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Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

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Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#181

Post by HarryHirsch »

nix23 wrote: post #136
racl101 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Nobody complains about the Latino channels on TV. lol

Out of curiosity, do all black people in the US have the same cultural background? Or is it just the skin color?

That's precisely the trouble. In NI, when someone ask you if you are Catholic or Protestant and you answer you are Danish, they leave you alone. In the US on the other hand, you get dragged in no matter what. If you are from Nigeria you still get thrown in with regular "African Americans". That has interesting results, because for university admission purposes, black is black. However, amongst Nigerian immigrants education is highly regarded, amongst Americans in general, not so much. One would predict that at top-25 universities, Nigerians are highly overrepresented.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#182

Post by werber »

Uzo0312 wrote: post #134
martythemaniak wrote: post #32

Good luck. Please remember to ignore this HN thread. I can already see it's becoming absolutely atrocious and is not even remotely representative of society at large.

Thank you. We'll do our best...with the company, and this thread!

I hope you get some free press out of these outraged people, maybe they can do you a solid and help your company go viral and get it in front of the people who want it!

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#183

Post by spaniard89277 »

afavour wrote: post #39
f6v wrote: post #2

“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.

I don't know what country you're from but if you don't think there are subcultures in your country under-represented by the dominant media I'd assert you're almost definitely wrong. Perhaps it feels a little strange from the outside that such a subculture is definitively "black" but yeah, that's basically how things are in the US. The country has a deep history of racism and black people being literal slaves, in that…

> I don't know what country you're from but if you don't think there are subcultures in your country under-represented by the dominant media I'd assert you're almost definitely wrong

What constitutes under-repressented? Is proportionally represented ok?

I mean, I'm one of those "subcultures" and honestly I don't feel the need to be represented in media. I'm ok with it, but I don't see what does it bring to me or to my "subculture". We need investment in infraestructure and political-institutional changes.

I understand it's your country, so your own to decide but I agree with the other user, I really can't understand why so much focus with media representation in the US.

It feels weird, and honestly the logic behind it comes as very superficial and light-minded.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#185

Post by rchaud »

disneygibson wrote: post #152

This just makes me sad. We seem to be returning to a segregated society with separate services for every ethnic group. It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole. That was the brilliance of American identity, which is now fracturing at an accelerated rate.

Can you provide a definition for the 'melting pot' idea that you were raised with?

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#186

Post by blacktriangle »

tptacek wrote: post #118
GordonS wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having an opinion is not trolling - I would guess the OP wants honest feedback. Personally, I'm divided on how I feel about this launch, but if there is a market for it anywhere, it's the US, with its deep-rooted racial divisions and disparities. The comparisons you are making seem very different, as they are based on language and global geography, rather than skin colour.

"Black" is a culture; it's not merely a skin color. Our country kidnapped millions of people from the African content, stripped them of their heritage and family ties, and randomly moved them around plantations in the American south, then released them and spent 100+ years subjecting them to apartheid laws that they united to fight. It is a whole unique interesting thing (jazz, soul food, the Black church, the Harlem…

Correction: Europeans BOUGHT millions of people from the African contenent FROM OTHER BLACK AFRICANS who had already stripped them of their heritage and family ties!

Remember the Democrats little kneeling to BLM while wearing Kente scarves publicity stunt? The irony (or symbolism?) of the Democrats dressing up as Africa's most prolific slave traders was apparently lost on most people.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#187

Post by graderjs »

Great idea, man. This is awesome! This is exactly what people should be doing--using tech to make the world better. Hope you can look back 10 years from now and think so many interesting black stories might not have got told except for BlackOak! I definitely think segmenting away from the dominant studio model is the only way to break the crazily unrepresentative nature of most of the (still admittedly great) stories in the popular culture. Hopefully looking back your move will be obviously a good idea, but one maybe no one was brave enough to do it before you came along. Wishing you the best of success to do this mission! :)

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#188

Post by Uzo0312 »

ethbr0 wrote: post #151
afavour wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what country you're from but if you don't think there are subcultures in your country under-represented by the dominant media I'd assert you're almost definitely wrong. Perhaps it feels a little strange from the outside that such a subculture is definitively "black" but yeah, that's basically how things are in the US. The country has a deep history of racism and black people being literal slaves, in that…

It depends on where parent is from. There are a lot of relatively monolithic countries from an ethnic perspective. To the broader point, I think what Uzo is talking about is "representation." Which doesn't just mean "some type of person on the screen." It means the full diversity of experiences and aspirations of that type of person... on the screen. Living Single isn't Friends with African Americans. It's African Am…

I couldn't agree more! You want to do PR for us?

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#189

Post by raclage »

disneygibson wrote: post #152

This just makes me sad. We seem to be returning to a segregated society with separate services for every ethnic group. It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole. That was the brilliance of American identity, which is now fracturing at an accelerated rate.

> It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole.

Then I don't understand why your response to someone trying to create a platform to express their culture strikes you as "Fracturing."

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