This is an epic, thought provoking new article in the latest SL-focused ECLIPSE magazine on real life Black people in the virtual world, reflecting on Black Lives Matter and their experiences in SL. It’s written by New World Notes contributor Cajsa Lilliehook. She interviews many Black SLers, who discuss racism in SL — everything from avatar skin color discrimination, to coming across people roleplaying in a plantation.
Read an excerpt below:
[W]ith Black Lives Matter protests on every continent but Antarctica, it is an idea that speaks to people everywhere, even in Second Life.
One resident, Elric, said that racism [in Second Life] was more overt since Black Lives Matter.
“Until this movement all ignorant people have basically been quietly racist…this movement has exposed a lot about people’s characters.”
Another resident, Prophet, who was featured on New World Notes not long ago, said: “I have also experienced the uglier side of SL, such as racism and negative stereotypes which have become way too normalized and accepted on this platform.”
He thinks Linden Lab does not make the platform “a safe place for people of color as there are individuals, groups, and communities that openly and blatantly promote racism and hate.” He added, “I do hope that Linden Labs becomes proactive in removing these people and content from the platform and promoting racial justice and equality.”
Dondallia sees racism in how Black people are served by SL creators. For the longest time there was a paucity of Black skins. Skinners would defend their lack of effort by saying Black skin was “too hard to do.”
That has improved in recent years, but she points out that creators still ignore the Black market.
“Many creators will not create for bodies like Hourglass, Sking, and Ebody Curvy because they’re predominantly worn by Black women who want a more ‘ethnic’ based curve to their bodies. I’ve been told ‘Black girls with big butts’ are ‘so ghetto’ in Second Life.” She sees SL fashion as very segregated between the white side and the “urban” side as many people describe black-oriented fashion.
Emiko also believes that some are just following the trend, creating Black skins and using Black bloggers to avoid getting “canceled” rather than out of conviction. She thinks the Lab could do better at protecting people but thinks “they can only do what they can without infringing on what people feel as gatekeeping.”
Roshambo works in anti-racist organizing, so sees the systemic and cultural racism that many of us just accept as normal:
“Not because SL is intentionally racist, but because the tenets of what we have come to accept as the norm are already loaded with bias against BIPOC… so we tend to see many rules, policies, and laws as neutral and for the good of everyone and we are not taught to see the bias of how they affect different people in dynamically different ways”
Dondallia recalls a plantation build in SL.
“It was wild. They created it to be just like the South before the civil war, and people were part of a group and everything that participated in things… and not for educational purposes either. I never saw a statement on it until recently after users were asking for a statement.”
Elric thinks SL can do more, pointing out that “until Black Lives Matter, I can’t say I’ve visibly seen Linden Lab do anything about promoting racial justice. People view this as a virtual platform and ‘real-life issues’ shouldn’t be brought here. I pretty much thought that was their stance as well.”
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 
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