Tyler Oakley: “Why Diversity Sucks.” | Download
Tyler has deleted his original upload and his YouTube network has taken down copies that have been uploaded to YouTube since, but you can download the video here.
Tyler has never apologized for the content of this video, except to say, “Best part of doing YouTube for 5+ years is seeing how much I’ve grown up. Worst is the cringeworthy bumps documented along the way. Oh well!”
When Laci Green, who is planning to collaborate with Tyler, was told about this video and why it made some people uncomfortable with her collaboration with Tyler, she said, “I don’t give a single fuck. If people don’t understand how the learning process works and that alienating them doesn’t advance the cause, that’s not my problem.”
Laci, have you ever considered that your viewers aren’t offended by Tyler’s sentiments out of some lofty ideological commitment to social justice, but because blatant racism makes them uncomfortable?
Have you considered that Tyler’s racist comments and his lack of apology might alienate people, hinder the learning process, and hurt the causes you are trying to promote?
This is the sort of thing that demands a sincere apology, not “Oh well!” and “I don’t give a single fuck.”
Full disclosure here, I recently met and hung out with Tyler and thought he was cool. So when I saw this video floating around Tumblr, I was baffled. After the video was pulled I texted Tyler to ask him if we could talk about it. He told me point blank that he was, “too bored/exhausted to defend himself based on being witch-hunted regarding videos and tweets from 4 years ago.” Yeeaaaah….I was pissed about that. And now I’m even more hurt to hear that Laci has responded so poorly to these criticisms as well.
It’s probably considered career suicide to continue calling out huge YouTubers so publicly, but sometimes you have to get checked. I was super nice when I reached out to Tyler and then hella salty when he shot me down. Clearly there are A LOT of things wrong with this video, but these were the main points I had hoped to speak directly to Tyler about.
• POC absolutely need information about birth control. First off, there’s a disproportionate amount of minority children in our foster care system. And fun fact, black children are less likely to be adopted than children of other races!
• In 2003 minorities were only one third of the total U.S. population, but were more than one half (52 percent) of the uninsured population. In 2003, 23 million of the 45 million uninsured were racial and ethnic minority Americans. News flash, when you don’t have access to health care, chances are you aren’t going to be very healthy or have affordable access to services like…birth control. source
• While this pamphlet is specifically about birth control, it’s important to note that WOC also have a higher risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. AIDS is the No. 1 cause of death for black women ages 25 to 44, beating out heart disease,cancer and homicide. In 2004, the CDC reported that out of all the women living with AIDS, 64 percent are estimated to be black. source
So yeah, it’s important to encourage EVERYONE, including POC to practice safe sex and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Seeing a group of minorities sure as hell doesn’t make you feel welcome? Why? Do you feel scared? Worried one of them might hurt you or steal your wallet? I sure as hell hope that’s not how you felt hanging out with me.
The more attention we pay to being diverse, the further away we get from getting over our differences. Yes, diversity is good and we understand that the world has different kinds of people, but seriously, how politically correct, do we have to get?
I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. I used to be on this colorblind ish too. And admitting that is embarrassing. But there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that everyone on this earth is not white. Promoting “colorblindness” or the erasure of race is in fact…racist. Why? Well, only white people have the luxury of disregarding race, because they are less likely to be negatively effected by their race.
Colorblindness also allows white people to ignore the privileges that come along with being white. For POC, colorblindness dismisses our negative racial experiences and cultural history. There is nothing wrong with seeing me as black, because…I’m black! And there’s nothing wrong with being black. But if you decide you don’t “see my color” you’re in effect saying you don’t see me or acknowledge the difficulties I’ve encountered as a black person. Colorblindness implies there’s something wrong with being of a different race or even acknowledging different races. If you’re unwilling to acknowledge my racial background, then how are you gonna help combat the racial injustices I face? In short, it’s EASY for white people to say “Chill man! Stop thinking about race all the time!” because you have no idea how race effects POC.
At the end of the day, ignoring the problems in this video is contributing to the problem. Reblogged from scenicroutes
