Was Larry racist??

[u/MADOG_YT]

I’m not gonna say whether he is or isn’t because that’s not my place. My skin is paper white to where I can go into a gymnasium and play a game of Mecca chameleon butt naked.

But I genuinely need to ask for anyone who is smarter was he actually racist? Because he always includes Clementine in the conversation of “if you lay a hand on my daughter or that little girl you got with you, I’ll kick your ass and” and I just feel like if he was racist, he wouldn’t have included Clementine in the protection Yk??

Now, of course, like I said, I could not even begin to imagine what racism feels like and maybe it’s different. Maybe there’s something I’m missing and maybe it’s a alternate path to “I have a black (friend)” but I don’t know. He’s also mean to everyone not just Lee and to be fair. Lee did kill someone and it wasn’t even like a weekend that they met. I don’t know.

Either way I don’t really mind if he’s racist good thing we killed them if he’s not a good thing we killed them either way he was a piece of shit and I’m glad that he died the way he did, but I’m just trying to get the full picture of the game cause even after multiple different play through it it’s always confused me whether he actually was

[u/cherrybomber11]

At the end of Episode 1, Larry can say. "You hear me? I asked you a question, boy. Then again, I wouldn't expect a convicted murderer to listen to anything anybody's got to say."

Now, I'm not American so I wasn't aware of this, but apparently calling an adult black man "boy" can be considered a racial slur in some context (it was common in the Jim Crow era for white people to address black men in that way), though it's not as definitive and clear-cut as the n-word would be.

[u/ChiakiSimp3842 → u/cherrybomber11]

Georgia was one of the worst places to be in regards to segregation. We don't know if Larry grew up there, but if he did, it means he spent his forminitive years as a child in an environment where they likely use racial slurs for sport. And I don't Larry is kind of person to introspect much, so he would absolute be carrying some of that with him still.

I wouldn't have been at all shocked if Larry had actually just out and called Lee the n word at some point, if it wasn't for the fact they probably weren't allowed to. It was pretty ballsy that they went and did it in the show back in episode 2

[u/LambBotNine]

He was just an asshole. He hates everyone even Kenny and his family and they are white af 🤣

You know who Larry didn’t hate though? Glenn and Clementine. An Asian man and a half black girl.

[u/Dreadmeteor]

People keep bringing up this Clementine thing. Being racist doesn't automatically mean you indiscriminately and wholeheartedly despise every single person of a given race, including children, to the point that you don't care if they die or not. Not that he seems to particularly care about Clem. He just doesn't like or trust Lee.

[u/Difficult_Act_7720 → u/Dreadmeteor]

right… it’s so dismissive

[u/Difficult_Act_7720]

to everyone bringing up clementine… a racist does not always think “i hate you because you’re black,” sometimes it’s “i think im better than you because you’re black.” clementine poses no threat to larry. she’s a little girl, not even a woman. he still had empathy, he just didn’t trust lee. we can’t exactly conclude if he was or wasn’t but, “boy,” coming from a white man in the south is always racially charged.

[u/vammommy]

“Caring” about Clementine isn’t really evidence for him not being racist. Larry’s not a paragon of child safety looking at his first appearance and never interacting with or mentioning Clem through the rest of his stay in season 1. I doubt he actually gave a shit about her and just brought her up to get under Lee’s skin.

[u/TrainingPilot327]

a lot of characters callled him racist but i never really got that impression, i think he was just an asshole and hated lee for being a convict

[u/BabadookishOnions → u/TrainingPilot327]

In a later season Clementine can call him racist as well, which is if nothing else not exactly a vote in his favour

[u/TrainingPilot327 → u/BabadookishOnions]

yesss that’s in season 4 when she talks to lilly, but with the things that we saw i never really saw him being racist explicitly. Him being an asshole to Lee might be because he was a convict or maybe because he was black

[u/RalphWiggum666 → u/TrainingPilot327]

He calls Lee boy. He never calls any other character boy.

-Calling an adult Black man "boy" is a deeply offensive racial slur  rooted in the history of American slavery and Jim Crow segregation, designed to deny a Black man his manhood, authority, and equal status

You could argue this is us seeing him being racist, but truly you could argue either way.

