If I had a nickel for every time this year a POC author got exposed for actually being white... I'd have multiple nickels, which is pretty concerning.

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Not much, but still very concerning that it happened more than once 😫😭

@VibingMeike

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner That it happened ONCE is already hella concerning and wrong

@CordyMoss

25 күн бұрын

Yep that's why I go down a rabbit hole searching authors when perusing the bookstores. I feel like between this stuff and AI books coming out I can't trust anything I read or see on a book sleeve.

@robinmitchells

23 күн бұрын

I feel like I would at least be able to buy something from the dollar store, which is very alarming

He didn’t need to write a book, he needed to read one😭

@TheSylda

27 күн бұрын

It's called Black Like Me, came out in the early 1960's and he should have known bettet than ripping it off

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

SEVERAL books!

@100frogsinatrenchcoat

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner Fr !!

@birdiejett3163

17 күн бұрын

LITERALLY THIS

He had to do blackface to figure out what life is like as a Black American??? Bro why didn’t he just ask?????

@hellaSwankkyToo

27 күн бұрын

bruh. he didn't even need to ask! there's no shortage of articles, videos, essays, research studies, + more with all the answers he _claims_ he was seeking. i cannot be convinced that this was done in good faith.

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

It never occurred to him 😭 and he tried to backpedal and say he asked a black representative from the NAACP but the emails show that he only sent the request in January this year while his blurb in his book said he did the blackface last year. They really do think we dumb 😭

@LadyAstarionAncunin

26 күн бұрын

Because he has no black friends and wants none. SMH

@ishuboshi

15 күн бұрын

bc that would require him to believe a black person 😭

The summary of the book was the most offensive part to me. "...the most important book about American race relations that has ever been written. It's a lie and arrogant to say the least.

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

That was definitely him taking the mick because how did he write that with a straight face 😭

@gregjayonnaise8314

17 күн бұрын

The absolute CAUCASITY to say your book is the most important book about race relations when Frederick Douglass and plenty of other historic black writers exist is absolute delusion.

I am fascinated by how he left Canada to chase clout. There are Black people in Canada. There are Black writers across the history of our countries, and I'd much rather hear from them instead. I hope his book fails hard.

@thasthar

26 күн бұрын

His ego is huge to think that we need this from him...

@thasthar

26 күн бұрын

I wonder if he did all this as bait, as a troll desperate for any attention. Or is he really that delulu.

How is the man an “award winning journalist”??? take the awards away

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

They really do be giving awards to anybody 🤧

@theamarsh4715

27 күн бұрын

From what I can tell the only award is a prize from a new, small Toronto publishing house? And no shade to Sutherland House but I really can't imagine they had a huge number of entries.

My tinfoil hat says he's just ragebaiting for money. Any normal person would've just asked,interviewed or whatever. I hope his book gets rapidly lost in time and we completely forget about this man.

@inter_esting

27 күн бұрын

Ragebaiting has become such a big thing lately. Hope the attention was worth it because he's going to deal with the consequences for the rest of his life

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Definitely ragebaiting, but I hate that this is what he chose to do for the clout.

@KindredKaye

26 күн бұрын

I read the book and reviewed it on my channel. It's 100% rage bate

This is horrible what he did. Also as a black man I know all to well the issues with the medical community when it comes to us. All the years of medical miss treatment have led us to be very distrusting of those in the medical field today African Americans are more likely not to seek help into it is too late for many medical issues such as cancer. I personally lost an aunt due to this distrust and even when we do seek help a lot of medical personnel are still Systematically Undertreated for Pain. Believing we feel less pain than others so often we are significantly less likely to be prescribed pain medication and that we generally receive lower doses of it when they are.

@nancyjay790

26 күн бұрын

My daughter has just finished her second year of med school in the UK, and she has heard talks that have been given to debunk a number of previously held errors regarding black people's physical health issues. Even some diseases which previously had been categorized as being higher risk for black people can be a myth. It may not be much, but it is possible for the medical community to be getting a clue here.

Just going off of what I assume this dude was trying to do you know what he could have done? He could have worked with a black man wearing a hidden body cam. They could have done different experiments like going to the same businesses, restaurants, etc. Set up meetings with the same real estate agent. Set up job interviews for the same position, even with the black man having better credentials. Have him and the black man appear to be in the same financial situation through their clothing and car... and then compare how they are treated differently. Not only that but he could have the mans input and his prior life experiences. He didn't have to go traipsing through the US in black face!

