Activism is for those who CARRY the label, not those outside of the community

Hey internet, man this has been one hell of a year for public opinion. This is the year I have taken a look at myself as an Indigenous person. (To those of you who are quick to call out my skin color, my body does not produce much melanin. I have albinism.) Not only the label Indigenous, but also the fact that I continually need to mention my genetic condition to set people straight about my ethnicity, has become increasingly annoying. If you’re subscribed to my channel http://www.youtube.com/jddalton you may have seen my latest upload This has been the most traffic my channel has received in one week since half a year ago. Why all the views? Because I wanted my voice heard in response to another YouTuber’s video where they spoke about Indigenous cultural appropriation. This YouTuber however, is not Indigenous.

Instead of making this post super long and explaining what happened, I will leave a link at the bottom of this post for you to watch the video for yourself. The point of this blog post is to discuss further why I called out this person for how she approached this subject with her audience. First of all, I understand that my voice alone does NOT represent the Indigenous community as a whole. We are all individual thinkers and our own experiences with our ethnic culture are going to be different just like our opinions about this other creator’s video. Second, I would like to address some comments I made about this creator in my response video. I mentioned that it appeared to me that she is only on the platform for the business part of it, along with mentioning her subscriber count, and the fact that no other YouTubers seemed to be featured on her channel tabs. I had mentioned this because as a person wanting to spread awareness, her own channel page did not appear to be set in a way that emphasized “networking with others.” I mentioned subscriber count because I felt it was important to at least give my viewer an idea of how many people could have watched her video I was discussing.

Back to my point (see title). You have every right to call yourself an ally to any community that is a minority. We will always welcome those who wish to spread awareness and participate in being educated about socioeconomic issues that minority communities face. But let’s get one thing clear, EVERY community has a voice. And as an ALLY, you recognize that you are not included in that community and the experiences that people OF said community face.

You want to help educate? Feel free to do so, but when using a platform it is basic respect to turn the attention to a voice FROM the community you wish to have represented. If you do not carry a certain label, show respect for those who do carry the label, by referring other viewers to their channel, or extend the courtesy of inviting a person on your channel to collaborate with. Regardless of intentions, know that taking the mic on issues that personally do not affect you, is not only disrespectful, it’s disparaging to that particular community.

Indigenous voices are present on the YouTube platform, but yet our number of subscribers does not even compare to that of other creators from other ethnic backgrounds. Why? Many topics related to the Indigenous community are still discussed today. (Dakota Access Pipeline, 45 mocking us by using Pocahontas’s name at an event honoring Native Veterans) These are issues that WE are able to speak to ourselves. Instead of having outsiders comment on our OWN history and experiences of cultural appropriation, we need to call them out by telling them that their voices are not what we need. We need you to support the voices of the community. Who better to speak about the issues we face than those who LIVE the experience and those who are AFFECTED by these forms of oppression???

Apparently, this other creator was asked to make her video from a viewer who identifies as Indigenous. Her viewers are using this fact as an excuse for her covering the topic in the way she did. Another Native also commented on my video saying that she is excused because she used humor in her video to send the message. Had she been a Native creator, those of us calling her out would more than likely have no issue with the video. Does her ethnicity matter?? In this matter I say YES it does. There have been several other Native YouTubers who have done this concept on their own channels. These videos have been up for a while now, before she uploaded her own version. I will conclude that she did not know of these videos existing before she published her own version. But I still say that she COULD have thought about collaborating with a Native creator. This would have been seen as respectful and would have shown that she truly values the voices of Indigenous people.

My response video can be seen by clicking here.

Bad Things Happen To Good People

This past Saturday I had scheduled to conduct an interview to feature a special guest on my channel. My boyfriend Jared and I were ready to take his car from my place so we could go to the location of the interview. With my tripod and camera in hand, I opened the passenger door to discover the contents of the glove compartment and storage space between the seats had been scattered everywhere. Initially I thought that Jared had left some papers on the seat from driving his car the previous day. But after taking a closer look inside the car and after Jared had opened his door with the reaction, “Oh shit…” it had hit me that his car had been broken into.

I immediately tried to help him make sure that no important things were missing. His registration was still in the car along with most of his belongings. Later we would realize that his GPS was stolen. I did not know what to do or say next. The first feelings that came to me were anger and frustration. How could this have happened and why? I looked on as Jared inspected the steering wheel which had been tampered with to the point of having no way to start the car. The look on his face and his words, “What do I do?…” made me do the only thing I could. I embraced him as he looked on in disbelief and all I could do was speak the words, “Babe, I’m sorry.”

After a couple of seconds I knew that we both needed to absorb what we had just seen. “Lets go back inside.” I said realizing that there was little that could be done to fix the car at the moment. I gathered my things and guided my partner back inside the house with my arm around his waist. Once inside he proceeded to call his father to notify him of what had just happened. I also pulled out my phone to cancel the interview and reschedule. After my call ended, it was hard for me being unable do little more than hug the person I love who was hurt and lost. I was angry that a shitty thing had happened to the sweetest person I know.

After several calls and with the arrival of my family from their trip, we both had come to terms with what happened and were prepared to move forward from the situation. Currently his car still sits at my place. We have been in contact with a mechanic who is a friend of my family and we are waiting for him to inspect it. Jared had decided that a police report wouldn’t be worth the hassle. Nothing other than his GPS device was stolen. No windows were shattered. He is grateful that we are both okay. With the help and support of my family he has been able to go to work and we just got back from dropping him off at his place. Jared tells me that I helped him through the situation, but I honestly wanted to do more. He in no way deserved what had happened to his car. This was our first major situation that we have been through as a couple. I hated seeing the man I love in a state of shock and in tears. The individual responsible is lucky that I don’t know who they are. Jared has moved on, and although I still want to do more, I am doing my best to move on with him. We are both okay. But if I could, I would go back to prevent it from happening. This happened to a person I love, this person hurt the one that I love.