More on Allies

Hey everyone, sorry for the lateness! I’m working hard on what will likely be a long Kanye video which may also not make it out on time… I’m also preparing another big video at the same time so yeah.

That said, Allies!

This video came from an idea that I had in my head for a while, which was just looking at all the ways in which media really gives us a crappy understanding of race. It had much of the same energy that I got off in the Bo Burnham video, which is looking at and in some ways believing that a big problem about race in this country is that we don’t have good messaging out about it. We are perpetually cycling through bad scripts on race and a big factor of that is how people who talk about and write about race do it in a way that never EVER gets to the heart of the issues.

So I had that idea in my head and then I got an email from uplifting impact and it seemed like a great fit. Now understand, I’ve had more than a few people reach out for sponsorship, management, etc, including 2 different offers from Raid Shadow Legends! However I really wasn’t ready to jump into any type of sponsorship moves. But It hit me that this would be a great way to follow up the Bo Burnham video.

I’m in an ongoing dialogue about exactly what I am right now in terms of creating content. I started the channel explicitly to provide a perspective that I hadn’t seen enough of, specifically to speak on and engage with issues that face black men, and that’s what I still plan to do. I still plan to engage from a black lens and on black issues, but I cant deny that having a video pushing a million views in around a month has forced me to consider how I show up and how to maintain high viewership while still staying true to my initial goals for the channel.

I know that at the end of the day im incapable of making videos that I don’t feel good about (trust me I’ve tried) so I feel confident that I wont ever feel unfulfilled with my content. But I do want to manage this space of dissonance as best as I can.

That said, I was very pleased with what came across in this video. I do honestly feel that when it comes to issues of race a huge problem is just how uninformed and unaware a lot of people are on the issues and how they work. The ally concept is a big example of this.  Because people don’t know any better they don’t do any better. For a long time I have hated a lot of these types of movies. I have had many an uncomfortable conversation with people who swear to me that I REALLY need to watch The Help. It’s a frustrating thing to be faced with the exact same mistake over and over. The fact that these types of movies consistently get made is very indicative the dept of this problem.

For me just talking about this challenge was cathartic, hoping that it reached the right ears. That said Uplifting Impact has had a nice boost in signups for their event so I’d say they at least had a good return on their investment.

That’s it yall. Peace