Grumph Bonegnasher, 2020

  In a forum post on Something Awful, Steve "Malak" Sumner talks about the idea of playing an orc in D&D to be revolutionary. Until they were introduced as a playable race in 3rd edition in 2000, orcs were always just the faceless evil that you had to go kill to rescue the princess, or retrieve the loot, or just because they were a plain nuisance.
  Basically they were undesirables (or in keeping with the theme of the topic, they were a stand-in for undesirable minorities).
  "Unless played very carefully early Dungeons & Dragons could easily become a proxy race war, with your group filling the shoes of the noble white power crusaders seeking to extinguish any orc war bands or goblin villages they happened across. Goblins are metaphors for the Vietnamese, by the way, but that’s a different conversation for a different time. Oh, and before you say it, Drow are not black people too. I hear that all the time from people who don’t understand Drow and it bugs the crap out of me. Drow represent the evil and duplicity that lurks within all of us, just beneath the surface [...]" (Sumner, para 4). 
  So we see another example of how racism does show up in D&D, and not only shows up, but seems to be intentionally written in. But Malak goes on to say that he is a Dungeon Master that happens to try and humanize the orcs, giving them hopes and dreams and a point, which makes them feel more like people than just monsters to be slain. So when half-orcs were introduced to the game with 3rd edition, Malak was excited, as any nerd should have been. But then he was slightly disgusted by their description and modified stats. Via Malak, via Wikipedia

  Half-orc characters receive a +2 modifier to strength and -2 modifiers to intelligence and charisma ability scores. Half-orcs have darkvision up to 60 feet. They have orc blood and are susceptible to special effects that affect orcs. They can use orc-only items. All half-orcs speak common and orc; they may also speak Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal, and, in the rare cases of half-orcs with high intelligence, the languages of their allies or rivals. The orc language has no alphabet and uses Dwarven script. Orc writing is found most often in graffiti.

  The half-orc's favored character class is the barbarian. The half-orc personality tends to be short tempered, sullen, and prone to action rather than thought. Half-orcs prefer simple pleasures: feasting, singing, wrestling and wild dancing. They have no interest in refined pursuits such as high art and philosophy. Half-orcs tend towards chaotic alignments, but have no clear preference towards good or evil. Half-orcs raised and living among orcs are more likely to be evil.

   The problems I read before even reading what Malak wrote about anything he found wrong are as follows:

• A +2 to Strength doesn't seem so bad, but not when it comes as a counter to the -2 to Intelligence and Charisma. 
• Orc writing is found mostly in graffiti.
• Favored class is Barbarian (as if they're still just rage monsters).
• Prefer Simple Pleasures, including wild dancing, with no interests in "refined pursuits" like art or philosophy.
• Usually of chaotic alignment (sure, that's a bit more fun) but half-orcs raised among orcs are usually evil.

  And these are all things Malak goes on to have an issue with. "the half-orc is living in a white mans world, so the modifier to his charisma represents a perceived deficit rather than an actual deficit. He has trouble interacting with the whites and the elves because they are inherently bothered by the sight of a half-orc. [...] What if he's dealing with an orc or a goblin or something" Don't you think he'd have an easier time of it than a human? He could probably even pass for orc if he's green enough" Sumner, para 13).
  An even worse reality however is that half-orcs are accepted by no one. Not the orcs, because one of their parents were race traitors, and not the humans, because "they look SO different from us." Half-orcs have a hard lot in life
  So what does that say about someone who may be half black?

  I'm a little behind on this project (which happens when you don't work on it for the better part of a month, but I'm still ahead of some other classmates so I feel good about that) so you should expect to see more posts in a quick succession.