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

No, it wouldn't be the same. This story needed to be told from a White person trying to pass as a Black. He needed to walk in different shoes.

@MsKatze

26 күн бұрын

@ExpatRiot79 He didn't NEED to do anything. Like Shelley said, all we have to do is listen to black people talk about their experiences. If you want to do additional research or experiments, maybe do it in a way that isn't inappropriate. I think the whole point of what she was saying is that if people just believed POC, this man wouldn't have felt the need to do this in the first place. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a big deal in a different world, but given the history of black face, I can certainly understand why it is.

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

@@MsKatze No. It's not the same of "black face." This was not racist. This was profound social experiment on a visionary level. You can woke-rant about it all you want, but that's what it is.

@MsKatze

26 күн бұрын

@ExpatRiot79 I'm not ranting at all. You're the one who seems oddly worked up over this.

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

@@MsKatze not worked up at all. But the hate you people show on this channel is so palpable that clouds your rational judgement and you start comparing this journalistic investigation into real racist black face. You can't call someone a racist who is obviously not a racist, but that's what you are doing.

If you have to make yourself a caricature of a group of people in order to "better understand" their life experiences, something is wrong with your ability to empathise with your fellow humans. Just TALK to them, read their stories, learn about them! It's not that hard. This is just gobsmacking.

@LadyAstarionAncunin

26 күн бұрын

Shaun King type of teas. 🤮

Something about this reminds me of Save The Pearls and the fact that the author had an actress film a "book commercial" in blackface. And made a world where blackface is socially expected and mandated.

That is awful! I work in research and am currently studying how to do this ethically. How the hell did this guy think this would work??? There are established ways to research experience as we know you can't just put yourself in someone's shoes and speak for them. This makes me so mad. This is why black womens pain is dismissed, and why as a black man you have higher rates of mortality of prostate cancer. As white people thought we could speak for your community. This makes me sad as a white person. So sad.

Every time I read "white" in titles of videos like these I know what I'm about to hear is just going to be a continuous "what the FUCK" experience. I myself am white (Scottish - so like bloodless white 😂💀) but I can't deal with the levels of audacity 😭😭 Can't remember where I first heard/read it but I love 'caucasity'. So accurate to this type of behaviour

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Bloodless white sent me 😂😂 but yea the caucasity in this is real!

@folasade5453

25 күн бұрын

Bloodless white is WILD, lol, I love it 😂

The way the industry will give more credit to a white person talking about the Black experience over actual Black people talking about their experience. WHEW.

Exactly! It's called EMPATHY, if you have less of it and can't understand people you're not directly adjacent to, that's something you need to work on in yourself...

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Sadly, so many refuse to acknowledge they have a lack of empathy and so will continue down their path.

His book costs $10 on kindle. Not that I would have ever bought it and read it but just to offset one person who did, I'm sending that amount to you for this video.

@shelleys.corner

23 күн бұрын

This is so sweet 🥹 Much love to you 💗💗

hate when a privleged person acts like the greatest way to understand marginalized people's experiences is to pretend to be one of them. Why Don't You Just Talk To Us And Listen

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

They refuse to understand 😫

His response is insane. The worlds of race and politics can’t be summed up into how one, as he claims, is “perceived.” He can’t just act like racism can be distorted and stretched into terms that don’t hold him and his team accountable. He couldn’t even write the word racism.

This is like Black like Me in high school all over again

@robertborland5083

27 күн бұрын

YES! It is wild how this new author said he thought he was doing something new when Black Like Me came out decades ago and was sus even then.

@zflw64

27 күн бұрын

@@robertborland5083 I even saw I a picture of the man. He looked like rolled around in coil.

@robertborland5083

27 күн бұрын

@@zflw64 OOF.

@davidb7406

15 күн бұрын

The difference is that John Howard Griffin put a lot of effort into changing his appearance, willingly told people the truth about what he was doing if they asked, actually got help from a black acquaintance with what he was doing, and if the letters he received after publishing were any indication, he actually did change some people's minds. He also got the shit kicked out of him by the Klan at least once for his efforts. Most importantly, might I add, he did this in the late 50's, when this sort of outrageous thing would be necessary to get most white people's attention, cause they most certainly wouldn't have bothered listening to PoC's. Point is, he at least was acting in good faith, and it seems very probable that we're he alive, he probably would roast this guy just like the rest of us.

