Life as a Black Man
 

Hey y'all,

Life has been extremely busy lately, so I haven't posted much. I've been trying to make my way back and the following article prompted me to do so. Please give me your thoughts on this mess. I swear, sometimes we are our own worse enemies.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/D...nsamigame.html

A New Game of ‘Life’
Players Are 18-Year-Old Black Males Struggling to Make It
By Steve Osunsami


The multi-colored board game comes neatly shrink-wrapped in a black cardboard box. Inside are hundreds of cards that must be sorted, two pairs of dice, and colored chess-like pieces.

But this is no "Monopoly."

The game is called "Life as a Black Man," and its title alone has raised a considerable number of eyebrows from coast to coast.
Each player is an 18-year-old black male, struggling to make it. The goal is to make it from any one of four starting points: the ghetto, the military, the entertainment industry or the halls of a black university, to end the of the game board, to a place called "freedom."

Along the way, however, are what the game's creator says are typical pitfalls for young black men — trouble with the law and money issues. Land on a racism space, and you're forced to pull a card that reads: "You're pulled over by police for driving a new car, back two spaces."

Game creator Chuck Sawyer, 33, says he's 'just being real,' using his own experience growing up in California, to educate the masses.

"It's about educating and heightening awareness," he says. "I want everyone to be aware about life as a minority."
One of the cards, he says, drives his point home. Any player who draws it, dies.

"When you pull that ghetto card and it says you get shot and killed in a drive-by shooting, I'm truly demonstrating to you that your life is over and your game is over."

In only a few months, and with limited distribution, Sawyer has sold 10,000 games. But not every black family is running to the toy store to get one. Many just don't buy the humor.

Outside a store selling the game in suburban Los Angeles, one African-American man said his "life is far too serious to … roll the dice and get pushed back two spaces."

Another black woman said she couldn't understand why anyone would buy such a thing.

"I have two very good sons," she said. "I need something that's going to teach them how to be strong black males."
The issues the game underlines are no joke. Racial profiling, discrimination, unemployment, prison. And while there isn't anything in the game that says these issues are exclusive or universal to black people, many concerned African-Americans say the implication is made by the title alone, further fueling controversy in the black community.

A group of white players, who tried their hand at the game, said they found the choices each player was forced to make depressing.

A middle-aged white woman was confronted with: "Your brother's been arrested, pay $1,000."

A middle-aged white man needed to deal with becoming a 'baby-daddy,' again: "Another baby card, I've got another baby."

Politely, the group told us they wouldn't be playing the game at home.

"Well, the two choices that really make you think are the crime cards," said one player, "where you have a choice to do the crime or not, and I obviously wasn't going to do the crime, and then all of a sudden … I realize that I need a car."

A player who went by "Dan" broke it down even further: "Outside of college students, I'm not sure that mainstream white America will play the game."

Sawyer says that's his point. Most Americans don't have to play the game, on a board, or in life. But as a black American, he does.

i originally heard about this game on Black Amercia Web a while back. I think most melanin-challenged folks who play this will only see it for one thing - a game. Shoot, it will probably become a fad to some, like any other urban item about or made by blacks.

See, stuff like this just pisses me off. We say we want people to get over stereotypes and prejudices, but then we go and put out garbage like this. :mad:

This "game" totally trivializes the Black experience. None of the brothas that I know would find those set of circumstances entertaining or even realistic.

Dang, I wish I knew how to do that BS smilie right about now.

Don't get mad, get even...
 

I heard about it on the racist Fox Nex Channel on Hannity and Colmes... So, the engineer's viewpoint was to "show" how hard it is for a Black Man... He has parts of urban blight such as drugs, prison and several welfared children...

Your point of promoting stereotypes and prejudices is true. But don't get mad :mad:, get even...:p

I think it's a reinforcement of the pre-established bigotry that all people of color, persons of Afrikan descent in particular, encounter by those elistist in europee-on culture... Although I think this engineer's design is inherently flawed by the fact he is a wannabe capatilist, that is non-ingenius design with no more fad-ish than Rubic's cube if that... I think his is testing how "shark-infested" the waters are--eventually he will haveta move, follow, get outta the way or chewed up beyond all recognition...

And notice, there is no mention of a Spirit on the board...

But Parker Brother's puts out the "game" called "Life"... You buy stocks and bonds and life insurance... So this man's game is miniscule compared to the disinformation that is already out there...

Re: Don't get mad, get even...
 

You're right. Getting pissed off will do nothing to remedy the situation if it is not backed up with some sort of action. As you stated, this man is clearly out for capitalistic gain at the expense of Black men, so the answer really is to keep moving upward and onward to enlightenment. Producing a "game" of this nature is no different then black folks using the "n" word or putting out songs about baby's mamas or any other asinine label we've decided to use for ourselves.

So true. I just hate that we not only accept that misinformation, we perpetuate it. Until we begin to decipher all of the myths, untruths and straight out lies, we will continue to be a people bamboozled, hoodwinked and led astray.

Does this game address the problems of all black men?

Blacks in this country deal with more things than just racial profiling and becoming someone's baby daddy again. If the maker really wants people to gain some glimpse into the life of a black man, then he needs to address all of the issues out there.

What about the middle class, educated black man who has worked hard to get where he is and now his childhood friends and some of his family think he has sold out. What about the black executive who has to deal with white subordinates who don't consider him to be a true authority figure.

I think this man had a good idea, but he needs to relate it more to all black people. Why does everyone seem to think that all black people are or once were in the ghetto?

I feel you ClassyLady. Well said. I was about to post the same thing. Is this guy African American or white. I personally don't think that he will prosper whit this game because I know too many people won't buy this game. I know I won't.

Unfortunately, this type of Black man has become an anomaly in our society :rolleyes:. When you turn on the TV or read the paper, do you see the man you speak of above or the one that is portrayed in this "game"?

We can't blame anyone else for that. We are the ones perpetuating this myth at every turn, so how can we get upset when "others" believe what we've been telling them about ourselves? When I say "we", I'm talking about those Black people who have a voice in this world and use it to do nothing but perpetuate that negative image. "Ghetto" sales. "Middle class and educated" doesn't.