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

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511–520 of 898 posts

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

#511
post #2

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

Agreed. Where I work (US-company, but I work outside of US) it is similarly weird to me. We appear to have gone backwards in the past 5-10 years in my view - no longer can you just be "you", but now it feels like we have to be labelled, categorised, and segregated into different groups. We now have to make a big deal and a big song-and-dance to highlight our differences and define what our ethnic backgrounds are (app…

>What if I don't fit into some neat pigeon hole on some spreadsheet?

See story on that from Les Earnest: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/earth/mongrel.html

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

#512
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Racial segregation is a stretch. They do not block you from subscribing if you're not black.

Realistically though, how many white people would pay for a platform with all black content, one that they are told is explicitly not for them?

Crunchyroll keeps getting mentioned here, as a success story. Certainly, they focus nearly exclusively on Japanese content.

But they in no way market to Japanese, or Asians in general. I think that is the key.

You should be marketing "black content for everybody", not "content for black people". Sure, the segment that responds will be heavily slanted to certain demographics, but at least you aren't putting up artificial barriers, and you'll stir up a lot less upfront negative reactions.

Unless controversy is part of the marketing strategy, which is risky, but sometimes works.

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

#513
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…

You wrote: >> Agree. I could imagine Netflix-for-Turks streaming in Europe for overseas Turks!

I suspect you were aiming for sarcasm, but such a service would succeed in Germany, for sure.

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

#514
Congratulations on YC, pursuing your dreams, and taking on an idea that is obviously somewhat controversial. Based on YouTube, social media platforms, and the Internet in general, our worlds are becoming more polarized and segregated by default whether it's from politics or sports. The end result is a fight/flight mindset when it comes to culture and identity. It's important to fight for the right balance or else we may be left with a very White & western hegemony. This pendulum is very important to track and ensure extremism is not practiced.

In my opinion, we need to recognize the voices and stories of black communities and provide access to platforms where creators and actors can express themselves genuinely. As you recognize, there's a disparity between the 90s where this was more successful to where we are at today. You could argue the black film industry has evolved and adapted from the 60s and 70s to where it's at today, not getting worse or quieter but more niche.

Is the goal to create and perpetuate insular communities of color? Is it to equally provide opportunities of mixed cultures and ethnicities? Can black creators easily showcase stories of non-black stories? Each of us lives in very different worlds of integration and has different stories we want to share. A community and platform that can address everything with transparency and sustainability is going to win because imo that's the bigger opportunity.

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

#515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building bridges between communities is good, but it isn't the singular goal of storytelling. There are plenty of stories to tell that aren't wrapped tightly around the mission of making Black people seem cheerful and unthreatening to America, just like there are plenty of stories to tell about about Irish people that are about the complexity of Irish people just as human beings with human stories that happen to feat…

> the mission of making Black people seem cheerful and unthreatening to America Implies that America thinks this way. Again, nuance is needed.

The explosion of (largely greenbean, but to your credit yours isn't) concern trolling on this thread certainly supports the implication. On HN one might have expected more discussion of business models, technology, etc. Instead we have wall-to-wall "don't you know it's racist not to pretend that race has never been a thing in USA?"

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

#516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you are from a fairly small homogeneous country. It hard to understand the racial dynamics of a very large diverse country if you haven't lived there.

Someone from India, a fairy large and diverse country, might have the same difficulty understanding it.

As someone who lived in Italy and Pakistan all her K-12 education years, your comment is so damn off base. Are you seriously saying that India (and Pakistan for that matter) have the same racial dynamic as America? Yes, India is diverse. Yes, we are not all the same. But that is not akin to the racial structures I have seen in the US.

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

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not though is it? "black people" are not a cultural group are they?

They are; not one group but many (still distinct from "non-black").

I don't think it's possible or reasonable, particularly in the US, to assume or associate cultural identity with physical traits.

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

#518
post #102
post #54

It feels like people (early on in this thread) are more offended because of the chosen phrasing in the title? Are those same people offended by BET? With the accompanying explanation by Uzo0312, how is this racist? "For black people" does not mean "Not for any other people". I want to watch great content and if Blackoak produces it, I'll watch it like I would with any other provider. The fact that they'll encourage a…

My issue with "for black people" isn't that it's exclusionary against other races, but that it implies all black people are a culturally homogenous group. Just changing the description to "Netflix for black creators" would be more descriptive of the actual service, and doesn't imply "if you're a black person, these are the shows you should like".

I agree that there are better possible taglines for the service.

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

#519
post #422
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the courts think that a similar business, "cakes for straight people", is in fact discriminatory and also illegal.

LMAO, you're really reaching for those grapes. The courts ruled that "cakes for straight people" meant cannot be sold to non-straight people , which is in fact discriminatory and also illegal. I don't think BlackOakTV is requiring photo identification as proof of Blackness to sign-up. Stop it. Edit: For clarity, the Supreme Court actually ruled in favor of the homophobic cake shop in Colorado strictly on freedom of r…

You can only discriminate against white people. You can't discriminate against all of the political elite's pets. Pets include blacks, browns, gays, trans, and all the victim groups. Also businesses usually can't discriminate either.

I get that this tag line is more for marketing purposes, and in fact they might not refuse to take white ppl's money that want to sign up... but they are in fact discriminating in the type of content they will produce and stream-- but since its against whites it is okay.

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

#520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you are from a fairly small homogeneous country. It hard to understand the racial dynamics of a very large diverse country if you haven't lived there.

Someone from India, a fairy large and diverse country, might have the same difficulty understanding it.

Indian Muslims, a group that experiences increasing marginalization within that large diverse country; would probably not
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