![]() Urban Outfitters, a seller of urban street wear clothing, has not issued a public statement. "It is important that as our communities find out about this offensive issue, and we address it, that we come together and engage in intelligent dialogue," Honda said. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, condemned the store for selling what he called "a racist board game." ![]() Other stores yanked the game earlier this week.īlack leaders in Philadelphia, Chicago and Seattle were incensed at the board game, calling on the 52 outlets of Urban Outfitters to stop carrying them. Thursday, the game, which has no affiliation to the Monopoly board game or its maker, Hasbro, was pulled from the shelves of the Bay Area's two stores in Berkeley and San Francisco. Urban Outfitters outlets across the country began selling the game a month ago. On the Ghettopoly website, Chang promises more board games of the same character, including Hoodopoly, Hiphopopoly, Redneckopoly and Thugopoly."Playa" (player) pieces include a 40-ouncer of malt, a marijuana leaf, a basketball and a "hoe," while "Smitty's XXX Peep Show," "Hernando's Chop Shop" and "Busta Rap Recording" are some of the properties. Collect $150” and “You are a little short on loot, so you decide to stick up the bank. The game also allows players to draw “Hustler” and “Ghetto Stash” cards with instructions such as, “You and your boyz just spotted a rapper at Weinstein’s flashin some Bling Blings. Other features of the game include the intentionally mispelled names of famous figures such as “Martin Luthor King Jr.” and “Malcum X.” “She thought we were out of line for complaining about the game now instead of a few months ago when it first hit the shelf,” said Hawkins. ![]() Hawkins said a manager she contacted at Urban Outfitters in Harvard Square did not wish to speak to her. Hawkins said that Urban Outfitters was willing to sell the game because they were ignorant of the game’s potentially harmful effects. “There is a fine line between harmless humor and offensive perpetuation of stereotypes, and David Chang has crossed that line,” she said. “His game ceased to be harmless when he decided to make it into a game.” Hawkins said she was “outraged” when she heard about the game. Jennifer Hawkins ’04, a member of the Black Community Leaders board and a former officer in both the Black Students Association and the Association of Black Harvard Women said she wrote to Chang, but only received an automatic e-mail response stating that his game was not “Blackopoly,” and that he was not racist. Though no Harvard organizations have formally taken action against the game, several individuals have tried to expose the community to the issue and contact Chang. “We want to make it clear that Hasbro has absolutely no connection to the reprehensible ‘Ghettopoly game,’” Bifulco said. branch said that the company will sue Chang unless he immediately stops selling he game. Last Friday, the president of Hasbro’s U.S. In addition to objections from minority groups, Chang is also facing a potential lawsuit from Hasbro, the creator of Monopoly. If we can’t laugh at ourselves.then we’ll continue to live in blame and bitterness,” Chang said in a statement. “It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade, but as a medium to bring together in laughter. from Taiwan at the age of 8, defended his game as a humorous representation of real life. “We shall not sit by quietly and allow this type of insult to occur.”ĭespite the criticism, Chang, who immigrated to the U.S. “It is disturbing.to promote and capitalize off such negative aspects of society that cause great harm to individuals and to the African-American community at-large,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume wrote in a letter to David Chang, the creator of the Ghettopoly game. Urban Outfitters, the chain clothing store that sold the game, has removed Ghettopoly from its shelves. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has led a movement calling for an end to the production and sale of Ghettopoly, and is urging consumers to boycott stores that sell it. And the object of the game is to buy stolen property and build crack houses while trying to avoid being shot.īlack and minority leaders across the country have openly condemned the game, calling it a racist and offensive perpetrator of negative stereotypes. Rather than coveted properties like Boardwalk and Park Place, the new Ghettopoly game features squares like Smitty’s XXX Peep Show and Tyron’s Gun Shop. A new board game that substitutes pimps and prostitutes for traditional Monopoly pieces has spurred criticism and charges of racism across the country-and at Harvard.
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