Posted on 12/11/2003 9:41:20 AM PST by Pikamax
Reuters U.S. Haitians to picket over computer game Thursday December 11, 12:36 pm ET By Michael Christie
MIAMI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Haitian community leaders vowed to proceed with plans to picket retailers selling a video game in which players are exhorted to "kill all the Haitians," saying the manufacturer's pledge to change future editions did not solve the problem with games on store shelves now. ADVERTISEMENT
After an outcry from the Haitian community over the game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," and to a lesser extent from leaders of the Cuban American community that players of the game are also urged to kill, Rockstar Games this week announced it would remove references to Haitians from future copies.
"It's too little, too late," said Ringo Cayard of the Haitian American Foundation. "They made the money, the message went through."
"The presence of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the shelves of national distributors and retailers ... continues to constitute a clear and present danger for Haitian nationals in the United States. Residents of Little Haiti (in Miami) have become like a sitting duck," Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition told Reuters on Thursday.
Haitian groups decided at meetings on Wednesday night to continue with planned protests against retailers.
They aim to picket Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT - News) at the Florida seaside city of Boynton Beach on Dec. 13, retailers in New York on Dec. 15, and video chain Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI - News; NYSE:VIAb - News)in Miami on Dec. 20. Cuban leaders have said they will join them.
Rockstar and its owners Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NasdaqNM:TTWO - News) apologized for unintentionally causing offense but said the phrases had been taken out of context, and would not encourage violence against ethnic groups.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City simulates a "glamorous, hedonistic metropolis of Vice City," a Miami-like seaside city teeming with Caribbean and Latin American immigrants.
In the game, an ex-convict has to recover stolen drug money and take on the Cuban and Haitian gangs that run the streets.
Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman praised the company for reacting so quickly and doing "the responsible thing by showing sensitivity."
Gepsie Metellus of the Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami said she would not expect Take-Two to withdraw all copies of the game from the market place, "But I'm certainly hoping they will also edit the lines with respect to other ethnic groups."
Looks like someone just finished their 'How to make yourself out as a victim to reap financial windfalls' class at the local ACLU chapter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.