Things I learned from YouTube stars, ex-extremists, and storytellers about fighting hate
Last month, 50 YouTube content creators from around the world gathered in London for YouTube’s Creators for Change camp. These ambassadors met to work on projects for their YouTube channels to fight hate speech, xenophobia and racism. With millions of followers among them, this incredible program supports these influencers as they use the platform for social good. The ambassadors included creators such as:
Haifa Beseisso, a travel vlogger from the United Arab Emirates. Through comedy and travel, Beseisso uses her channel to spread tolerance between cultures. In her videos, she “travels around countries asking people about their dreams, celebrating what unites them, and shedding light on what they can learn from each other.”
Jazza John, a creator from the UK, uses comedy and video blogging from his bedroom to make social issues — from Brexit to LGBTQ advocacy — accessible for all.
Omar Farq, a creator from Bahrain. On his series “Omar Tries,” he tries different jobs, experiences, and adventures (from being a maid in Indonesia to being blind in Hollywood, California) to better understand and connect his viewers to new and different people, experiences and places around the world.
YouTube also invited experts in storytelling, film and countering extremism to serve as mentors and speakers for the ambassadors while they finish their projects over the summer. I was honored to join professionals like:
Christian Picciolini, former white supremacist and founder of Free Radicals, a project that “aids individuals, and their families or communities, in exiting hateful and violence-based radicalization.”
Eliot Rausch, an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Eliza Anyangwe, writer and founder of The Nzinga Effect, a storytelling project working to change the narrative about Africa and its place in the world.
Hanif Qadir, CEO of Active Change Foundation and former Al Qaeda member whose organization works to prevent people from becoming radicalized.
Riz Ahmed, Emmy award-winning actor, activist and rapper.
Selly Thiam, journalist and oral historian. Selly leads None on the Record, a media organization working to make space for LGBT African stories, a challenge in a place where it is illegal and punishable to be gay, and content sharing has to be done offline.
The camp was transformative for my thinking on social change communication. I walked away thinking differently after I met, talked with and learned from these creators, mentors and speakers. Below are some important takeaways that I hope to see flourish in the social sector and studied further in academia.
Things I learned at YouTube’s Creators for Change
We can never underestimate the power of representation. For people who are underrepresented in media, representation can be transformative. When we include multiple representations of a community it not only creates a sense of belonging within a society, it also breaks stereotypes held by others. By sharing a range of stories, we create contact and connection with characters and different types of people critical for building tolerance and inclusion. Riz Ahmed said that without a lot of representation, one story becomes definitive of a group. He was also critical of the term and goal of diversity. Diversity assumes there is one standard that we diversify from. Instead, he advocated for representation. He says diversity feels like an add on. Instead, communities want better, nuanced and equal representation.
What to do: We should use our power to make space for multiple representations. In her talk, Selly said “there is a monopoly on the pen.” Meaning, certain people have power over which and whose stories are told. And while some organizations work to tell the stories of people suffering from extremism, there is power in letting people tell their own stories. In her organization, None on the Record, she works with LGBT Africans to tell their own story. I love that she is a journalist using her power and skills to create space for voices that go unheard. Whether you work for a nonprofit, have your own YouTube channel or have the power to bring people on to a team, use your position of power and your skills to bring more voices to the table.
Connection is magic. I got to hear the stories of Megan Phelps-Roper, former member of the Westboro Baptist Church and activist working to overcome divisions between religious and political groups, Christian Picciolini and Hanif Qadir. What stood out in all of their stories of leaving extremist ideological groups is the critical role of connection with people outside their group in driving their transformations. Christian told me that many extremists hold prejudice because they perceive a threat or challenge to themselves and community. This false perception is driven through extremist propaganda and discourse that plays into their anger and fear. One of the most effective ways to change those beliefs is to create opportunities for extremists to get to know people who challenge stereotypes and assumptions held. For Christian, a turning point was working in his record shop and meeting jewish people and people of color who did not reflect the stereotype and story he had in his mind. Similarly, Megan started her journey away from bigotry only after she had positive interactions with people outside of her church on Twitter. These were people who were from the groups she was told to hate.
What to do: We need to create opportunities to challenge the stereotypes and narratives extremists have in their mind through conversation and connection. Megan said that because her conversations on Twitter were friendly, ongoing and empathetic, it created space for her to begin to question her extreme beliefs and slowly overtime come to the conclusion that they were unfounded and wrong. I don’t think we should put people in harm’s way. I do think we need to invest in building strategies that focus on creating connection through stories and programs.
Radicalism is not always about ideology. Extremism, whether it is terrorism, white supremacy or xenophobia, is not always about ideology. Ideology is justification for anger or fear provided by recruiters from extremist movements. People are not born to hate, rather they have certain experiences and feelings that recruiters leverage to bring them into their movement. Christian referred to these experiences and feelings as potholes (isolation, mental health challenges and illness, lack of strong social and family ties) that extremists fill with a sense of identity, community and purpose. Hanif told his story of living as a Muslim in the UK and feeling like everyone hated him because he is Muslim. He thought this because that is what he saw in the media. He remembered seeing a picture of American soldiers standing over the bodies of Muslim children. He imagined his own children in that image and it left him angry and wanting to do something to protect Muslim children. He sought to join a community of like-minded people to do so. He was recruited by Al Qaeda and believed at the time he was doing humanitarian work. It was only after he saw that they recruited Muslim children to be suicide bombers that his belief in the organization began to unravel.
What to do: To fight extremism, we need to fill the potholes before extremists do. Recruiters actively hang out in places where people vulnerable to recruitment are, such as music shows, depression forums and video game chats. They slowly bring them in by providing them identity, community and purpose. They also use web coding to bring them to propaganda website through web search terms like “is the Holocaust real?” From there, they start them down the path to extremism. As change makers we need to get to these people before extremists do. Both Hanif and Christian believe we need to use the same tactics extremists use to prevent and counter extremism. Imagine if we used the same tactics to build identity, belonging and purpose among vulnerable individuals for good. Imagine if we filled the potholes first.
We need to collaborate with intention. It was exciting to be in a room full of influencers who have the attention of millions of people around the world. People tune into these creators’ channels because they trust them, want to learn from them and see themselves as part of their community. And research tells us that people engage with content that is connected to who they are and what they care about — having a shared identity and interests with the content creator, seeking out information that helps them solve a challenge or be a better version of the person they want to be. These content creators are using their channels to connect to what people are interested in and then using that platform to shift how they think about hate speech, xenophobia and racism. And this is exactly what science and best practice tells us we need to be doing.
What to do: What I love about this community of creators is that they are eager to make content that will make a difference. They are creative, talented and have an authentic voice that breaks through to millions of viewers. There are also nonprofits and foundations eager to tell stories and reach communities with their calls to action, but often struggle to create content that breaks through. I want to see a world where organizations with specific and meaningful calls to action partner with creative and influential YouTube content creators to truly use the platform for its greatest potential. Imagine if those working in the social sector moved beyond disseminating their own message, and worked with influential content creators to activate and unleash their community. It would be epic.
While this is certainly not everything I learned, these are the big ideas I think we need to bring into our work in the social sector. Thank you to Upworthy, YouTube and GOOD for this transformative experience. And thank you to the speakers, ambassadors and fellow mentors for sharing your wisdom with us.