Early in the video, so I don't know if this is going to be covered. But if it's not, the original description is just as sickening,as the updated one. It is white savoir complex to a T. Absolutely disgusting. I love by the way how you're saying how the comments really do mean a lot to you,so sweet❤ I don't know when people are going to understand, that if you want to actually defeat any kind of oppression, you have to LISTEN to those effected. It's so simple. He could have gone around america, and talk to actual black people, listen to their experiences and then amplified those. But no, he wants to be the savior. He didn't do this to help black people, or BIPOC....he did this for his ego.

@xdani_thethinkingneko

27 күн бұрын

***as an america, anybody who discourages you from speaking up on this, because you aren't from America is just trying to silence your voice. Anti-blackness is embedded in our cultures around the world, you are just doing what is right. I myself, am white presenting even though, I am biracial (1/2 Peruvian+ 1/2 Irish/Eastern European).....just for context. Anybody who says white privilege doesn't exist, is absolutely insane. I've seen how cousins of mine, even my own grandparents, who have darker skin than me and are clearly BIPOC, have been treated less than in front of me even. I've also seen how some white people speak, when they think you are white (and heteronormative for that matter)... It is honestly horrifying some of the things I have heard. What this man did, he KNEW how cruel this was...how this does nothing to lift up the voices of the black people who are actually suffering.... But just like you said, but this white man gets a chance and there are so many amazing BIPOC authors out there, who could have actually added something to the conversation. and people wonder why we need DEI. This is why.

Woooowww. And I am not believe him when he comes out and says he doesn’t believe it would be offensive because there’s no way he thought this wouldn’t be an issue.

Didn't some guy do this exact thing in the 60s? Dude's not even original with his bad ideas. Edit: He mentions it in the blurb??? Wow, he's... something

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Just hella bold in the worst way 🙃

@Desdamona13

8 күн бұрын

Yes, the book was called "Black Like Me" I forgot the author's name but I remember it being required reading in one of my high school classes in the '90s.

This man truly embodied the genre of cosplaying empathy. Just like his “heroes”, like that of Grace Halsell, John Howard Griffin, and Ray Sprigle. His greed is showing, it’s all so gross.

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Cosplaying empathy is such an apt phrase!

@adrianghandtchi1562

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner there was an NPR article talking about this very subject, sometime ago, and that term really stuck when they spoke about it.

The guy could have just *easily* Just spend time with any BIPOC person, just spent the day with then and he could have easily seen the night and day reactions of how people treated them vs him. *Easily*! I learned a lot of my friends' issues by just being with them. The Fear they go through when a Police Officer pulls out a gun just because they think she's a criminal due to her windows being tinted too black but also be dark skinned (She had no control over the window tinting as it was her mom's car at the time.) I've seen the shit my friends go through as BIPOC people, and being yelled at for being assumed that they're immagrants when they were born and raised in the US. I didn't need to pretend to be something I'm not because I knew their own experiences were real by seeing it happen to them. His actions was horriable and Cruel and awful. They also told me about many more experiences so I would understand why they feel the way they do. Why the conversations around things are far more complicated than just doing one thing. Justifying Blackface is not it.

If he wants to explore American racism specifically from new eyes, he could listen to black people from predominantly black countries who move to America. They won't have the African American experience but neither does a white man in blackface. They would be able to say how their experience of blackness is different in America.

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

I wonder if he did a smash and grab at apple store?

@sutaretagais

26 күн бұрын

@ExpatRiot79 Your weak trolling is taking its toll on you. Now you've gone and said your quiet part out loud and we know you're nothing more than a rage baiter.

Why does this keep happening 💀

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

I do not know, but it needs to stop already 😫

@LadyAstarionAncunin

26 күн бұрын

Because no one has us like us. I’m an ADOS black woman, and we have to DIY everything related to society.

@GatlingPea32

22 күн бұрын

Because of R.F. Kuang's Yellowface lol Idk about this but since she released the book, a lot of phony authors just went with what they read in that book and decided to do it for themselves

What baffles me is that there were so many steps that led into that tweet being made, from going blackface and writing about it to the publishing of the book, and there was not a single person who went "hey dude this isnt it".

