Pokémon Go, the mobile virtual reality game for smart phones that has taken millennials by storm and “overrun” college campuses with fans, has officially been dubbed a threat to black Americas.
In a column gaining traction in left-leaning news outlets popular with millennials, writer Omari Akil argues that, if properly played, the mobile game is a “death sentence” for a black man, essentially because wandering the streets of America is allegedly very dangerous for him.
He made the revelation, he stated, after playing the game for a bit and “trying to look as pleasant and nonthreatening as possible as I walked past a somewhat visibly disturbed white woman on her way to the bus stop. I spent the other 14 minutes being distracted from the game by thoughts of the countless Black Men who have had the police called on them because they looked ‘suspicious’ or wondering what a second amendment exercising individual might do if I walked past their window a 3rd or 4th time in search of a Jigglypuff.”
In other words, he’s worried the police or some overzealous gun owner might kill him.
“The premise of Pokemon GO asks me to put my life in danger if I chose to play it as it is intended and with enthusiasm. Let’s just go ahead and add Pokemon GO to the extremely long list of things white people can do without fear of being killed, while Black people have to realistically be wary,” Akil wrote, adding:
“There is a statistically disproportionate chance that someone could call the police to investigate me for walking around in circles in the complex. There is a statistically disproportionate chance that I would be approached by law enforcement with fear or aggression, even when no laws have been broken. There is a statistically disproportionate chance that I will be shot while reaching for my identification that I always keep in my back right pocket.”
The column is gaining plenty of traction in left-leaning news outlets popular with millennials. It was posted on Medium and picked up by the Huffington Post and others. Vox also hopped on the bandwagon with “Pokemon Go is augmented reality. Too bad reality is still racist.”
“Akil’s logic is simple: Black men are stopped more often by police for unusual or suspicious behavior,” Vox states. “More police stops means a greater risk of violent interactions, and black men are disproportionately killed by police. Pokémon Go causes people to do unusual things in public spaces. Therefore, Pokémon Go poses a real risk to black men in America.”
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