Our Empowerment

Currently there are over 155 million video game consoles in American
households and with the rapid acceptance of portable digital devices
such as PDA's and Cell phones (which all come with games included),
this market can only grow exponentially. Video games themselves are
currently a $10 billion dollar a year industry, expected soon to out
pace the sales of music and films combined.

Commonly, when you see a person of color in a video game, they fall
into the mainstream stereotypes that we see so often on television and
in the movies. There are very few video games that depict the culture
or history of people of color. That's primarily, because the same
people that create and market mass media entertainment are the same
people who make video games.

Do you think it is an accident that you see so many Asian based themes
in the video game market. The ninja theme is prominent because a
majority of your developers or manufactures are based out of Japan.
Therefore, it is only normal that they would promote and market their
own culture and history as a video game. For example, you don't see
video games on World War II in the Pacific, coming out of Japan ...
those are produced by U.S. companies

As always, I hope that this article motivates some young model,
graffiti artist and/or entrepreneur to create a game on African or Hip
Hop culture. One that does not present us as either savages, gangsters,
or fools. Let me prime the pump ... how about a game that takes a
player through the intricacies of creating a Rap song or mix tape? Kind
of a computer generated American Idol, with all the pitfalls and
circumstance of the music industry randomly thrown in. Why not a Shaka
Zulu or Underground Railroad video game?

We, the descendents of American slaves are the originators of American
pop culture. Now is the time for us to start reaping the fruits of our
labor, instead of accepting the crumbs off the table. We must use this
technology to achieve economic and social parity on the Net! Remember
we must Share The knowledge (Network)...To Share The Dollars!

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