As a white person who has quite a few black OCs, it's not that hard to figure out the black experience of the country your character is in, and for me, creating characters helps me emphasize with real people. I've had no shortage of figuring out the specific experiences of each and every one of my characters who is black, asian, middle eastern, biracial, etc. Because there's no shortage of articles and as a "journalist" he could've just done research like my 11 year old ass could do back in the day. Blackface is never an option you should even consider, if you know at least a little bit of what a black person is, because then you'll know it's horrible.

Cute little anecdote of mine: dislocated my knee. Went to the doctor. Doctor didn’t believe me. X-rayed my knee. Guess whose knee was dislocated? Didn’t give me crutches. And I’m light skinned and I know that it unfortunately makes a difference. I can’t even imagine what darker skinned POC have to go through. Would I darken myself to go to the USA and write a book about it? Am I stupid? (Yes, but I still wouldn’t do that)

Normally, you pitch a non-fiction book to an agent and publisher before it's even written. The level of failure from beginning to end on this is gross. Not one ounce of awareness and he's promoting this with his whole chest like what he did is going to be life changing for anyone besides himself.

one word: insane!

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Exactly!

How insensitive can someone be? This man could have just read black American history. How about slavery, Jim Crow, police brutality.

folks will take an idea and conduct it in the most unethical way.

I did some research and the writer is a journalist for conservative outlets like Nationalpost and Spectator. So, I highly doubt that this guy is even interested in talking to Black people in the first place.

This man writes for right wing publications like The Spectator and The Daily Caller. I haven’t read his book, nor do I want to, but he clearly had an agenda in writing it. I’ve only watched the intro of your video so far and I’ve paused to write this, but I’d be willing to bet that he’ll claim he didn’t face any “real” racism and that Black peoples are exaggerating. When I read about this dude, it not only reminded me of Black Like Me, but also of Black/White, that “race swap” reality show produced by Ice Cube. The white dad was super racist and loved using the n-word, and after “living as a Black man”, he claimed he experienced no racism, and that in fact he was treated better as a Black man than as a white man. This was because of his confirmation bias. His perception of racism was already skewed. I feel the same way about this journalist after reading up on his background (plus the arrogant, delusional way he described his own book).

This is giving that one guy that Sad Boyz talked about a couple years ago. It was a reality show. Fully put the dude in black face and let him say the n word on camera. 🤦🏻 thank you for talking about this. I imagine it's not fun to discuss for you. Thank for doing the emotional and mental labor necessary to break this down.

To add insult to injury, he apparently did this in an attempt to prove that institutionalized racism is no longer an issue in the US. I'm not sure how the likelihood of being picked up while hitchhiking has anything to do with institutionalized racism, but he was quite confident. I haven't read it, this is just what I've been told. A lot

If your going to write about something that your not part of, you just do research and talk to people. People are not fancy dress, there is no need to dress up, just talk to them to get the accurate feel. I do wonder about people sometimes, and this is the wrong way to do it...and the worst part is, someone always does this. It is just terrible. I hope he goes viral and looses his placece

When you flashed the tweet onscreen and I read it I was like, "who does he think he is, Robert Downey Jr's character in Tropic Thunder?" Because: what the fuck

It's like that one rich guy that pretended to be homeless for a while. Like instead of listening to actual poor people and black people, some rich guy or white guy will play pretend. Cuz they don't listen to or believe the people they're cosplaying as. Like what..... you could just listen to people instead bro.

How to write a book on racism Step 1: not whatever the fuck this is

Did no one tell him the book Black Like Me exists? No one needed this. No one asked for this. U. S. conservatives are VERY much ‘It’s not real until it happens to me.’ This reeks of that.

@NiarahHawthorne

15 күн бұрын

Not just U.S. Conservatives. ALL Conservatives.

I watched this go down in real time on twitter 😭 it was such a trip

I really wonder about people sometimes, and I often wonder what goes through thier minds too. This is just crazy, terrible, wrong on many levels and the wrong way to go about it.

He wore blackface for a total of 42 hours... 2 hours per day for 3 weeks because he was too lazy to do more than two hours. Stupidly, his experiment was hitchhiking as a white person then as a "Black" person and seeing how often he was picked up as each one to decide if racism is still a thing. He was picked up several times as himself and only once as a "Black" person. (Who even picks up hitchhikers these days?) With less than 2 days of being "Black" he was able to conclude that systemic/institutionalized racism does not exist. Which is the bias that he starts with anyway. He does interview actual Black people, but the interviews are 5 pages out of a 200+ page book.

