Kamilah X MC for @choicescocappreciationweek day 5  I’ve been working on this art for a while now and thought today would be the perfect day to post it. I’m new to art and I’m still learning, please be nice (click on it for better quality)

I’ve also written a small (around 1k words) fic inspired by my drawing, you can read it under the cut. Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈💕

Why? When we post to social media, we’re anonymous and easily dismissed. Our individual accounts are easy to mute in the third party software most large companies use to track social mentions. 

It’s significantly harder to ignore or spin messages that come through the same pipeline that reports coding errors and payment issues. A 25% spike in customer service complaints would be disruptive, and would be flagged. And if those complaints come from known accounts that spend real money on diamonds? They’re even more likely to be listened to. 

When you write to them, try to do a few things:

And this true?

the one petition everyone is sharing is for João Pedro, was was killed inside his home, he was shot on his back. 70, and i repeat, 70 shots were fired against the house he was in, and the police claimed it was because they were in a confront. everyone near his house confirmed there wasn’t anything going around.

but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

SAY THEIR NAMES

LUCAS CUSTÓDIO DOS SANTOS. he was a sixteen years old boy who got shot on his leg after returning from a soccer game. his last words were “you don’t have to kill me, sir”

CARLOS MAGNO DE OLIVEIRA NASCIMENTO (18 yo, student), CARLOS ALBERTO DA SILVA (21 yo, painter and bricklawyer) EVERSON GONÇALVES SILOTE (26 yo, taxi driver) AND THIAGO DA COSTA CORREIA DA SILVA (19 yo, mechanic). They were killed on an event now known as “Chacina do Borel” it happened in 2003 and no one was held responsible.

HERINALDO VINICIUS DE SANTANA. he was an eleven years old boy who left his house to buy a ping pong ball. he was with money on his hands. His last words were “I want my mom”

ALAN DE SOUZA LIMA. He was fifteen and his last words “we were just playing, sir”

DOUGLAS RODRIGUES, 17 years old. His last words: “Why did you shoot me, Sr?”. The policemen was acquitted for lack of evidence.

REMEMBER MATEUS SANTOS DE MORAIS, FIVE YEARS OLD. FIVE. YEARS. OLD. He got shot while playing in front of his house. SAY HIS NAME.

ÁGATHA FELIX. 8 YEARS OLD. She was returning home with her mother when she got shot. FOR NO REASON. SAY HER NAME.

FABIO DOS SANTOS VIERA, 21 years. He was shot because, according to the police, he was holding a gun. That gun was never found.

EVALDO DOS SANTOS ROSA, 51 years old. 257 SHOTS FIRED AT HIS CAR. SAY HIS NAME. His family was inside of it too, including a 7 year old kid. Evaldo died instantly. NO JUSTICE NO PEACE

MATHEUS OLIVEIRA, 23. The Police got >>scared<< and shot him in the head. He had just become a father.

MARCUS VINICIUS, 14 years. shot during a police operation while returning from school, his last words:“ Didn’t they see that I was wearing school clothes, mom?”.

EMILLY CAETANO DA COSTA, 9 years old, was shot two times on the back. The police said the vehicle her family was in was suspicious. They chased the car and shot five times. Her mom, dad, and two sisters were in the car.

LUCAS, 14 years old,disappeared after some cops take him out from his home, his body was found floating at a lake in a park.

MARIA EDUARDA, 13 YEARS OLD. Killed inside of her SCHOOL! SAY HER NAME

victims of the Costa Barros massacre, killed by the police with 111 SHOTS while celebrating the youngest’s first salary.

Wilton Estever Domingos Jr, 20. Wesley Castro Rodrigues, 25. Cleiton Corrêa de Souza, 18. Carlos Eduardo Silva Souza, 16. Roberto Silva de Souza, 16. Victims of the Costa Barros massacre, killed by the police with 111 SHOTS while celebrating the youngest’s first salary.

PEDRO GONZAGA, 19, killed by a supermarket security guard. He was suffocated and suffered cardiac arrest.

KETELLEN GOMES, 5 years old. Was riding her bike when she was shot during a police operation. Her last words was “Mom, don’t cry, no, mom”. The target from the shooters was Davi Gabriel Martins Nascimento, 17 years old, who also died.

75% of those killed by the police in Brazil are black.

Black people are 147% more likely to be murdered than white people in this country.

Brazil currently has the highest rate of killing of Blacks in the world outside Africa. It far surpasses the U.S.

EVERY 23 SECONDS, A BLACK PERSON IS KILLED IN BRAZIL.

Black Protester Shot to Death Outside Omaha Bar

A young black protester was shot dead outside a bar in Omaha as unrest across the nation engulfed the Nebraska city, by white supremacist Jake Gardner.

