Over a mere trailer, the race card is now being played in response to Resident Evil 5.

According to Kym Platt at Black Looks (hat tip to GamePolitics):

The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity. “I have a job to do and I’m gonna see it through.”

This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.

Later, Platt decided to post more on her own blog, Ask This Black Woman:

Last night I posted a short piece on the new video game Resident Evil 5. I linked an article in the Village Voice by Bonnie Ruberg, a self-proclaimed white person, who questioned the possibility of racially problematic images (racist?) in the game. I also posted the piece at Blacklooks. Never before have I received more hateful comments by angry gamers who called me everything from a “nigger” to a “black hooker” for agreeing with Ruberg that these images of Black people (Black zombies) are problematic.

The response from gamers around the world was shocking. While I think we could have an intellectual debate about racist imagery in video games, there is no debating the blatant racism from many of Resident Evil 5’s supporters. Their comments were hostile and violent…much like the game itself. The ability to post comments, both on ATBW and Blacklooks, had to be disabled. Here’s a direct quote from a gamer who disagreed with my post: “Get back into the cotton fields, you filthy nigger.”

I am not the first or the only person to question the imagery in Resident Evil 5. Check out this post by blogger Jason Ellis at microscopiq. Ellis’ post is an interesting look at the images of Black people throughout modern time.

I confess I don’t know much about video games, gamers, etc. I don’t play video games, but I occasionally play solitaire on my gfs PC. However, given the response from gamers… I think we should all be very afraid. Many of these folks seem like the type who would try to reenact scenes from Resident Evil 5. Can you say Columbine?

I’m sorry Ms. Platt, but as much as you’d like to think so, there is no giant conspiracy out to get you. In fact, you should really think about what you’ve said. Resident Evil games have featured players shooting white zombies for years. Now all of a sudden when the scenery changes to Africa and the skin color to black, it’s supposed to be racist? You’re greatly over-playing the victimization card here.

Zombies are zombies regardless of skin color. When one comes at you, you don’t discriminate - you simply unleash total pwnage.

In addition, while the some of the emails Ms. Platt claims to have received are obviously out-of-line, drawing a parallel between video games and Columbine is uncalled for. Need I remind Ms. Platt that video games don’t cause real-world violence?

In conclusion, while Kym Platt wants to think this game is putting her down as a black woman, Resident Evil 5 is a video game about killing zombies - nothing more, nothing less. Anyone who makes this into a race issue needs to get out of the past. How can we get over race issues and move on if we interpret things the way she does?

Perhaps Archgabe says it best in a comment on GamePolitics:

Black this, White that… Blah, Blah, Blah.

They are Zombies! RE1-4 had white zombies. This one has black zombies. Does it matter? No! They are zombies! Zombies are not people and they should be put down regardless of the race they happened to be in life. What does this person want? The game is set in Africa. I think it would be pretty stupid to have an all white cast (zombies included) in an area that is known to be the location for one race. What’s next? French zombies in Tokyo? Russian zombies in Brazil? Japanese zombies in India?

In fact, if you look at it. Zombies are the ultimate in equality. They don’t care about race or religion. They don’t care what country you are from. They are equal opportunity eaters and are all equally (un)dead.

So what if they are African zombies? The race card is the only card too eager to be played in any given situation. A zombie is a zombie and there is only one way to deal with it. Kill it for good. Hell, it is a Resident Evil game, so the chances are that you are going to have to end up trying to save some local anyway. Zombies are never about race. Zombies are a story of humanity. Watch any of Romero’s zombie films and you will see that point being abundantly clear.