Did anybody that worked with him say anything? I need to hear from them

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

HONESTLY! Where was the Ethics board???

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

Let rabid cancel culture begin.

this is crazy omg. I’m from ireland so things are very different over here, but hearing what goes on is insane. What annoys me the most is maybe this guy was doing right in his own mind, but he had to make it about himself. Oh *I* experienced racism now, oh my gosh this is so bad! why did no one tell me?? But they did, he just wasn’t listening. I’m not sure if that’s worse than him just doing it for shock, or the money but either way it sucks so much.

@shelleys.corner

26 күн бұрын

Yea, he went about this entire thing in such a completely messed up way. Side note, I live in Manchester (UK), and I've been thinking of visiting Ireland/NI. Is it worth a visit 👀???

@thefool8750

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner yessssss tho I’m pretty biased lol. I’m from up around northern Ireland myself & it’s totally worth visiting. Belfast and Derry especially, very pretty & lots of history to discover. Dublin’s ok but it’s too crowded for my taste. Galway’s really good if you wanna visit the republic specifically, much warmer and comfier than Dublin imo

This reminds me of the TV show I May Destroy You. There was a character in the show who wrote a book as a black woman but it was really a white man

It has been done before the book, Black Like Me from years ago a reporter did the same thing. They made a movie as well.

Bad enough he talked over actual black americans about oppression of black americans, the fact he did it in blackface? Huh???? How did publishing picked up this book? Did they read it before printing, was it some malicious compliance from a jaded intern? Baffling, honestly

The title of this video was so confusing to me I had to stop and figure out wtf is going on.

IT KEEPS HAPPENING

Wow...I can't...I can't even...good news is it's 1.7 stars on Amazon. And from an article I've read he isn't in the least bit sorry and is refusing to apologize. He thought consulting with black people would be pandering?!

imagine lacking the ability to empathize with your fellow human beings, and you just decide “hey i know! i know what’ll fix this! i’ll put on blackface!” like jesus

How is a grown person doing this in the 2020s and still think it’s a good idea??? Like I can understand if this is like 50s or 60s or hell, even the 90s maybe, but we’ve had so much talk about BS like this in recent years, how did a grown man not absorb any of that information to see how disrespectful and gross this is. This is either clickbait or this just reeks of the whole “I won’t believe racism is a problem until I experience it myself because I can’t trust the black folks to not lie about it”

this horrible concept was already done in like the 1960s or 70s though so beyond the blackface it’s like,, not even original? what the- EDIT: he freaking mentioned it in the blurb. the audacity. no words.

“He wanted to better understand the experiences of black Americans” *as if black Americans haven’t written thousands of books about their experience? Huh???*

bruh this is crazy

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

I can't believe it myself 😭😭

I am Canadian and a black woman 1. I don't think I would say that he stole the black experience because blackness is... experience not a choice. there is no trauma from putting on makeup in safe and familiar environments. i might say he colonized the black narrative. he made an experience that is communal into his own personal feelings. his observations hold little weight. 2. Toronto is one of the most expensive cities in the world always competing with Vancouver, NYC, LA. the average Toronto one bedroom rent is $2300. that doesn't mean amazing that's generally the current average. imagine being born in Toronto or a neighbouring city (the GTA/Greater Toronto Area) and looking to rent or buy a comfortable place to live. Imagine being born black and the amount of people who had to move far away to stay afloat. someone painting their skin black means very little. that's a scratch on the surface. black people are from various social classes, cultural backgrounds etc in my case the gentrification and price gouging in the area I live in shapes a lot of my current identity

Here we come again... 💀😅 What is happening with this people pretending be bipoc? This year It's being pretty crazy.

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

he can identify however he wants, just like a man can say he's a woman..

@shelleys.corner

26 күн бұрын

Just say you're racist and leave.

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner because I'm not. The racists have all turned into bipocs

@thasthar

25 күн бұрын

@@ExpatRiot79 Weird comparative, gender and race aren't the same thing. Gender and sex aren't the same too. But anyway, he doesn't identify himself as a black man, he did this for "reached", It's how HE justifies himself, and the marketing he is doing for this book is about the perspective from a WHITE MAN.about racism. Wouldn't make sense if you're right and he see himself as not be one. No, he does not have the right to do blackface without consequences. Just like another white author doing brown face this year also.

