Eight Things You Shouldn’t Say to Black Nerds

With Black History Month now upon us, I figured it’d be a good time to help out many of the non-black gamers and nerds with a little bit of guidance.  What kind of guidance?  Well, let’s just say I’ve had one too many awkward conversations arising from weird questions other nerds ask me about being black.  Nothing’s wrong with it, it just helps to know going in that your fellow black nerds are just as nerdy as you for all the same reasons.  All the same, let’s just address the elephant in the room and discuss, as I like to put it, eight things you SHOULDN’T say to black nerds.

8. You look just like Urkel!

Look, we get it.  There haven’t been too many great nerdy representatives on television… Milhouse, Screech, the entire cast of The Big Bang Theory, just to name a few.  But honestly, few have stuck out with the general public as much Steve Urkel.  As charming an icon as Mr. Urkel is, he certainly does have quite the grating personality and not the most flattering fashion style out there.  Here’s a little advice for all you non-black nerds out there—putting some glasses, no matter how large, onto a black person does not automatically make him analogous to Steve Urkel.  It’s very much how it feels when your mom asks if your D&D night is anything like the Big Bang Theory.  Yeah.

7. Lee Everett doesn’t count as a good character because he was a criminal.

There are many tropes and stereotypes that black characters are often subjected to across all types of media.  One of the most common is perhaps the trope of the criminal black man, where the character might be prone to consistently stealing or raping or whatever it is that criminals do these days.  Lee Everett from Telltale’s The Walking Dead has emerged as one of the first truly great black protagonists in a game, but many people are quick to point out that he’s just a criminal, immediately falling to this trope.  Um… not so much.  Though he enters the game from a criminal background, that origin does very little to define who his character is, especially from a three-dimensional standpoint.  If anything, it helps to make his tale of redemption even stronger.  After all, there is such a device as using good writing to subvert stereotypes to make a point.  And if Lee subscribes to any stereotype, it doesn’t make him a bad character.

6.  Don’t you know about Mr. Popo?

Yes, we get it. We’ve ALL seen Mr. Popo.  We’ve all seen at least one practically blackfaced character in Japanese media, whether it’s the infamously white-washed Mr. Popo from Dragonball Z fame or that weird face boss from Kirby Super Star.  While it does take a while to get used to and even understand in the Western sphere, it’s important to remember that this imagery comes from a nation and culture that has had very little interaction with the international world before the past few decades.  While it would be nice to see that imagery eventually kinda go away, as it does represent something far harsher in America, there’s no use getting angry about it or even laughing at the Japanese reaction to that sort of thing.

5. The black mage must be your favorite, huh?

If this thought ever arises in your mind, just… don’t.  You’re not being clever and it certainly does not make you look so.  I’ve gotten this jab a few times, but by far the worst was when I stepped into an elevator at Magfest this past year.  I was wearing my shirt with the sprite of a black mage from Final Fantasy on it, and some fellow (I wish I could say he was drunk, but he definitely was not) just turned to me, snickering, asking the dredded question; “So, I don’t wanna be racist, but are you a black mage?”

What do you think buddy?  What do you think?

4. The plight of these people in ______ is clearly a metaphor for racism.

Woah there, buddy, that’s a huge claim.  Surprisingly, I’ve also heard this one a lot, but you gotta remember something—simply the segregation or ownership of a person or peoples in any game does not automatically imply that there is an allusion to racism and slavery in the mix.  Why?  Well, maybe because what slavery represents is not so much the lack of freedom and rights from others, but more rather the entitlement of the white imperialist, the psychological destruction of a culture, and the constant repression of the very things that make us human.  Just because the Heartless of Kingdom Hearts aren’t treated like “people” or Captain Olimar “enslaves” Pikmin, that does not mean there is some grand statement about one of the biggest blemishes on human history hidden in the subtext of the game.

If you are looking for something with some interesting commentary on race in the modern world, might I suggest both the novel and film adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird?  Just sayin’.

3. Is it weird that most Nerdcore rappers are white?

Now this one, I don’t hear as often, but it still comes up from time to time.  Often when people discuss the deterioration of African-American culture, the topic of rap and hip-hop often comes to mind.  Here comes this distinctly black style of music that tackles pressing social issues and struggles with raw honesty and it’s subverted into songs of bucks and butts.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter, but many have argued that the culture and spirit of rap has taken a major hit in the 21^st century.  So what of Nerdcore?  A new subgenre of rap singing about nerdy stuff like board games and arcades and dragons… you know, “white” stuff.  Well, first of all, there are many black nerds who love many of the things Nerdcore rappers sing about.  Just look at MegaRan.  Plus, Nerdcore does come from a place of pure passion and dedication, singing about their own loves and struggles in their own world.  And while it may not be as socially pressing as classical rap, I daresay it feels just as raw and honest as its progeny.

2. Is your favorite character of ________ the black guy?

Ah the token black guy.  Maybe the familiar trope to most nerds—hell, to most people in general, probably because it is one of the most utilized ones.  Time and time again, you see just one or two characters of color in a game, and just as often, this gets brought to my attention.  It can be a little disheartening, yes, but that doesn’t also mean I immediately attach myself to that character due to familiarity.  I dunno, it just feels as weird as girls only picking the girl option from game to game.  There’s more to people than their appearance and that plays a huge part in the characters and people they identify with.

1. You don’t seem like a black person to me, just a regular nerd.

Black nerds aren’t super common.  We could wax on and on about why that is, but that’s not what’s important now.  What is important is that they do exist.  And speaking as a black nerd, I gotta say, it can be a little disheartening to be told you don’t seem like a black person… or at least someone else’s perception of one.  The main point of what I’m trying to say is that black nerds aren’t some sort of unicorn in the world of video games and nerds.  Just as many of us grew up with the same things that everyone else has and we love it all for the same reasons.  The same stupid cartoons and the same fun games, they appeal to everyone as a whole, and there’s no secret ingredient to turn one black person into a black nerd.  Just the same love and appreciation for one’s hobby that every other nerd shares.

Hopefully, this knowledge can help make you a little bit more comfortable when you enter an elevator, and there’s a black guy in the elevator wearing a black mage shirt.  It’ll feel less like the elephant in the room and more just like the person in the room.  Just remember that all nerds are, well, nerds, just like you, and no awkward moments will come out of it.