When Ableism and Racism Collide
The Letitia Wright Anti-Vaxxer Controversy Explained
Content Warning: For posterity, the following article contains uncensored mention of an ableist slur and graphic description of the effects of syphilis.
Before I could submit this article for publication, it appears Black Panther star Letitia Wright has deleted her Twitter and Instagram accounts following online backlash for a video she shared. I suppose that’s a frustratingly apt metaphor for what I’m about to discuss.
On December 4th, Letitia Wright shared an episode of Rig Nation’s YouTube series “On The Table” titled “COVID-19 VACCINE, SHOULD WE TAKE IT?” on her Twitter page. YouTube has since removed the episode for violating its terms and conditions, but because the Internet is written in ink, it really isn’t hard to find. Rig Nation’s creator, Tomi Arayomi, has a Facebook page and has even offered to let people watch the video — provided they download his app, of course.
Who is Tomi Arayomi and what is Rig Nation?
The About page on his website is completely blank apart from pages titled “Invite” (which contains a form to fill to…