@ExpatRiot79

25 күн бұрын

@@thasthar he has as much right to do black face as a black person has to putting on lightening foundation. And you're in no position to say who can identify as what.

I think the single and most pertinent factor, perhaps, being overlooked here is that this book was not written for Black people. Those of us who are intimately aware of the experience will not ever be able to relate to Forster's experimental experience in the ways in which he intended for the very reason you stated early on. He was able to wipe off the makeup and again separate from his experimental experience of a Black self. I can and do choose to pause part way allowing myself some appreciation for the attempt to close those gaps in understanding and the acceptance of truth, if only for himself. This may in fact be a stupid mistake, but, many things are often discovered in the midst of a misstep. I am sure, all of us humans, such as yourself, are exhausted by the weights of anger, and, ignorance, of the life rending, and, often death rendering divide, not to mention, the BS of untangling truth from fiction. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront, sharing your thoughts, and allowing our comments. ❤

he heard "walk a mile in our shoes" and literally stole your fucking shoes

I think part of what this also points to is the Whiteness, or at least anti-Blackness, of the industry. This went through several screening processes before publishing. I feel like if Black people were involved they would've been made aware. And if there were and they did, what does it say that their feedback obviously wasn't considered?

if you can’t empthize with people without doing blackface, then you’re a broken human being. you need to examine why YOU can’t understand where they’re coming from. and also, this is the first i’ve heard about this, how come no one else on youtube is talking about this??

“I will unpack it emotionally” TOO RIGHT. It’s ridiculous that someone actually did this, what? How is it we progress as a society and still fail repeatedly? And why are white authors pretending to be POC? There’s been a bias to white authors in the industry since FOREVER, and incredible POC authors are being pushed down enough as it is from the industry, from other authors and now white authors are doing this? It’s just unfathomable and ridiculous that POC authors are busting their asses off to let THEIR voices be heard and he thought “no, I can do it better” what?

It doesn't surprise me that one white man had a really bad idea. It does surprise me that so many people looked at him and were like "yeah, sure, that's a good idea!" That a publisher, an editor, any proofreaders were all like "yes". And I also wonder if he had a makeup artist who did this for him because that's another person who was just fine with it I guess. How was he not stopped by someone with a little more race awareness at any point before publishing?

About the canadian part: I suspect he chose black Americans cause they're more numerous (there are more black Americans than there are Canadians overall) and also... maybe it's a bit insensitive, but in a way they have the most famous black people in the world. Have birthed a lot of trends in terms of music, writing, dance and other arts as well as bringing various social issues to the forefront. Shortly said, black Americans are extremely viral, or at least the goods and services they bring are. Maybe he thought they're cooler than Canadians are or wanted to market this book to a more numerous American audience to make more bank. Anyways, it's not only not ok for him to do that, it's stupid and unnecessary too since there would be so many millions of opinions he could've taken in. It reminds me of a KIKA (german children's channel) report where a native german school girl wore a hijab for one day in school to see how a muslim feels. Obviously the racial component is missing and one can always convert to a religion, but it was still a little tasteless, stupid and unnecessary. I apologize if I'm not making sense or anything, just writing my thoughts out.

@shelleys.corner

26 күн бұрын

No, you're making complete sense, and I actually think you might have a point. Black Americans are more numerous and more visible to the wider world.

Doing something like this when you have the ability to just take a break at any moment is not comparable to the real deal of having to deal with racism on a daily basis, I don't even need to be black to understand that, and it's one thing to think this over as a concept, but to make it a reality and write a book about it just feels like a lot. This is one of those ideas that should've stayed as an idea. I'm not mentioning this as a comparison, but I began to think about middle class writers pretending to be working class, doing gig economy jobs for shits and giggles and then writing about how bad they had it for six months, when working class, often immigrant people are stuck in those same jobs for years on end, without any possibility of even taking a break from them. Maybe there is a class perspective I'm going for here.

This is one of those situations that you do not need to experience to affirm AND accept a part of history.

I’ve been living under a rock apparently. This has happened multiple times? Wtf is wrong with people.

But we already have "Black Like Me." Why do we need this book?

