Ghettopoly (539 hits)
Category: NewsRating: 1.33 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <ratbastard.at.cs.net> (View user info) at 2003-10-09 12:47:26 EDT
I thought this was unbelievably hilarious. Just thought I'd share.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/10/09/ghettopoly.ap/index.html
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Cheap Trick Avenue instead of Boardwalk? Hernando's Chop Shop instead of Reading Railroad?
Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called "Ghettopoly" that has "playas" acting like pimps and game cards reading, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50."
Black clergymen say the game, the brainchild of a Pennsylvania man, should be banned, and have called for a boycott of Urban Outfitters unless the company stops selling Ghettopoly in its chain of clothing stores.
Urban Outfitters has not publicly commented on the issue, and did not return a call seeking comment on Wednesday.
"If we are silent on this issue there is more of this type to come," the Rev. Robert P. Shine Sr., president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity, said at a sidewalk rally Wednesday in front Urban Outfitters' corporate headquarters in Philadelphia.
Shine displayed the game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, and squares labeled Smitty's XXX Peep Show, Weinstein's Gold and Platinum, and Tyron's Gun Shop.
Players draw "Hustle" and "Ghetto Stash" cards with directions like, "You're a little short on loot, so you decided to stick up a bank. Collect $75," and "Steal $$$ if you pass Let$ Roll."
The creator of Ghettopoly, David Chang, did not immediately answer e-mails or phone calls seeking comment about the game.
On his Web site, Chang is unapologetic, and promises that more games -- Hoodopoly, Hiphopopoly, Thugopoly and Redneckopoly -- are coming soon.
"It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade, but as a medium to bring together in laughter," Chang maintains, adding, "If we can't laugh at ourselves ... we'll continue to live in blame and bitterness."
But the Ghettopoly board depicts figures labeled "Malcum X" and "Martin Luthor King Jr." -- intentionally misspelled -- noted Rev. Glenn Wilson, pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.
"This is beyond making fun, to use the caricature of Dr. King in this regard," Wilson said. "There's no way that game could be taken in any way other than that this man had racist intent in marketing it."
The Philadelphia black clergy and Men United for a Better Philadelphia were just the latest to protest the game. In Chicago, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, called for a boycott of Urban Outfitters. In Florida, the St. Petersburg and Hillsborough County chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urged the company to stop carrying the game.
"I was outraged. We called Outfitters, we wrote them a letter, we held a press conference, but we've had no response," Pfleger said Wednesday.
User Reviews
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-08-20 01:56:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2003-10-09 15:57:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't think in all their PCness they realized that all races, ethnic backgrounds, creeds etc. live in the ghetto, and all of them have parts who sell crack, pimp hos, rob banks and so forth. These clergy members need to fucking get over themselves.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2003-10-09 15:51:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I want Redneckopoly!
Submitted by Anjie (user info) at 2003-10-09 15:50:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
An here is a fun pic of the board...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=1&u=/031008/480/px10410081852
Submitted by SpikeGoddess (user info) at 2003-10-09 14:44:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
This is funny when taken in the right spirit, but I tend to side with the Black Clergy. There are too many real issues and too many wounds that are still raw for this kind of humor to be harmless.
But the bottom line remains----free speech can be a bitch sometimes. This dude can make all the bored games he wants.
SpikeGoddess
Submitted by Illicit_Joe (user info) at 2003-10-09 14:05:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd buy it.
Submitted by seanfogy (user info) at 2003-10-09 13:54:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I heard about this on the news. Call me McBain or whatever you want, but I still cant understand how blacks can get pissed off when someone makes a comical stereotypical statement on their race. Every time Chris Rock or Martin Lawrence comes out with a movie, joking on whites I dont get in a hissy fit and call the news.
I just dont get it.
Submitted by vacationgal (user info) at 2003-10-09 13:42:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I was just about to post this after reading about it on Yahoo! News. I think it's hilarious personally, and there are other versions coming out that do make fun of other groups, check out www.ghettopoly.com
Submitted by RabbitNHole <Konsept21.at.aol.com> at 2003-10-09 13:14:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'd wanna play it also...but in all fairness (pfft, like life has such a thing)....the creator needs to make fun of almost every culture....kinda like how South Park makes fun of everyone....and not just one specific group of people/culture.
...blah....its too early.
Submitted by reallybored (user info) at 2003-10-09 13:12:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I heard about this about week ago. Its probably the best idea to stimulate board gaming since sexual twister.
"You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50."
HAHAH!
Submitted by potatomanjack (user info) at 2003-10-09 12:51:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'd play it.
Although I prefer "Pass-out", the drinking board game.