Posted on 10/19/2003 7:30:51 AM PDT by veronica
Playing the board game Monopoly as a kid, I never thought there was anything controversial about it. A college professor once hinted that some of the game's streets - Baltic, Mediterranean, Oriental - were so named to indicate the ethnicity of their owners. I found out later that the properties are based on streets in Atlantic City, N.J.
Now a racially provocative takeoff on Monopoly is leaving no doubt about what kinds of people live on its streets. Ghettopoly capitalizes on the stereotypes of people living in poor urban areas. Instead of top hats and thimbles, Ghettopoly is played with fake Uzis, malt liquor, crack, marijuana, ``Ghetto Stash'' and ``Hustle Cards.'' Instead of Boardwalk Avenue and Park Place, you have Cheap Trick Avenue. And instead of Reading Railroad, you have Hernando's Chop Shop.
Predictably, some blacks are outraged and want the game banned. Some called for a boycott of the clothing chain Urban Outfitters unless the company stops selling Ghettopoly in its stores.
Pardon me if I think their protests are late and way off target.
Play Vs. Real Urban Warfare
Ghettopoly is the creation of David Chang, who was born in Taiwan and never lived in a ``ghetto.'' He says it's all a satire that people are taking much too seriously.
He says he got the idea for his game watching videos on MTV, which is why I can't take much offense at his game.
``If we are silent on this issue, there is more of this type to come,'' the Rev. Robert Shine warned at a rally a few weeks ago outside the Philadelphia headquarters of Urban Outfitters.
News bulletin, Rev: ``This type'' is already ubiquitous. It's part of our popular culture, and many young black men have become millionaires acting out negative stereotypes.
Turn on MTV or even BET and you'll see it: the celebration of thuggery, the touting of violence and murder and the crude materialism. Worse yet, they claim the ignorant, hedonistic, antisocial, profane and obnoxious behavior they exhibit is authentic, or ``keeping it real.''
So Chang is simply - to use the hip hop slang - ``gettin' paid.'' And he'll have to sell a lot of games to earn the money 50 Cent, Jay Z and others have made putting on a modern-day minstrel show.
At Least It's Only A Game
Fifty years ago CBS, bowing to pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, canceled the TV show ``Amos 'n' Andy.'' In a detailed complaint to the network, the NAACP noted that ``Amos 'n' Andy'' tended to ``strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest. Every character in this one and only TV show with an all- Negro cast is either a clown or a crook.''
That was a stretch, but what are the ``uninformed'' supposed to think when they see some of the videos Chang saw? Where are the protests about these negative images?
There are rumors that donating some bucks to black organizations provides a free pass to rap moguls to continue profiting from acting out these stereotypes. I don't know if it's true, but it would help explain the silence.
As for those who say that white kids are the biggest rap fans and are equally influenced by the gangster-rap ethos, let's compare behavior and body counts. Then we can find out who takes this garbage seriously and who doesn't.
Regardless, David Chang and his board game are not the problem. Ghettopoly is just a game, and if it is taken off the market, its inspiration will still be alive and well. And that's where the protests should be directed.
It's just a chapter of the night, in the ghetto afterlife
Where you just seen or heard about or gonna have to fight
Where they sacrifice the life and niggaz see flashes of light
When you trapped up in the heights but clappers aimin at the wife
Yeah, dudes gettin money is still thuggin
Chicks gettin money is still ghetto
Still livin the whole thuggish stilleto
Your team let the metal burst
Then you ask the question, snatchin the life of the innocent
So Chang is simply - to use the hip hop slang - ``gettin' paid.'' And he'll have to sell a lot of games to earn the money 50 Cent, Jay Z and others have made putting on a modern-day minstrel show.
At Least It's Only A Game
Ouch! but true.
Just another zample of the yellow man rippin' off the black man!
SUVs, soccer moms, cube farms, layoffs. Could be fun!
After Urban Outfitters was pressured into discontinuing sales (and the resultant publicity) I understand that Chang is continuing to sell the game over the Net.
Has anyone found the link?
We have always enjoyed Monopoly, and I must admit I have consciously avoided learning about the new improved lifestyle first hand, and I believe it was 1985 since I last watched MTV, so...
I could use at least 3 copies of this controversial game.
I love this Joseph Brown !
You couldn't buy this kind of advertising!
As previously referenced, Hasbro, owners of the Parker Brothers game Monopoly sued Chang for copyright infringement.
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