Your face beat ❤

Shelley, we love you too in the most non-toxic parasocial way! 💜 What this journalist did was a literal segment on day time television back in the damn '90's (I think there was even an entire weird, unhinged show in the early 2000's where one black family and one white family traded race ). The excuse that this was done during the Civil Rights movement where literal segregation in the South and red lining in the North kept black people and white people from being able to get emotionally vulnerable and close to one another in a way that would allow for white people to learn the truth of black experiences from black people. That is NOT the world we live in today where most American and Canadian white people could easily get on a platform like KZread even if they live in a mostly white area and listen to real, raw (unfiltered in a way that black people who know you and care about you might not give it to you) perspective on absolutely any topic or issue. There is absolutely no justified reason for this nor is it at all worth publishing! You are absolutely right. It's disgusting. And as you said, he's Canadian. How about he spend a year speaking with Natives in Canada about the THOUSANDS of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (or People) that NO ONE in his government cares to look for? That would be a way for him to use his privilege to do some good, perhaps humanize the stories of some of these people so those Canadians who are unaffected can see these people are someone's child and their loved ones want them home. But he would probably play the white savior and accomplish nothing good for anyone but himself.... and that's a damn shame. This whole thing is a shame. Much love to you!

you put this so well. im not black (dif poc) so i dont get that exact experience but ive seen many instances in which the affected are the least heard. and i think that takes to the most infuriating part - the book might still be successful. because its not made for any of us, its for other white men like him who can only hear themselves talk. the only valid word is from white men and that feeds the cycle. i think supporting bipoc and marginalized authors and creators might be more important then ever

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

not really. if he identified as black, then he was black. that's the reality we live in now, you need to respect it.

13:45 just the controversy alone earned this man the accolades he will never deserve for this.

Is anyone going to point out this is like a bootleg version of the book "Black like me"

@billyalarie929

25 күн бұрын

A few people have by now.

Thank you for talking about this! I read the book and it's 100% ragebait from the smalt-smright. I reviewed it in the shorts on my channel

As an African-American woman, I appreciate you speaking on this. Just as a bit of helpful advice, though, please drink some water to avoid smacking at times. For folks with misophonia, it’s like nails on a chalkboard each time. I hate that my brain is like this, but it’s very distracting. No hate or shade! ❤

"How can I better understand black people in America?" I dunno, I feel like asking them is a good place to start, not putting oN BLACKFACE?!?! HUH??

Ragebaiting is such a thing of late and this one did that so he could be talked about. Disgusting.

Not gonna lie, at first I thought you were talking about Black Like Me by John Griffin (another instance of white author does black face to “empathize” with black people.) but the fact that this has played out again in our time is deplorable. These authors don’t care about the black experience, because if they did then they would amplify black people’s voices and stories, not play at being one. It’s a cheap gimmick rooted in racism.

My fist thought was just why not ask a black person directly?!?!? Was he unable to believe that people still faced racism today unless he experienced it for himself??? Like bro whyyyyyy?? And he clearly does not actually cares about racism because otherwise he would've done research & asked black people if what he wanted to do was ok which there is no way he did because well look at this situation. And all of this was reflected on by me a white person with the bare minimum amount of knowledge on racism learned in highschool that I have in less than one minute because you don't even need to be knowledgeable on it to know it's not the way to go. You just need the barest amount of empathy to know it's not right.

unrelated but you are so stunningggg.

@shelleys.corner

15 күн бұрын

Awwww thank you 🙈💗💗

My thought is that if this was a "genuine" attempt to try to "understand" the black american experience (or at least if that's what he has convinced himself that this is) then maybe the reason he chose the USA is because if he'd done it in Canada it would've hit too close to home. Doing this experiment in America removes him from having to reflect on how he and the people close to him do or have contributed to rasism towards black people in Canada. It probably felt safer and more comfortable for him to do blackface in America because that way he's an outsider in two ways. Either way, doing this just shows the lack of empathy towards black americans just as the blackface by those journalists during the civil rights movement did back then.

What kind of fuckery is this? I can't believe this keeps happening. You can sympathise, but you'll never "really" know how it feels to be a POC. When it comes to the book world, there are so many times where I see discrepancies. One example: How there are special editions or mutiple reprints of some books, but others only get one and aren't even pushed as much-in terms of advertising-as others.

