5 Reasons Why Resident Evil 5 isn't Racist

Home » Aeropaused, Culture, Industry, XBOX 360

5 Reasons Why Resident Evil 5 isn’t Racist

Submitted by Richard Windsor on August 1, 2007 – 1:39 pm117 Comments

I have always tried to stay out of discussions about racism, not because they make me uncomfortable, but because two sides can rarely agree on the topic. The debate over whether Resident Evil 5 is racist or not is one that I don’t mind chiming in about. Recently a woman who writes for a blog called Black Looks wrote a small article that stated the following:

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’ns fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.

Not only is her argument baseless and without intelligent merit, it is obvious she did not even bother doing any research whatsoever. So here are 5 reasons why her arguments are dead wrong.

5. Japanese Developed – She obviously feels the game is an intentional racist product, but last time I checked RE5 was being developed by a Japanese game company. Do the Japanese have a secret hatred for black people? The answer is no!

4. So Killing White Zombies is OK Amongst the comments to her blog post she replied with this statement:

Yes I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth.‚Äù

This comment just makes my head spin with the amount of stupidity in every word. I really can’t think of what else to say about this comment.

3. Zombies Aren’t Civilized I think that the author needs to watch a zombie movie or two to realize that they are not tame or kind creatures. Zombies don’t politely ask to eat your brains; they just chomp down on your skull like it was a big hairy apple. Luckily zombies are not real, or are they? Should the developers make them nice zombies just because they are black? The answer is no, zombies no matter what color are zombies, and any person who is smart enough to pass sixth grade can tell that. It is not racism it’s called variety.

2. Location Location Location This being RE‚Äôs first go round with next gen hardware I imagine the developers wanted to go to a location that looked as gritty and earthy as possible. Africa is a perfect setting because it is a beautiful area that allows for many cool plot points. The game just would not seem right if the zombies in Africa were white. Africa is a great location for a game and just so happens to be populated heavily by Africans‚ imagine that!

1. White Zombies Have Been Done to Death Ever since we first got a taste of Resident Evil every mindless slow walking zombie we have come across has been white, in skin color at least. Black people get killed in movies all the time yet I have not heard of protests about it. Would we be seeing an uproar if the zombies were all women or would PETA be upset if there was nothing but dog and cat zombies. The United States has a lot of work yet to do when it comes to race relations, but we have come quite a long way so far. A video game about zombies should be the last thing we worry about as a culture. Maybe we should pay more attention to huge number of kids caught up in skinhead groups or the reorganization of the KKK that is happening in America, but no we are sitting here talking about a video game‚ and that makes me kind of sad.

Tags: resident evil

Kevin

this is racist? my ass!
In RE5, they talk about the origin of the virus: Well apparently all life came from Africa so the origin of all this is in- you guessed it- AFRICA. And it just so happends that AFRICA is filled with AFRICANS who are all BLACK.
U must realise that they are not killing black ppl in this game- they are killing viruses, who have taken over the people, who just happend to be black. And about them looking all human: Resident Evil 4 all of them look human (except for bosses and the plagas coming out after a headshot). Noone complained about that?
And one last thing: Who the fck wud create a racist game? You offend shitloads of ppl so they wont buy ur game, and they hate u. Yeah, u feel really good after that. Use ur brain, or are u infected by Las Plagas? (laughs at joke)
http://eee.www.aaa Poi

Well if you morons would have looked at the trailers, you’ve wouldn’t have needed to spew all that bullshit about why it’s in africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU9icbfd_UU

And Kevin you are a moron.
Alex

LMFAO re5 racist well lets see shooting black zombies well thats the problem THEY ARNT ZOMBIES. Secondly if re5 is reacist why would you be able to play a woman that isnt white?? shooting black people? that makes no sense its just some white bitch trying to be self righteous and trying to show they arnt racist by pointing out something and blowing it outta proportions.
Dave

The thing is….this woman is plain stupid. In fact, she is the reason why computers, as well as the internet should be restricted to people that have at least half of a brain. I didn’t see any complaining when Resident Evil 4 came out which, as I recalled, you’re in Europe; and from what I gather is in Spain, killing Spanish cultists. Maybe that’s racist too? No, like many have said before, it is variety. This ladies’ idea of “all zombies being white” to me is quite racist. In fact she is a racist. Which most minorities are because they feel white people are the root of all of their problems when they do not realize that people are in charge of their own lives.
Jennifer

