#im just tired of seeing so much latinamerican erasure and mockery

[head---ache]

We all agree that Knuckles is black coded. We all see it, we are all aware of this fact, it's something that a big part of the community agrees on and cares about, because, you know, representation's important and all that. However, even if I completely agree with this statement, I feel like a lot of people are ignoring another important fact about this character.

I feel like a lot of the times, when this topic about Knuckles comes up, people either ignore or flat out just forget the fact that Knuckles and his culture take a lot of inspiration from Mesoamerican cultures, specifically from Central and South América.

It's not much in his appearence, but mostly in his background as a character. We all know Knuckles comes from the Echidna Tribe, and Echidna culture takes a lot from latinamerican culture.

For starters, this is the Echidna Tribe in different Sonic media.

And these are Azteca and Maya representations.

You see the resemblance, right? And it's not just a coincidence. The developers of Sonic Adventure visited Central and South América during the development of the game to study the culture and create the Echidna Tribe!

Second point, this is Tikal.

And this is also Tikal, in Guatemala.

They literally named her after a Maya temple!

The same case here. This is Pachacamac.

And this is also Pachacamac, a peruvian sanctuary.

Another echidna named after a latinamerican temple.

Third point, this is Mystic Ruins, from Sonic Adventure.

And these are Aztec and Mayan temples.

Fourth, just this:

So yeah. I absolutely agree that more people should be made aware of the fact that Knuckles' black coded, but I wish more people were also aware of the importance that Mesoamerican cultures have on not only Knuckles but also his background and the environment he comes from. Being latinamerican myself, it really bums me out to see my culture and others' being erased and mocked (because you have no idea how many racist fanart I found of both Knuckles and Tikal when searching for the photos I used above).

That's all I have to say, I'm probably just rambling, but I really wish this came up more in conversation, because it's important to me and I believe it also is for other latinamerican people, and I really would love to see this part of such a popular character being recognized more often.