil 5, I’m starting to be ashamed of calling myself a video gamer. More and more, I’m seeing more mysogyny,racism, and just anti-intellectualism in many games.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:13 am ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:
This is absolutely disgusting.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:13 am ¶
Erica wrote:
There are so, so many things wrong with that image… and so many more wrong with the people who created and play it.
The only thing that really surprises me is that the councilman resigned instead of trying to justify himself.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:14 am ¶
Jaya wrote:
Holy mother of god.
Honestly, its impossible to have a reasoned discussion with these fucks about immigration, when you know the other side is motivated by racism and xenophobia. I want to take a nuanced stand, but after seeing evidence about what the anti-immigration people ACTUALLY think about Latinos and Mexicans, I feel like throwing our borders wide open, just to spite them.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:30 am ¶
Marcus Kwame wrote:
wow… i’m speechless… only in america.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:38 am ¶
Cara wrote:
Lorraine — in the comments of the original post, someone tracked down the makers of the game. Turns out that they’re an extreme white supremacist group. So, sadly, I don’t think that contacting them would be at all worthwhile.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:48 am ¶
Eva wrote:
@sejw, I too was thinking about swine flu and how this can be used as an excuse to discriminate.
What’s really, really bad about this game is more than just racist and misogynist. This game encourages people to not see human beings as humans. Many people play games like these without having contact with any other humans, therefore they don’t learn empathy for other people.
If they think it’s okay to shoot cartoon character pregnant women, then the next step is shooting actual pregnant women.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 11:59 am ¶
Charlotte wrote:
I don’t even know where to begin to describe the awful here.
It’s like Grand Theft Auto with an added dose of racism.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 12:00 pm ¶
Tracey wrote:
Why do you make me cry? Why? Was it really necessary? (I know).
I am not surprised by this game and doubt that it is the only one of it’s kind. I see it as the progression of a system of belief that demonizes immigrants (for the most part focusing on Latinos which are all grouped as Mexicans unless in FL where Cubans) as lazy, job stealing, disease carrying scum bags with no respect for American culture that come here and have babies so they can stay. Even politicians are in on it standing behind tough rhetoric, avoiding the term amnesty like its their cryptonite, and allowing the continued constitutionally dubious ICE raids that target day labor lines (D.C. area) and “randomly” ask Latino assumed people for documentation. Not to mention the willingness to deport for the slightest offense even when it means tearing apart families and deporting people who have been here all their lives to a country they have no immediate family in and haven’t lived in since the age of five. And what the hell is being done to put a stop to this Minutemen nonsense? That’s when they aren’t receiving support from border control that is.
A video game like this is not surprising when people who patrol the border with shot guns to keep out immigrants are touted as heroes. Not to mention Lou Dobbs and those who view immigration like him. Seriously, he reported that the 7,000 case of leprosy in 3yrs was related to Mexican immigration when it was really over 30yrs and no definite correlation. I wonder what he will be reporting in the wake of the new flu?
Of course, we’re just being overly sensitive and its only a game. In no way did the fine councilman mean to support the shooting of border crossers. Hell, you know something, you people are the racist ones. By finding this offensive and saying it plays into and promotes a culture of violence towards immigrants, you are the ones drawing a link between immigrants and people who illegally cross the border, have lots of children, and collect welfare. And you are the ones reading so much into the flag. It was probably drawn that way to demonstrate the place in the game was not the U.S. I hope you’re ashamed of yourselves freaking PC police.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 12:20 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
@Matt
Yep, anti-Semitism has gone the way of, say, anti-Catholicism, in some circles, but it’s still the beating heart of white power hate groups and far-right political machines. “Progress” is really just widening the gap between the so-called mainstream and these groups. Those who passively subscribe to these ideas also underreport in surveys, so it’s really hard to tell how pervasive these attitudes remain. Not a silent majority, but certainly a plurality.