To: Alex, oct, 15th…
the woman in question for the article mentioned is an African/American Black woman writing for an African/American Black magazine. I agree on what you say, just wanted to make sure you knew. Also, it is very true what most people have said here. There have been times within videogames in which many people of various cultures have been used in games as bosses or as targets, in many games, including this series before, and there has’nt been an uproar.Its sad when i see things like this, most people who say that they are always victims of racism are actuallyjust stuck in the past, and are grudgeful, hateful people who try and manipulate mass minds with their baseless stupidity. This happens alot to me and people i know around here where I live. I am of Spanish and Puertorican descent, and whenever we speak in Spanish (sad to say, with the exception of our wonderful black friends and aquaintances)most of the blacks always think we speak rudely of them, just because they do not understand. I believe that Kym Platt, the writer of the internet magazine article mentioned above, and that Cedric guy are nothing more than two very confused and uninformed African/Americans that have no real knowledge on either video games and resident evil. They are taking their very personal and extreme ideas and personal distorted irrational beliefs and trying to use it to confuse and convince the general public of “racism” that is non-existent in Resident Evil. They’ve forgotten that videogames are just that…games and nothing more. That comment on New Yorkers was completely outta line…PS. I’m a New Yorker… Love, Peace, and lead for zombies everywhere FOREVER!
Huntbelow

ahahah wow this lady thinkz that all zombies should b white? that soundz racist 2 me cuz of course,we all no that black people cant become zombiez cuz they are far greater than white people. (shake) Also white zombiez have been being killed in every way/movie/5 second short possible. in dawn of the dead that black guy killed white zombiez but no one complained that it wuz racist… and yea re iz awesomely rated M for mature which iz not gamez children should b playing
MaRk iiZ SiiK

I hope this article made all of you people that feel RE5 is racist feel real fxcking stupid. Ever since the Resident Evil and the many other RE games we only killed white people and at last Mexican people. The mexican people didn’t PMS over that and neither did the white people. Like he said in the end as well, PETA isn’t spazzing out bacause we were killing animals. Oh, and by the way, BLACK PEOPLE LIVE IN AFRICA!!! The only people that are racist are the ones that think this game is.
http://www.aeropause.com/.../ JohnnyBean

The last time I saw a trailer for RE 5 I noticed Chris had a partner who happens to be an African Woman. If Chris just wanted to kill black folks I imagine his partner would be killed at the start of the game. People get way too worked up about race. That kind of thing just keeps racism alive. I do realize there are some racist people out there. Less and Less all the time. Lets educate against real racism. As for RE 5 being racist that is crazy talk. I have played all the RE games and have killed people in these games of many races. All Zombies! Most of the Zombies in RE4 (Spanish Zombies being killed by an American) did not look as gross and drippy as zombies tend to, some did. That is due to a different type of infection. Los Plagas, or something like that. It depended on how long the person is infected and what type of person they are. Not in race but in mind. I am sure that RE5 deals with some type of Los Plagas T Virus mixture of some type and I am also sure there will be more than just black zombies. I can not wait to play this game! I also can’t wait until race does not matter a bit for any reason anywhere. Lets just play and have some zombie killing fun!
adam

this is not for real-real this is only for play-play ;D
adam

(wesker ahhhh… O_O)
Zach

It’s amazing… The amount of stupidity…
There are white zombies in the game too.
Watch the previews.
Hell, why not WAIT UNTIL THE GAME RELEASES before you start talking about how it’s racist.
This game is IN THE MAKING… Give ‘em a chance, hmm?
Clint

haha, i think this is funny because of the stupidity, but SERIOUSLY!!! the game has enough(thank god) violence i hope for a Teen, not kid, that is not offended. Also Africa is said to be the Birthplace Of Humanity and that all life has spread from Africa over thousands of years so I believe a game depicting the “end of the world” should reach there. I can’t wait for this game! I have no doubt that this game has 0 racism in it. I just hope that this decision doesn’t spread others with enough support to make it so that all video game characters cannot be any color of a race i.e. Blue, green, red, purple, clear, and so on. But yeah wait ’till the game comes out and people will discover the true reason for Chris being there. O, and this better not spreead to L4D!!!!! This is all I have to say.
Eddie L.

All of you people who say you’re killing “Hispanic and Mexican” zombies in RE4 are obviously not fans of the series. Leon was in SPAIN killing SPANISH PEOPLE!!! These aren’t zombies. They’re just people that are really f*cked up due to some kind of bug. Same thing in RE5…except they may bring back the T-virus and G-virus.

As for it being racist, 1.) there are Chinese “zombies” in the game too. As well as white. Play the demo… Not all of them are black. And “racism” means the belief of another race being lower than another. Chris doesn’t call the Africans in this game “monkeys”, he calls them infected.
2.)And the game is set in Africa! In order to add realism, MOST PEOPLE FROM AFRICA ARE BLACK!!!
3.) You have a black accomplice helping you kill these “zombies”.
4.) Chris Redfield himself in the game is not a racist. If he was, he wouldn’t agree to go to Africa or have a black person as his partner!
5.) If Capcom made a racist game, nobody would buy it and they’d lose money.
6.) This game was made by Japanese people. If they wanted to be racist, they’d have made Chris Japanese and had him yell racial insults and laugh as he gunned down the “zombies”.
7.) If this game was racist, they’d have stereotypical stuff like 50 Cent and Tupac blasting in the back and having the “zombies” call eachother “N*ggas”.
8.) This game shouldn’t even count as a Resident Evil game because RE died with RE3 after Shinji Mikami quit.
9.) If you guys don’t understand the storyline, why are you even playing the game at all? If you haven’t played any REs (excluding RE4 as that one had very little info about anything and was mostly all action) or seen the film Resident Evil: Degeneration, you WILL NOT GET what this game is about. You won’t plain and simple…you idiots just want to get your hands on a game and call it racist because you can’t get over the fact that nobody gives a shit about you for a reason other than race, and want the easy way out to get attention.

