Ghettopoly

Note how, in addition to the character in the logo, all the 'quotes' are from mock black people not "Asians, Irish, Italians, Jewish".
Obviously it's in poor taste, but if people want to buy it they should be able to.

Would this be less offensive if a black person created it?

(note: those fake quotes are from fake rap stars.)

*bafflement*

http://www.the-gas-station.com/messages.cfm?type=normal&thread_id=55033&lastdays=10&

I'm going to reprint a newspaper article about it and have my kids write their opinions tomorrow.

I wonder how the Urban Outfitters shoppers would like a game of Arrivistopoly?

i dunno, but that bit just seems really stupid to me, like it's ok to beat someone up, if i whacked myself around a bit first, or it's ok to torch someone's car, as long as i torched mine first?

my first reaction to this isn't too good. the whole thing smacks of, "tee hee let's laugh at the negroes in the ghetto! and i'll throw in a stereotype about my people, too, so i get a pass." why urban outfitters would touch this thing at all is beyond me.

that's the part that gets to me too. Though I find it gross, I'm not surprised such a game would exist. But hearing that its being sold at such a hipshit store reaffirms that ALEX P. KEATON IS BACK BACK BACK.

Popular culture fetishzes gangsta culture (duh). This is why Urban Outfitters sold it. Now whether or not more sinister motives lie among individuals differs from person to person.

Based on the kind of jokes (and well, reality, nevermind jokes) I am surrounded by everyday, I don't think this game would make much of a ripple in the "ghetto" I teach in. I'm going to have my kids do a journal topic on it tomorrow. I'll let you know what they think.

I used to be so reactionary but life has obviously toned down my knee-jerk reflexes.

Here's the root of what bothers me about this uproar. A quote from a woman representing Al Sharpton's civil rights organization:

"The entire game is offensive, it seems like you're targeting a certain community saying that this entire race of people are no more than drug addicts, alcoholics, crack heads and that's the way they live in the inner city,"

IT'S A FUCKIN' BOARD GAME!! Exactly who is saying (and where) that this is supposed to represent every black person? And, more importantly, what complete idiot would believe such nonsense?

Jesus, maybe I just overestimate people and their ability to intelligently separate fact from fiction.

(also keep in mind many of the same groups throwing a fit now called for a boycott of Barbershop based on the Rosa Parks/MLK lines.)

That some people were wrong about Barbershop doesn't make them wrong about this game.

It shows they have a knee-jerk reaction to many race-related issues that most of the people they supposedly represent don't share.

Two periods have read and responded to a news article on this. So far I have not heard one student say it was racist.

As one kiddo put it: "It's about time that we had a game for us instead of these proper games." I asked who was "we", only black people or people in general, reminding him a Chinese immigrant created this game. He said he meant "we" to include people in general. People who live in the ghetto. He pointed out that many races live the way this game portrays (the Hispanic students agreed loudly at this point) and he was glad somebody was giving them something they could identify with. (a couple of kids brought up GTA.)

I asked if it was a bad idea to reinforce the negative aspects of their community. One kid asked how this reinforced or emphasized anything. It was just telling it like it is, he said. He said besides it was just a game and if he really wanted to see crack houses all he needed to do was walk down his street.

Maybe a good solution would require every person who wishes to buy this game to walk down such a street in order to do so.

I pointed out to the students that this was a good example of how everything in life isn't black and white. Often we do hold seemingly contradictory views.

It doesn't matter what Sam's kids say, it does matter that the game is marketed to people whose lives are far from the lives allegedly represented in the game.

So who's to blame here? Urban Outfitters? I'm going to give the creator the benefit of the doubt and assume his explanitons are not just lip service. I asked my kids this question, explaining what Urban Outfitter's patronage was like (they didn't know the store) and asked if it made a difference. They're general consensus was no. A few of their comments:

them: He (Chang) is down with us. The white kids buying it are down with black folk too. That's cool.

me: what if they aren't? what if some of them look at this and make racist assumptions about you and your community?

them: Well people are people. I don't care if they do think that, it doesn't hurt me. Some people are always going to be racist.

One girl said if the game involved selling black people to move ahead or beating up black people and putting them in them then she would think it's racist and wrong.

Again this period (an older very vocierfous bunch) echoed earlier classes by saying it was about time someone presented something that reflected their lives.

What's the difference between telling it like it is and reinforcing stereotypes?

Intelligence to know the difference. stereotypes contain en element of truth don't they? But when you start assuming these elements of truth are the only truth. . .well you're an idiot.

FWIW I'm not certain how I feel about this game. I can see both sides but it's hard for me to make up my mind without actually seeing it. I lean towards not finding it offensive because, well hey, one of my very favorite types of music is gangsta rap. If I was offended by this game and not the music I listen to everyday I'd be a hypocrite.

Overall what bothers me is the people getting all righteous about it. Is it only garnering so much ink b/c an educated immigrant made it and it's being sold to rich white kids? Is it not as big of an issue when malt liquor billboards are put up in the hood? (In my hood there's a Colt 45 billboard one block down from the elementary school on the corner.)

Why aren't these civil rights organization making headlines every day for raising hell about the quality of education in inner-city black neighborhoods? Where are they after-school when I'm trying to help young black men become well-read and well-written? Why aren't they raising funds to buy these kids newer computers than the 10 year old piece of crap (and only one piece of crap at that) I have in my room? Why do we only see/hear from the likes of Al Sharpton when it seems there is a high-profile opportunity to promote a political agenda?

I guess this is what really bothers me. I could give a rat's ass about some wanna-be-black white kids buying this game after driving to the mall in the brand-new car their folks gave them. Hollywood and fat, rich white men in charge of entertainment companies are irrelevent to me when I'm trying to teach Shabricka and De'Mon how to write complete sentences and convince them that I actually care about them when they're used to nobody doing so.

Yeah, I hear you saying, but these outside influences help to create the bad environment your kids have grown up. Possibly. But what good is being done by these conversations (on a national level I say). There are more important things to be done. Like getting a new generation equipped to hold the positions of power that other races do now. More people need to get their hands dirty.

*rambling rant over*

I don't know what it's like in Dallas, but when I lived in Chicago, there were a few preachers and community leaders in the black community who routinely got lots of press coverage concerning their efforts to stop the marketing of malt liquor. They actually made some pretty significant gains, too, in getting companies to change their advertising policies (one story I remember is about how they got a billboard company to pull down a beer ad right by a public school).

Like I said, I don't know what it's like in Dallas, but I think it's unfair to say that there is no effort by civil rights organizations to effect change in some communities.

No one is advocating censorship - just lamenting the economics that enable one group to produce and consume an image of someone else's community.

Speaking of not going on about trivial things. I need to stop going off about this. These kinds of debates just touch sore spots with me.

I have a meeting with my after-school Webmaster's Club now. After all, actions speak louder than words.. .

I think we basically agree. It's just that you were talking practically where I was talking morally.

Alright I just got home after a long, long fuckin' day and Menace II Society is on so I gots to go. (you think I'm jokin'. . .)

them: He (Chang) is down with us. The white kids buying it are down with black folk too. That's cool.

me: what if they aren't? what if some of them look at this and make racist assumptions about you and your community?

them: Well people are people. I don't care if they do think that, it doesn't hurt me. Some people are always going to be racist.

this is right up there with the klassik custos im-not-racist (sips coffee) dialogue

thread bumps very much in character