The victim was identified as 22-year-old James Scurlock, whose father called for justice as the city braced for another night of chaos.

“Last night I lost a son, my wife lost a son, my kids lost a brother,” the grieving dad, who has the same name, told reporters at the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Visitors Center, “His daughter lost a father. All because he decided to protest against racism.“

Unfortunetly, Prosecutors in Omaha, Nebraska, said Monday that the white bar owner will not face charges because in their minds “video evidence shows he acted in self defense” even though he had aimed the gun to a crowd of unarmed protesters and James only got involved to protect anyone form getting shot, resulting in losing his life, as both videos here show: video1/video2

The murderer, Jake Gardner, also owns 2 bars one of which was closed down because of an outpour of reviews stating they woulf often refuse service to black people and were known as violent racists. His other bar seems to be having the same issues.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Call county Attorney Don Kleine and Mayor Stotgert. Demand justice and demand Jake Gardner be held responsible for the murder!!

DON KLIENE: 402 444-7040

STOTHERT: 402-444-5555

OMAHA MAYOR HOTLINE: 402-444-5555 

OPD: 402-444-5600

donate: Heres a GoFundMe link for his family 

Quite frankly, I could spend all day describing the unacceptable treatment of the black characters in your stories. Seeing as our real life situation is terrible enough, let’s just hit the highlights, shall we?

Your most recent indiscretion involves none other than Rafael Aveiro of Open Heart, an Afro-Latino man who you sidelined and then wrote out of the narrative completely in favor of giving more screen time to a white male despite the fact that he already had an overwhelming amount of screentime in comparison to every other love interest in the story.

Another notable case is that of Shane Parker of Platinum, the MC’s best friend and optional love interest. When the player promises to attend his film screening that is important to him instead of attending the knockoff Met Gala and later optionally stands him up, Shane is portrayed as bitter and unsupportive by the narrative. In addition, he also suffers because the other two love interests have a bigger role in the story and consequently receive more content.

As if those scenarios weren’t damning enough, your treatment of black characters, but especially black woman, who aren’t love interests is ABYSMAL.

Let’s revisit Open Heart. Aurora Emery, a fellow intern at the beginning of the story, is immediately placed in an adversarial position to the MC. She is also targeted by the main group for the egregious crimes of being good at her job, being related to a woman in a higher position than her and not being instantly friendly to the MC. She is later made to apologize for these things and has been consistently made to do so as of the most recent chapter (Book 2, Chapter 9). Ellen Thompson of Wishful Thinking is put in a similar situation.

Kiara of The Royal Romance is consistently villainized for showing interest in a popular love interest (Drake Walker) and is made fun of and referred to as weak for being traumatized.

Xanthe of A Courtesan of Rome is made to be yet another black female rival to the default white MC for no discernable reason and has a black scholae owner and a freed black slave (who is a love interest that they make sure to tell us is illiterate) sell her into what we now know as human trafficking because she was, once again, mean to the MC.

Ava Cunningham of It Lives In The Woods, who was featured in your sad excuse of a Black History month roll out, is given an absentee mother and an inconsiderate father. In addition, she’s determinantly made to deal with the trauma of having her close friend (the MC) killed with her personal weapon.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to the tone deafness involved in the treatment of the characters above, your MC is almost always coded to be white. This makes the playing experience extremely uncomfortable for black players in the following scenarios:

An older white man sticking a gun in the main character’s face

the inability to sympathize and be mentored by black women in the workplace (Aurora Emery, Ellen Thompson, Xanthe to an extent)

being told that a black Desire and Decorum MC’s mother was going to be sold if she didn’t stop seeing Vincent

The Veil of Secrets MC being forced to be rude to Scarlett following the affair

Having a paywall to save a Ginny, a black child, from slavery

Being referred to as the help in The Nanny Affair

High School Story: Class Act immediately being accused for injuring another student without proof

every bullying scene in It Lives In The Woods

Enduring Brian Crandall’s verbal abuse in High School Story

the Mother Of The Year MC only being able to call Vanessa “kinda racist” when she referred to a potentially black child as a guttersnipe

…to name a few.

So when you make these posts during times of unrest and include statements like, “We see you. We hear you. We stand with you,” it comes off as disingenuous and insulting to the intelligence of black Choices players everywhere.

You wanna stand with us, PB? Then start in the office. Examine the way that your characters are treated and the circumstances we encounter. Make changes to these issues and be smarter and more considerate going forward.

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x Casey Valentine

Summary: Feelings run high after Rafael saved the boy on the bridge. OH2 Chapter 5 expansion

Author’s Note: Welcome to my insomnia fueled quarantine writing where there is angst all around. I have many a drafts that I am working on in the wee hours of the morning.

Playlist: Missing You by John Waite, Save Your Tears by The Weekend, Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash, Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World, Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root