Everytime something happens, people are always quick to call “Racism!”. And it brings vast amounts of attention since it’s highly looked down upon in the U.S.

And everything I just said was from the point of African-AMERICANS. I’m pretty sure people in Africa have more to worry about than some game people are calling racist. Why don’t you do something about racism instead of just calling it? Ignorant f*cks.

P.S. I’m a born American citizen, I’m Hispanic, and I hate wetbacks. Not because of race, but because of all the free shit they get where we have to work for it. (I sympathize with them and all, but there are LEGAL ways of getting into the U.S….) Is that wrong because they’re “my race”? You tell me. Let’s see if you’re a “racist”.
alexx

I think resident evil five is not a racist game the scene takes places in africa ,do you have seen white people in africa? no! and “the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults” but the game is for adult only +18 no?
william_745

i feel that the game is racist towards lemmings and they should take out all mention of lemmings and replace them with cupcakes.
Darkness angal

I agree thier should be no fight over the color of the zombies. I mean the setting is in Afica and all.
Matthew

I think she needs to go see the most underrated zombie movie out there. Its called Dead Heist with E-40. Next time you are at a movie store, check it out if its not already sold out. Its one of those “black people horror” movies, and its so scary and oscar material that it manages also be a comedy too. Its almost better than Mrs. Doubtfire.
Fail

This topic is stupid to bring up about racism though we no nothing of the game ( story wise ). If you watch this new animated res evil movie *SPOILERS* I guess… The G virus was being tested in a facility known as TCI I think don’t remember. This dude takes it to use against them for keeping the virus anyway he dies new company comes in since umbrella is gone and takes a sample of his body parts. Now this is where I’m guessing since the virus is deadly it was to risky to continue testing in the states since people want it to stop they go to Africa where Chris gets a mission to scope it out.
That was all pointless to say but point is this company choose Africa to test with G virus but it got out no racism there. And its racist any way you look at it some people hate people that are there skin color so really no matter what race you put in there it could be seen as racist. Further more chris and his partner don’t look like there enjoying the killing as so the KKK would so there trying to survive. Like there suppose to die because they don’t want to kill black people lol.
http://play247.ro reborn2603

Far Cry2 is in freaking Africa too, right? There is also a white dude shooting black dudes right? How come they only take a dumb on Resident Evil 5? Or is it ok to shoot normal black man and women but if you dare shoot a mindless black zombie your doomed?
gene

can you beat that,the white man has compution on the racist card game.and i thought only american whites are the only black haters in town,go figure.the re game level has gone wild in the country of africa.no whites there,right??or are there?only the mindsets will never know.by theay,re-3,one black guy was shot in the whole game,and never seen again.special apperance by african americans.re games,there for the racist whites with in you.ha,ha,ha.
http://youtube.com/brett1lewis Brett Lewis

ok first of ll im on the toilet …. ok this is better reading material than the local newspaper, but i am seriously appalled by what this lady aka thing is saying , i mean people get angry about alot of games due to the violence in them but not about the racism in them.
its like if you shot someone on gta IV for example who was black is that racism? killed a japanese solider on COD world at war is that racism? seriously though guys is this just a white person trying to get in with the other race trying to make them think she is cool and “Hip” or is it just a person who just wants to get her name out so other people can follow her along like sheep…..or just think shes an idiot BUT will obviously read about her giving her 2 seconds of fame. All i think of this is is just a cry for attention, someone who is a nobody and thinks she can spread the word that this game is racist and by some slim chance get it banned (I’d like to see that happen). But just remember , she is a nobody and will always be a nobody and will not be able to change the world this time.
Dave

If there is anyone that is racist in that game then its Albert Wesker, he was the one who infected the Africians in the first place so pin the blame all on Wesker. Yep all the blame on Wesker!!!
Africian people live in Africian -Fact- No arguement, chris is there to save them, not to kill all the blacks. Seesh!!
If the game was racist then why on earth is there an africian women HELPING Chris to STOP the virus from killing more Africians?
Shuyin

it’s fucking retarded, I mean she sounds really racist to me in the first place. I mean RE4 was killing people from spain, didn’t see anyone complainning about how a cracker was killing beaners(lol I’m mexican and loved the fact there was spanish all over the game) I’m really looking forward to this game, but if someone thinks is racist in my opinion it just means they are racist.
Tito

Simple solution.

A) Buy game
B) Don’t
Kisatchi

Capcom said they they are not being racist, the game is that way because they thought it would be neat to fight at the source of the parasite. And since Africa is called the Heart Land sometimes its kinduv obvious. And for satans sake there not zombies, there infectees. With the plaga, DUH. and i agree the only racism here is the people that see the game that way.