Group protests Ghettopoly board game

Outraged by a game that portrays African Americans as pimps and drug dealers, a group of about 40 people protested in front of two Urban Outfitters stores in Seattle yesterday in an effort to force an apology from the retailer for selling the game Ghettopoly.

"We're going to be here until the CEO of Urban Outfitters gives the NAACP and African Americans everywhere a letter stating that they were insensitive to put this game on the market for any length of time," said Eric Dawson, an activist with the Seattle branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The protest was organized in response to the sale of the board game, in which players compete to buy the most stolen property in an imaginary urban ghetto and amass the most money. The game's creator has said he intentionally used racial stereotypes to create a parody of the classic Monopoly game.

A little more than a week ago, the NAACP vowed to protest the retailer until the game was pulled from the shelves. That strategy appeared to be successful: Employees at the company's Broadway Market store said it was no longer for sale. A notice on Urban Outfitters' Web site said that the company had stopped selling the game "due to customer concerns."

Protestors said they were unaware of the company's decision. No one from Urban Outfitters was available for comment on when the game was pulled.

But Dawson and other protestors said the company still owed African Americans an apology.

"It was completely disgraceful and dehumanizing to our community," Dawson said. "An apology is necessary for them to recognize that they have disgraced our community."

David Barfield, who led protestors in chants of "Racism is not a game," said he was incredulous that anyone would want to make money selling an item that he felt was so obviously demeaning to people of color.

"This is not just a racial thing," said Barfield, a self-described community activist. "It's about images in society. This is just one aspect of it."

Other protestors noted that the company was still selling figurines that played on the same types of racial stereotypes. In the novelties section, for example, the company was selling a gold tooth cap for people interested in dressing up as pimps. A cartoon of a brown-skinned man with an Afro and wearing the tooth appeared on the package.

The store was also selling a line of figurines called "Homies," which depicted stereotypical figures from "the Latino southwest lowrider community."

The chain's merchandise, which includes mainly clothes and housewares but also games, toys and jewelry, is targeted mainly to shoppers in their 20s.

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com