I think before anyone can really qualify or make statements about whether or not anything listed here is racist we need to restate what racism actually means.

rac·ism

noun/ˈrāˌsizəm/
The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+racism&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=iX2&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=racism&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=aWhgToC7CMi4tweyzrQS&ved=0CCMQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=fe4d51c11f0a28fa&biw=1024&bih=558

Carry on.

First thing first Im black and Ive played thru Deus Ex. I remember seeing Letitia and talking to her. I was surprised by the accent of her voice but wasnt offended. Now if she said she was a watermelon eating, Soulja Boy listening, cotton picking black then yes I would feel a little. I find it funny that in society (American as far as I know)the only time somebody is considered racist is if they are white and "discriminate or stereotype" another ethnicity. Prime example, ethnic comedians (almost all of them) have or will make a joke about white people or anybody else that in normal conversation would be considered racist. Yet if a white person was to say something like that (exception of Daniel Tosh I think)they would be considered racist.

"Letitia talks about people losing jobs and homes, going on to say that the city feels likes its going to explode. If things were different, if Letitia was at all recognizably human, you could read those chunks of text as either a reference to the infamous 1967 Detroit Riots or the current discomfort created by the global economic downturn. The potential metaphorical depth that DXHR could hold in that moment gets squandered by the character delivering it."

No need to single out those two examples of socioeconomic problems and unrest. It's reflective of a phenomenon that has been ever present throughout the world since the industrial revolution. The intellectual depth can only be squandered by the person interpreting it.

ultimateownage:
It's not like they're all going around eating chicken and watermelon.

Interesting note, that stereotype (and many others) actually originated from misinformation.

Same person who criticised Resi 5's zombies... this person should shut up.

Although that voice actor/actress (I can't tell if its male or female at times) is absolutely insane. What person talks like that?!?

If you listen to the clip you'll notice that her accent is much less pronounced in the middle of the dialogue than at the beginning and very end. To me this comes across as someone who is intentionally magnifying their accent to have a little fun with the person they are speaking with.

The same way as I've done, as I'm from Maine, when speaking to someone and I play up a Downeast accent, that is much exaggerated from my normal accent.

Carlston:

When is the last time a GERMAN was in a name and NOT a nazi? Hmmmm?

Gunther Hermann in Deus Ex :P

Deimateos:
given that literally every other black person in the game speaks normally (NPC and Main quest), I fail to see it as racist.

Normally? What's normal?

You mean speaking like a BBC newsreader? What is "normal english"?

For.I.Am.Mad:
The game has much bigger problems than that. Racism in a videogame is par for the course, anyway.

The industry better watch it though, you're little jabs at African Americans is gonna bite you in the ass one day. And the bigots on the game sites can't keep sweeping it under the rug.

Yeah, every character in games should be gray colored individuals of indiscriminate gender, who talk in computer-y robot voices.

I want you, in depth to explain to me how it's racist. She isn't the only black character to appear in the game. Is it suddenly not racist if she's Asian or white? God forbid we have a homeless person speak in uneducated English!

All the prostitutes sound pretty ridiculous, but some of them aren't black, so I guess that makes it not racist.

I'm a bit surprised by the response.

To me, Leticia's speech and demeanor seemed much more consistent with mental illness as heard through the filter of an admittedly exaggerated accent.

A better explanation is the game writers tried for "Crazy homeless person" and failed because stupid Canadians are crappy ass mooks at video game development.

Also, please keep in mind that African American Studies professors tend to be a bit prickly about perceived race issues. But that's fair reaction, I guess, since America hates black people.

.

Everyone who says this is racist is racist him/herself.

and cockney English totally isn't racist

You're kidding me. I encounter people every day with thicker accents than that. To be honest, when I first move down here to the south east I couldn't understand what the hell they were saying, but after a while i grew an ear for it.

Ian Caronia:
She calls him "Capt" because he was the leader of a SWAT team and a cop before.
She says nothing racist the entire time, not about black or white people.
She is poor, so she digs in the trash. I come from a family who took me with them for bottle collecting when I was young back before we had a home.

