George Floyd’s Death Blurred Out

YouTube sent me a late night email on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, informing me that a video on my channel was no longer compliant with the Community Guidelines and age restricted (a viewer must be 18 years or older and logged in to view the video).

That was odd.

I maintain a family- and advertiser-friendly, and, under the Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA, not “made for kids” channel. All my videos are suitable for a general audience (13 years or older).

Which video got age restricted?

My montage video that alternated clips from George Floyd’s death and the first SpaceX crewed flight while Gil Scott-Heron narrated his 1970 poem, “Whitey On The Moon,” about poverty on the earth and white men on the moon.

Read the rest of the essay on Medium. If you’re interested in supporting my writing on Medium, become a paid member and I’ll get a referral bonus.

“Whitey on the Moon” In 2020

Damien Chazelle as Gil Scott-Heron reciting “Whitey on the Moon” in First Man (2018).

As I watched the SpaceX Dragon Crew launch and the George Floyd protests unfold on YouTube on Saturday, May 30, 2020, I remembered the protest scene from First Man (2018) that stood as a counterpoint in the biopic of Neil Armstrong being the first man on the moon in 1969.

Read the rest of the essay on Medium or watch the video on YouTube. If you’re interested in supporting my writing on Medium, become a paid member and I’ll get a referral bonus.