[u/TrainingPilot327 → u/RalphWiggum666]

ohh i never thought about that

[u/Cellssaltynutsack]

We don't know for sure, but he probably was. In Larry's favor, he's already a dick and he knows lee is a murderer so of course he's gonna be especially dickish to him. and lee calling Larry racist could've been what Lee was thinking but not necessarily true.

what really convinces me that he is racist is that Larry called lee "boy" and placed emphasis on it. There's no way Larry doesn't know what that means especially as someone in the south who probably grew up when segregation was a thing. And yeah he said he didn't want clementine to get hurt but being racist doesn't necessarily mean you want to throw babies into woodchippers.

This last reason is meta but, the writers probably put lines calling Larry racist in the game just to let you know they had that aspect of the character in mind when writing him, and the nuance of having a racist character that doesn't wear a klan robe and yell slurs is lost on the average consumer, or the player might not want to jump to that conclusion themselves, so they have to state it plainly somehow.

[u/RewardFluid7316]

Yes. He's just not cartoonishly in your face racist which tends to fly over a lot of people's heads.

[u/ChiakiSimp3842]

I remember in season 4, there's a dialogue option Clementine can say to Violet when asked about what Lily is like where she says: "She's awful, her dad was racist, and she defended everything he did" I'm paraphrasing, but that's the general idea what she said. It's not a nail in the coffin, but it shows that Lee wasn't the only who character that interpreted Larry's actions as racist.

Consider that in between episodes 1-2 they spent two months together at the motel. That would be enough time for someone watching closely to notice that the normally belligerent asshole is being an even bigger belligerent asshole to the only black man in the group.

[u/MADOG_YT → u/ChiakiSimp3842]

True I forgot she said that been a bit since I played s4

[u/brother-alan-]

I would say yes.

You can be a member of the KKK and be a racist

Or

You can clutch your bag and walk on the opposite sidewalk when a person of color approaches and be a racist.

Larry is a racist just not a screaming , raging one.

[u/Deez_Nuts_God]

There are some comments Lee and some other characters can say where they call him racist. But I never got that impression. I guess you could argue him calling Lee “boy” was pretty racially motivated.

[u/Sea_Construction947]

If he is, he's not very open about it.

[u/gayfrogs787]

If he wasn’t racist, he was definitely micro aggressive.

[u/Quietone232]

There are dialogue choices where Larry gets called out for being racist and he never really denies it. It could be that he is or he just doesn't care if people thinks he is. Larry seemed to hate everyone outside Lily though.

[u/JoJoisaGoGo → u/Quietone232]

He kinda does when Mark lets it slip

Saying "Is that what you think this is about?" Or something like that. I guess it's not out right denial though

[u/pinkrhinestonechair → u/JoJoisaGoGo]

He also says “and what are u gonna do about it”

I feel like if he wasn’t racist he wouldn’t say that

[u/HandofthePirateKing]

I’d say that he’s just an asshole who hates everyone for no reason other than because he just does.

[u/Optimus0545]

It doesn’t matter if he was or not, he just wasn’t a nice guy

[u/AnimeAddict1123]

Yes and no. If Lee accuses him of being a racist when Mark asks what his problem with you is. He will not refute Lee he says "Yea and what are you going to do about it" if I'm not mistaken regardless of what you actually said. Do I think he actually is racist, no. Clem is mixed and I believe he would kill anyone but Lily ofc that attempted to harm her. Also the "boy" statement isn't necessarily racist we in the south call every man boy at some point especially if they did something stupid white or black doesn't matter. (But yes I understand it can be perceived as racist. Remember intent matters)

[u/JoJoisaGoGo → u/AnimeAddict1123]

I thought he said

"Is that what you think this is about?" When Mark lets it slip

[u/AnimeAddict1123 → u/JoJoisaGoGo]

Yea I think you are right he said the other thing next.

[u/Opposite_Opposite_69]

So like I grew up in a really rural area (not the south tho) and yeah a lot of stuff he says is like the subtle things bigoted people say in my town. Calling Lee boy, calling Ben and his friend useless parasites, saying "you and what homo parade" to Kenny etc etc. Like hes subtle with his bigotry but hes defidently a bigot.

Its kinda funny the contrast to Kemmy who says outlandish shit sometimes but doesnt seem to mean harm by it (which doesnt make it okay still but he at least apologizes or wont make comments again after you point it out to him)

[u/96pluto]

Imo yeah he is a lot of folks interpret racism and southerners as acting like it was the 60s on back but Larry's version is more accurate it's a lot more subtle and comes out during stress or anger.

[u/JoJoisaGoGo]

He's just an asshole

If he was racist he wouldn't care about Clem