I am so confused why writers still want to cosplay as other races. It was already done several times (Black Like Me, 1961) and was “controversial” then too even if it was a little more eye opening because of the time period and perceptions of the north about how the south treated people, so you haven’t learned anything in the 73 years since then that makes you not need to play oppression dress up??? We also could, I don’t know, wild concept, LISTEN to black people who are telling us exactly what is happening????? Why is the obsession with experiencing the situation ourselves.

what?

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

Exactly what it says 🫠

@lady6750

26 күн бұрын

@shelleys.corner I have no reaction. that's just... why?

Any chance you can flip your footage horizontally so that your book titles arent backwards? Im a black Canadian myself so I'm excited to hear about this whole debacle. My initial reaction is "big yikes" but then my secondary reaction is honestly maybe this hook is necessary for white people to read. I feel that way about NK Jemisins The City We Became. That book is for fucking white people. Its literally "baby's first racism". But I think it can help people understand racism more personally. Maybe thats true of this book. But ill update my comment when i finish the video.

Not blackface. Blackface is more than makeup. It is a set of denigrating tropes. This author repeated what John Howard Griffin did in Black Like Me. Might be ill-advised, but it isn't meant to denigrate and appeal to stereotype, and you shouldn't imply that he did.

@shelleys.corner

26 күн бұрын

So that's what you took from it. Noted. I said what I said.

@Clavicle-qg3rf

26 күн бұрын

He couldn’t even talk to other black people. Did you watch the full video?

@dumpster_fiyah

26 күн бұрын

@@Clavicle-qg3rf I wouldn't want to say he did what he did well. It's just not the same thing as blackface, which was invented to denigrate. There's a component of intent here that's missing.

@dumpster_fiyah

26 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner It's in your title, so if that's not what you meant, you might want to change it, and you spend the first two minutes huffing and puffing about how you're too mad to express yourself thoughtfully.

@shelleys.corner

26 күн бұрын

@dumpster_fiyah my title is literally a statement of what happened. Part of Blackface is the painting of the face and there is no situation where it is acceptable, whether partially done or fully done.

It's a great book. And I think YOU are the one who is the racist.

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

So what you're saying is that you condone blackface. Noted.

@ExpatRiot79

27 күн бұрын

@@shelleys.corner No, I condone anthropological research done a sensitive, methodical fashion. You are so woke and racist that your eyes are blind to reality.

@February_Flowers

26 күн бұрын

There are so many books about the black experience in America that are ten times better, are actually written by black people and don’t get half as much attention because people don’t want to listen to black people. If he really cared about racism and the issues he claims he does, he would have done something to amplify black voices in the literary world instead of taking up space and potential sales that don’t belong to him. Also, this book has already been written by someone else a long time ago.

@rudkelvin8833

26 күн бұрын

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

@ExpatRiot79

26 күн бұрын

@@February_Flowers considering my comments are being censored by the channel, I doubt that you will see this, but I'll say it anyway because I think the channel needs to hear it. Yes, Black voices are important. That's a fact and it's undeniable. But this narrative is about a White voice trying to understand a POV that is biologically denied to Whites. It's not about taking anything away from Blacks, it's about what this White voice learns from this experience. It's a very extreme form of journalism, but it needed to be done.

Firstly hun I wish I could hug u 🫂. Secondly, there is no way a person who is white (like myself) is ever going to understand what people of colour and different cultures go through.. the only way I feel that (I myself) can look into lives I will never understand is by reading books by black authors or by asking my friends who are black around me to share their experiences and have a conversation about it. So books I have read this year that I found insightful are:- * Troubled Water by Mary Annaise Heglar * Quilt of Souls by Phyllis Biffle Elmore (highly recommend this book which is a memoir) * Track Record by George The Poet * Viola Davis Finding Me ( memoir & I love her as an actress she is amazing) * And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou I could go on but reading these books this year gives me a glimpse in. I think it's disgusting that this author did black face why could he not just go an interview a few people of colour and do a book based on the interviews 🤔. You don't learn about a culture, race or environment by mocking and disrespecting and that's what this author has done, & they allowed him to make a book wtf.

@shelleys.corner

15 күн бұрын

Thank you 🥹💗 and I love your book choices

Why are people so disrespectful in this day and age!!! It is terrible ❤️‍🩹

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

It's really sad 😔

Why is book drama saur good 🫦

@shelleys.corner

27 күн бұрын

It's too much now 😭 I'm tired 😭