Evan Narcisse, you have offended me more than any stereotype from the 50s ever could. How DARE you tell me my background and my past friends (who spoke much like this NPC does) are "racial stereotypes"? Who do you think you are saying people who act like this NPC are living stereotypes?
By saying this character is a sign of racism, that's EXACTLY what you're doing. You're saying those who act like her are stereotypes. THAT is racism. I am NOT a stereotype, and neither are the guys I used to hang out with!

You've grossly offended me to the point where I am going to email this to you. Or to Time's Techland blog. Likely both if possible.

You confused bad voice acting with racism, and made remarks that imply anyone who is stricken with poverty to have to dig through trash or ask for hand-outs, as well as anyone who speaks with a certain slang, is a walking stereotype. I demand an apology.

Sincerely, Ian Caronia.

...And I will email that to this person ASAP. Looking for an address to do so now.

EDIT: Oh, I get it now. You can't contact the blog unless you subscribe. That's very shrewd of them. Post rediculous content that gets people mad enough to subscribe just to confront you. It's actually a diabolical business practice. Too bad there are other communication outlets I can work through to show this guy how much he offended me.

Ian I would love for you to do this. I plan on writing myself but I believe your personal experience pretty much stomps anything I could come up with.

As a former TIME subscriber I have a couple of contact methods you can use to reach the magazine itself, though they may not be exactly what you want since you can't reach the blog directly, but perhaps someone can shoot your letter to a place that will matter. I can only caution you again that these won't allow you to contact the blog directly.

E-mails:
[email protected]
For instance, or for traditional paper mail to:
TIME Magazine Letters, Time and Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020. Letters should include full name, telephone number and adress and may be edited for purposes of clarity and space.

Is this a stereotype? Maybe. Is it racist? No. No more so than Coach or Rochelle in Left 4 Dead 2, and those guys are stereotypes to the max.

Atary77:
Typical double standard as usual. If it was a Caucasian character that was say, wearing a trucker's cap , a Nascar half t-shirt with his beer gut exposed, missing teeth, chewing tobacco, and spoke in southern twang that even Larry the Cable Guy would have trouble understanding... then no one would have a problem with it. They'd simply laugh at the White stereo type. Because that's just socially acceptable when really it's just as racist to depict a white person like that.

And for the record I'm east indian myself and I could care less if they had someone like Apu from the Simpsons in this game. Cause I'd find it humorous. Bottom line I have no problem with this. And people often forget that racism is a two way street.

Isn't it odd how people are so eager to point out racism, even when none exists?

RollForInitiative:
Honestly, she struck me as a pretty laughably racist stereotype when I ran into her. I was kind of surprised that they'd left her in. Am I offended? No, just surprised.

So you can only talk in a deep southern accent if you white or else it's a stereotype? Now that sounds a bit racist to me. I mean c'mon if this was a white bum who would care? I'll admit it was a strange character to include, but really if you've left your house and entered the Bible belt, it wouldn't be long before you found lots of people who have this accent, they might not even be white. Is Rep. Clay Davis from The Wire a racist portrayal of black people because he talks in a southern accent not unlike this and is a grifter? No, we consider him to just be part of the greatest show ever on TV. So I'm afraid it isn't really even a racial stereotype, it's just a reality.

Greg Tito:

Letitia is certainly an easy way to write a character - and I agree that her dialogue and voice-acting are inferior - but to object so vehemently to her portrayal would mean you'd have to object to Mario's Italian characteristics and the Asian stereotypes in Cooking with Mama.

I think that these two examples you've mentioned are so harmless because of the fact that they're both caricatures. If Mario were a completely fleshed out character, his nonsensical faux-Italian would likely be offensive as would Cooking Mama's trouble with L/R distinction. Furthermore, it's the fact that seems to be the go-to depiction of blacks -- even in the future.

Personally, I don't find it offensive, but I do find it short-sighted and predictable. More eyeroll than ire.

The characters offensive because it was a purposeful jab at black people. There's no way that Eidos Montreal didn't know that that might piss off some people.

So they put the character in, knowing full well what will happen, and then they do what everybody does. DENY DENY DENY. It's typical neurotic bullshit that people have been trying to get away with since the 1860's. It's like a game to some people.

And this proves that race is THE number 1 issue plaguing the US and North America in general. The bigots will not win.