We at Edge of Empire we’re quite rightly horrified by the murder of George Floyd in the US and this event is simply one of many that show that there is an endemic system of violent oppression and discrimination used against black people in America.
The protests that have resulted are an understandable outburst considering the past few years which have seen more and more instances of black people being murdered because of the colour of their skin.
At Edge of Empire we are a politically diverse bunch, counting amongst the team that makes this show possible an ex-Labour parish councillor, a Tory activist, and a Chomsky-ite socialist, but we are all united in the belief that our hobby should be a diverse one in which people of all colours, nationalities, sexualities, religions and ages should be welcome. We want to do more to help our hobby become one more reflective of wider society.
But at the end of the day, what we say isn’t important, all we can do is talk about racial prejudice, it is our privilege to never have experienced that ourselves.
The people we want you to listen to, are players, painters and hobbyists who don’t look like us, and right now the ones who need to be listened to the most are those who are black.
You can see here a video by Alpha Legion fanatic Josh Mallett, a prominent member of our community in the U.K., and he tells a story of covert racism he has experienced participating in this hobby of ours.
We welcome what Games Workshop said in thier statement on Thursday night, we know the culture and beliefs of the staff at Games Workshop and we know that for the most part, they are people who detest discrimination and racism of all kinds.
But they do need to do better, we all do, and this should be a call to action for that.
Last year we implemented our code of conduct for Company of Legends to make it a safer place for anyone who wants to come and so they feel welcome and we stand by that and we will look for new ways we can improve in these areas going forward
In summary, we believe that black lives matter, and if you have an issue with this, then to be honest, we do not want you as fans, and as Games Workshop put it, you will not be missed.