Between the Drug War and the Swine Flu, anti-Latino sentiment is going to hit a fever pitch before the end of the year. It’s going to be 2006/7 all over again.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 12:42 pm ¶
Aishtamid wrote:
Wow, just wow. How do people do these things? And what could the excuse possibly be when they’re caught?
@Mary – only white babies matter to them I guess. If white fetuses are aborted, bomb the clinic but brown babies are collateral damage.
@Matt – The random anti-semitism is quite amusing. Spend 5 minutes on any hate site and it becomes obvious how much these people are obsessed with Jews and this fictional Jewish power that runs the world.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 1:09 pm ¶
RJG wrote:
@swine flu comments.
It doesn’t help that the Deputy Health Minister of Israel seems to want “swine flu” renamed “Mexican flu”…
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 1:10 pm ¶
Zee wrote:
Wow. This makes my stomach turn
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 1:20 pm ¶
inkst wrote:
I don’t really know what to say about this. This “perspective” (if it even deserves to be called that) never ceases to amaze me.
Did anyone read some of the comments from the referenced article. Wow. Fortunately, their were some people trying to make a valid point, but the majority were a little ridiculous.
Plus, you gotta love this logic, which was invoked several times throughout the thread: “The game makes a point to show that they are ILLEGAL immigrants and therefore criminals. ”
So, it’s ok. Do you ever want to just grab someone by the shoulders and shake vigorously?
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 1:40 pm ¶
jen* wrote:
@Eva – I don’t know about saying that the action in video games is necessarily a precursor for real life action. I find the game reprehensible, but don’t know how I feel about saying the next step is killing pregnant women in real life.
Maybe it’s my own knee-jerk reaction against blaming video games for whatever bad behavior is exhibited from one week to the next…
And yet I get the sentiment. I’m not a gamer, and I’m not into the violent games that seem to be so prevalent. [Though I did play Doom in college (dating myself, I suppose).]
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 3:14 pm ¶
Tony Figueroa wrote:
This is a horrible game. I’m Latino of Puerto Rican heritage and I hate this game beyond my ability to adequately describe. There’s been a lot of lould talk about illegal immigration from people who like to sound like hardcore “law and order” types but it’s just a cover for their xenophobic paranoia. If it’s true that the makers of this game are a White supremacist group then they stand revealed as a sad, pathetic and marginal group of cowards. The hell with them.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 3:28 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
@RJG: I hope he wasn’t serious. Does he know that the virus typically attacks swine and that’s why it’s called swine flu. It’s not a virus that typically attacks Mexicans and then decided to bust out. He couldn’t have been serious, that just makes no sense. It’s also kinda irrelevant since people are, you know… dying.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 3:50 pm ¶
Alyssa wrote:
@jen: “I don’t know about saying that the action in video games is necessarily a precursor for real life action.”
While I agree that we as a society tend to lend too much blame to video games (the game made me do it, should never be a viable defence to any type of violence), there are serious problems with the message this game is sending. It is irresponsible to send a message that killing people who cross the border isn’t just okay, it’s FUN, especially considering we live in a society that allows Minutemen to exist (you know those people armed with rifles that “guard” the border).
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 4:14 pm ¶
queerhapa wrote:
@Celeste: what’s wrong with underarm hair?
The mishmash of nativism, racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, anti-welfare sentiment, and gun culture in this game is FRIGHTENING and so telling.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 5:09 pm ¶
jvansteppes wrote:
Reminds me of Grand Theft Auto’s ‘murder a sex worker for points’ theme.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 5:43 pm ¶
Yonah wrote:
That’s crazy – I just came across this game doing a project for B’nai Brith on hate groups on the internet. I was really, really hoping the information was out of date, but no…
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 6:26 pm ¶
Ejunco wrote:
My chicano history teacher showed us this video game about a year ago I thought it was permanently taken down
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 6:37 pm ¶
RainaWeather wrote:
I think that’s the flag of the original 13 colonies, which makes sense since racists love to talk about the founding fathers and all that bullshit
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 7:57 pm ¶
RainaWeather wrote:
Never mind my last post, looking at the larger picture I can see that it’s a star of David.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 7:58 pm ¶
InJM@work wrote:
@Ejunco(#30)
Nothing on the internet ever is permanently taken down though, unless I’m mistaken, Border Patrol is no longer hosted at it’s original home and even if it is no longer available currently, one just has to dig in to the archieves to find it.
