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I’m Not Racist, I Have Black Sims

Real proof that I have black sims and therefore am not racist.

By Scott Miller

As a white suburban man with a general predisposition for people like me and a general indifference towards political issues not involving me, I have often been accused of being a “racist” or a “bigot.” Such accusations hurt me deeply, for I am a good person who loves people of all colors. Those who disagree don’t know the real me and don’t know that I, in fact, have black sims. 

Yes, you heard right. When I play Sims 4, the newest version of the popular virtual life simulation game, I actively choose to create sims that don’t have the same color skin as I do. 

The patriarch of my current family, Rick, is a black man, and I treat him just as well as my other sims, if not better. For example, I would never put Rick in a pool, remove the ladders, and watch him drown. That would be racist. Instead, I take care of Rick like I would my own kin and am always careful to keep his needs bars filled, except for one time when I forgot to and he peed himself.

I could have put Rick into the criminal career track, but to avoid racial profiling, I made him a businessman instead. I avoided giving him the “kleptomaniac” and “lazy” traits for similar reasons.

Not only am I not a racist, but I would call myself an activist, as I recognize the systematic oppression Rick experiences every day, and actively make up for it by occasionally using the motherlode cheat code to instantly reward him the 50,000 simoleons that the racist capitalist structure of our society steals from him. 

In fact, I am so accepting of black sims, that I have a second one, Rick’s teen son Trey. I let Trey and Rick call each other “my narzel,” but I know I can never call them that because I am white. I will also never let Rick follow the stereotype of abandoning Trey, not only because I challenge such expectations, but because the game prohibits it.

I am even experimenting with the modern concept of “intersectionality”. I recently made Rick woohoo with a friend from work named Anthony after a late night of comradery and secret sharing. Together, Rick and I are trying to come to terms with his identity as both a black and a bisexual man. Therefore, I’m not homophobic either.

I’m not saying Rick is perfect. Sometimes his African American Vernacular Simlish doesn’t have the best grammar, and I will never fully understand why he had to buy a Kwanzaa kinara for his house. But despite our differences, I have grown to love Rick.

And thanks to Rick, I have the training to be able to imagine being friendly to a real black person one day, if need be.

 

© 2017
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