was gonna type a far longer post on this but don't really need to tbh. basically: MCYT fandom has a huge whiteness problem in large part because broader social structures make it very hard for non-white creators to become even slightly popular without being ignored/sidelined, demonized/nitpicked to death, whitewashed, or some combination of the three.
this is a hard sentence to grapple with, because "it's a structural issue" is something very hard to fix and "it's recreating existing social bias" puts the reader in a situation where they have to grapple with the fact that they may be unconsciously reproducing and spreading that bias.
in an ideal world, people would have all the time and effort and bandwidth needed to combat that issue by going out and actively seeking out more varied creators, but a lot of people will bristle at being told they have to put in a lot of effort to combat bias in what is supposed to be their relatively low-stakes space of engagement. whether or not that bristling is justifiable, we don't particularly care to talk about. that is not the point of this post. the point here is that we would like to propose something small that is a little more than "the bare minimum" of not being actively and willfully racist, something that should not take much more effort than MCYT fans are already putting in to find new creators they might enjoy anyway.
ready? okay.
treat recommendations for non-white MCYTers just a tiny bit more seriously than you would in passing.
that's it. seriously. if you get a random YouTube rec, treat it like a very tentative "you might find this cool" from an acquaintance. if you get a distant or tentative recommendation from a friend, consider it a little more strongly. if something seems "kinda up your alley", put it on the shortlist to watch sooner. if a friend is already going "drop everything and watch this now" then you were probably going to check that thing out anyway. in general, just... give things a tiny bit more of a chance when they are made by creators of color (and other marginalized demographics, but let's focus on one thing in particular here), understanding that those creators have to put in a little more effort to get to the same space as their more broadly acclaimed peers in the first place and they may even have to disguise things with clickbait.
you don't have to like everything you end up checking out, but give things a shot if they compel you. if you have a "guilty pleasure" kind of MCYT video -- low-effort machinima, snarky lists, crashing pay-to-win servers, some other drama -- then YouTube might serve you some similar stuff from a non-white creator at some point. show a little more interest. you might not find the world's next most best hidden gem, but you will probably find something you enjoy at least a small bit.
