Cyberpunk 2020 creator Mike Pondsmith just lately printed a press release about racism and police brutality within the US, writing, “This is a fight all of us have a stake in.”
The submit was printed on R Talsorian Games’ official blog and is a follow-up to the corporate’s assertion from final week, through which Pondsmith was credited as having stated, “Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration.”
“First, I’ll answer the question you think you want to ask me but really don’t want to ask me,” Pondsmith writes originally of the newest submit. “Yeah, I’ve been pulled over by cops more times than I care to remember.”
Pondsmith goes on to clarify that he’s fairly certain a few of these cops would have assaulted him in a abandoned space if not for the truth that he was associates with different law enforcement officials.
“There’s no safe level of being black in America,” writes Pondsmith. “You could be a senator; a famous actor, a brilliant scientist or even the recipient of the Nobel Prize, but to the supremacist with a badge, or the secret racist who really doesn’t want to consider the idea that someone who doesn’t look like them could actually be a living, breathing human being with hopes, dreams and rights just like they have, you are a target.”
“Every single case I have just described has happened in this so-called post racial America. It’s just that a lot of people would rather just pretend it isn’t happening.”
“Your cops are out of control. They don’t care about who they work for anymore. Like the cops in Cyberpunk, they work for themselves. They have weapons, power and invulnerability that has been granted to them because of the devil’s deal the people in power made with them since the 90s.”
Pondsmith goes on to put in writing what turns into a robust chorus all through the piece: “You take care of the people we’re trying to keep control of, and we will give you whatever you want.” He says many of the good cops he knew have retired, and the individuals who make up the police power within the US now are largely “guys who didn’t have the cojones to join up to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan who are now playing soldier on the streets of America instead.”
“There’s an old saying,” writes Pondsmith. “First they got here for the socialists, and I didn’t converse out—Because I used to be not a socialist. Then they got here for the commerce unionists, and I didn’t converse out—Because I used to be not a commerce unionist. Then they got here for the Jews, and I didn’t converse out—Because I used to be not a Jew.”
“Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
“When I wrote Cyberpunk many years ago, I meant it as a warning, not an aspiration,” says Pondsmith. “Of what occurs when Power, Money, and Ruthlessness mix. Of what occurs when the America you assume you understand morphs right into a tyrannical state that mixes the worst of company extra with the worst of authoritarian tendencies.”
“We’re speeding on the way towards that Dark Future right now, and the color of your skin, or the money in your bank account are not going to spare you. It’s time to wake up; to face down the people who want in the end, to enslave all of us.”
Pondsmith concludes by itemizing targets for bettering the state of affairs in future. He argues for making racially-motivated reporting a felony, for the cessation of police contracts with commerce unions, the demilitarizaion of the police by outlawing surplus army {hardware}, and the institution of a nationwide database of “bad cops.”
“I don’t care what your skin color is or what your orientations are,” concludes Pondsmith. “This a combat all of us have a stake in. This is our future, and the way forward for our youngsters and grandchildren.”
“And should you fail them, in the long run, they would be the ones who will choose you. Remember; the Cyberpunk future is a warning; not an aspiration. Whether we hear the warning is as much as you.”
