Same Things Make Us Laugh, Make Us Cry Pt. 2, Witness, Act 1: Black Noise
Derosia•Sep 10, 2025 — Nov 01, 2025
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When I was young…well I’m still young, I’m 25, but more like when I was little, I would watch my older brother play video games. To this day it is still one of my fondest memories. And one of those games, the first ever game I played, was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by Rockstar Games. A game partially set in Los Angeles during one of the most turbulent periods of Black American history, the crack cocaine epidemic of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s where you play a black gang member named Carl “CJ” Johnson. Looking back on the game now as an adult I can now see the sociopolitical implications of such a game, made by a white company, for profit. One of the focal points of the plot is CJ, coping with, navigating through, and ultimately out of those harsh circumstances by any means necessary—something I have witnessed in my own community first hand. For better and for worse.
In the center of the room are two black folding chairs, each cradling a PlayStation 2 setup...More
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Same Things Make Us Laugh, Make Us Cry Pt. 2, Witness, Act 1: Black Noise
Derosia•Sep 10, 2025 — Nov 01, 2025
Press Release
When I was young…well I’m still young, I’m 25, but more like when I was little, I would watch my older brother play video games. To this day it is still one of my fondest memories. And one of those games, the first ever game I played, was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by Rockstar Games. A game partially set in Los Angeles during one of the most turbulent periods of Black American history, the crack cocaine epidemic of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s where you play a black gang member named Carl “CJ” Johnson. Looking back on the game now as an adult I can now see the sociopolitical implications of such a game, made by a white company, for profit. One of the focal points of the plot is CJ, coping with, navigating through, and ultimately out of those harsh circumstances by any means necessary—something I have witnessed in my own community first hand. For better and for worse.
In the center of the room are two black folding chairs, each cradling a PlayStation 2 setup...More