@elle the elephant(#13)
You’ve got to take the good stuff with the bad. The good thing is that you probably won’t find games this straight-forward in the commercial market. And even if they eventually do (some might argue they already are) not calling yourself a gamer or giving up game is like not calling yourself a reader or giving up books because there are some really nasty books out there.
@Eva(#19)
I think jen* has it right. Disturbing? Yup. Poorly made? Sure. Leads to shooting pregnant immigrants? No. Placing the blame solely on games (even the flash variety) is very logical.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 9:23 pm ¶
Zara wrote:
Sigh. This is disheartening on so many levels, and the fact that people are still defending a game that advocates violence against a targeted group of individuals is frightening.
@RJG:
WTF? As someone who is Muslim, I cannot fathom how the phrase “swine flu” could possibly be offensive to members of the Islamic and Jewish faiths. Words don’t have to be kosher, folks; meat does. Swine flu did not originate in Mexico, so it seems ridiculous, and not to mention, inaccurate, to rename it as “Mexican flu”. Frankly, I’m surprised that the Deputy Health Minister of Israel, given his medical background, would utter something so ignorant.
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:21 pm ¶
aamer wrote:
This image is almost identical to the one on an Israeli platoon shirt that recently received widespread attention – the picture of a pregnant Palestinian woman in crosshairs with the caption “one shot, two kills.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072466.html
Posted 27 Apr 2009 at 10:55 pm ¶
Paz wrote:
“Breeders” ? ? What are we, farm animals?
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 2:26 am ¶
Evan Carden wrote:
@Zara
He’s not a doctor, he’s a political appointee, Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi_Judaism). For an explanation of how he ended up deputy health minister:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1081546.html
Long story short, under the parliamentary system you need a majority to govern, no one wins a majority, you need to bring in the fringe groups and you do that by offering them ministries, Health for this guy Foreign Affairs for Lieberman…
Democracy in action.
Wow, that came out cynical.
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 3:23 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
This game is racist and disgusting. Unfortunately, going by comments left after news articles in WaPo and ABC News.com, there’s too many people expressing racist xenophobic sentiments towards foreigners, including Mexicans. I think the economic crisis is making people reveal their true colors towards those who choose to immigrate to the US, it doesn’t matter if the immigration is legal or illegal.
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 5:59 am ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:
@ aamer
Ugh.
I mean, I know that historically, pregnant women (and women in general) as a target for ‘enemy’ violence, real or in rhetoric, is old hat. But the way this is popping up as light-hearted meme (for your teal tees! for your video games!) makes all of this particularly stomach-churning.
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 9:10 am ¶
jen* wrote:
@Alyssa – I agree that this game is terrible. Heinous. Awful. I do not defend the game. It should never have been made. I just don’t think we can make the leap to suggesting that actions in video games are precursors to real life action. [Were that so, I'd be more fit, according to my Wii.]
re: renaming the swine flu – that is asinine. And offensive.
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 1:51 pm ¶
Sarah wrote:
Does anyone else see a connection between this game and the rape simulation video game being sold on Amazon a few months ago?
http://community.feministing.com/2009/02/rape-simulation-game-sold-on-a.html
It eventually got banned:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/013735.html
But I couldn’t help noticing the connection with forcing a woman you just raped to have an abortion, and shooting a pregnant woman crossing the border in this most recent game.
At the time of the rape game incident, my only comfort was that least people voiced their outrage directly AT Amazon, ultimately forcing them to ban the game from being sold on their site. Unfortunately, voicing your outrage to a white supremacist group doesn’t exactly get you anywhere…
So disgusting… :/
Posted 29 Apr 2009 at 12:37 pm ¶