this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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Am I the only one that thinks the depiction of racism was somewhat softened in RDR2? Not even the eugenics guy really says anything that specifically racist and mostly just compares miscegenation to bestiality in pretty general terms. For comparison, RDR1 had shit like that one brazenly anti-semitic shopkeep that kept making horrible remarks about Jews every time you went to his store (he also got a really funny death scene in the zombie DLC). Now that I think about it, Herbert Moon also exists in RDR2 but I don't think he ever says anything racist which seems a bit out of character
That's not to say RDR2 pretended racism didn't exist in 1899, we see and hear how racism exists and affects many characters throughout the game and there's at least one hard N-word. I guess Rockstar wanted to be a bit more tasteful about it instead of having NPCs constantly spouting slurs and literal hate speech
I think the depiction of the Klan as comic relief kinda accentuates how softened it is. While the Klan was more or less dead by 1899 and wouldn't get its revival for 16 years, there were still plenty of white supremacist paramilitaries running around. One of them even overthrew a city's government just a year prior.
The way you know they really, really pulled their punches is that Micah isn't an insanely huge racist. He would be.
That said, I'd say good call to all of it on account of I don't think the rockstar writing department has the chops to tackle racism in depth without yucking it up entirely
He is a racist though. Right in the beginning of the game he grumbles about having to bunk with "Bill Williamson and a bunch of darkies." He also has camp interactions with every non-white gang member where he antagonises each of them by saying something racist but he's still not as horrible as you'd expect.
Micah is such a cartoonishly massive asshole it contrasts wildly with all the other gang members who are all pretty well-rounded characters and makes you wonder why someone hasn't shot him in the back and left him in a ditch already
he is but the entire fact he calls them darkies instead of n-words kind of proves my point. I mean like what, the misanthropic serial killer has objections to saying the N-Word on some sort of moral ground?
Yeah, like I said, you definitely get the feeling Rockstar didn't want to put full-fat 1800's racism into their game
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: