My Experience With Other Black Creators

My experience with other black creators splits cleanly in two, and the gap between them says more about the internet than it does about anybody’s politics.

In real life it has been nothing but love. Guys walk up to me at cons and events and tell me to keep going, even the ones who disagree with my positions. Just got back from Fan Expo and it was the same thing all weekend.

Online is a completely different animal. And here’s what I’ve figured out about why: a lot of the people arguing with me need me to be somebody I’m not, because their argument only works against that person. Ask them to state my position back and it’s vague every time, on purpose. It was never about the argument. It’s about defeating a bad guy they’ve already decided exists.

That isn’t a black thing, by the way. It’s an internet thing. People take positions the crowd needs them to have because it’s comfortable, which is why I regularly get messages saying “I’d never say this publicly, but I agree with you.”

And the honest good news: it has improved. It isn’t what it was four years ago. Still not great, but better.

The fix is boring and it works. Talk to people face to face. Not a livestream, not a forum, not a comment section, not anywhere with likes attached. Nothing recorded. You’d be shocked how much that cuts through.