By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 12 years ago

Deus Ex: Human Revolution offers old school racism with your gaming fun

I know next to nothing about video games – I’m a huge geek, but I have no hand/eye coordination, so me attempting to play video games is really just flailing around on the couch to the amusement of my friends. Apparently Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a new hit game. I hear the women and characters of color in the game aren’t the best. But what’s really getting attention is the character of Letitia, a black woman you find picking through the trash who you can pay for information with beer, and who talks like the most extreme racist stereotype from a blackface minstrel show.

You can check out what I’m talking about in this video originally posted at Techland, if you can really stomach the love child of Al Jolson and Jar Jar Binks:

That shit would make even Roger Sterling uncomfortable (OK not really).

Square Enix, the game’s designer, has tried to play this off with one of those classic denial filled, “we didn’t mean it, stop seeing racism” statements, again via Techland:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fictional story which reflects the diversity of the world’s future population by featuring characters of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. While these characters are meant to portray people living in the year 2027, it has never been our intention to represent any particular ethnic group in a negative light.

Uh, no. There’s just no denying what an over the top, Mammy-esque stereotype Letitia is. Playing ignorant here is insulting and embarrassing. Just like the character.

You can contact Square Enix here to let them know you’re not a fan of minstrel shows with your gaming.

via Badass Digest.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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