Highlighting Black Twitch Streamers on the Rise

For Black History Month, Twitch takes the time to highlight some Black streamers on their front page. This year, they have created a section entitled “Celebrate Black Brilliance,” showcasing random Black streamers from various gaming genres and categories. Now, at first glance, this is incredible and looks to provide visibility to Black streamers. However, one can’t help but notice that the Black streamers that they are showcasing are more times than not raking in a couple thousand viewers. Twitch is not just promoting Black streamers but more so established Black streamers who already have a fair amount of visibility. So, I came up with a great idea; why not spotlight those who usually don’t receive it? So to celebrate Black Brilliance that you may not know exists, I have interviewed two streamers who I genuinely feel deserve more attention for the work they do as streamers, the goals they have, and, above all, the people they are.

Black Streamer Spotlight: Pink Giratina

Marc Griffin: So tell me a bit about yourself as a person and gamer; what is the origin story of Pink Giratina? And for bonus points, who is your favorite video game character of all time?

Pink Giratina: Well, my name is Shanyce, I’m 20 years old, and I’m from the Virgin Islands, the portion that is operated and owned by the United States. At around the age of 17, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and shortly after, I began attending Clayton University. I managed to do a year of university before COVID came and shut things down. So as of right now, my college aspirations are on the back burner as I focus on my YouTube and Twitch dreams. I was always super interested in gaming, even as a little girl. My dad is a mechanic, so I had a lot of Need for Speed games. Fun fact, because of this I ended up learning so much about automobiles, so now I have all this knowledge about the ins and outs of cars. But anyways, one of my first consoles/handhelds was the Gameboy Advance, and I had Pokémon. The impact of gaming on my life was felt years later when I received a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas in 2007. I had Pokémon Platinum, and that changed my life for sure. It’s my favorite Pokémon game to this day, that’s what inspired my name Twitch and YouTube name, Pink Giratina. And wow, my favorite video game character of all time? Wow, that’s a good question. I have two, actually. I would say Bayonetta and then… Hmmm… Well, I’ve been playing a lot of Apex Legends on stream lately, and my main is Loba. I love her. Bayonetta also inspired Loba, so you can see what I look for in a favorite character.

M: Yeah, I would say strong women

PG: Exactly, strong, sassy, and confident women. I resonate with these characters as I aspire to carry myself the same way in real life and streaming.

M: I’m glad you mentioned streaming; how did you get your start in streaming and content creation?

PG: Well, streaming for me started when I was about 16. I actually did YouTube; first, I was inspired by Shofu (https://youtube.com/user/shofu) and SacredFireNegro (https://youtube.com/c/SacredAlmighty), now known as SacredAlmighty. They used to do many Pokémon news and rumor-type videos, so naturally, that’s what I started out doing as well. Streaming on Twitch followed shortly after; I mean, it was a very natural transition. I love games, and I love the interaction I would get from my comment section on YouTube. So I was excited to stream where these things would blend and happen in real-time. 

M: Since becoming a streamer/content creator, what are some of the struggles you have faced as a Black woman? This could be racism, sexism, finances, etc.

PG: See, I know that racism and sexism exist, and it’s always there, but I don’t feed into that negativity. I can’t allow myself to do that. It detracts from what I’m trying to do and the environment I want for my subscribers and viewers, so I block it and keep it moving. Maybe people seeing me do that on stream or something would give them the power to do the same; being a representative of that would be cool. But personally, my main struggle has been based on finances. Being in the Virgin Islands and trying to stream consistently is hard and for several reasons. But it all comes down to the Virgin Islands’ resources not being the best; the resources are scarce, the tech is outdated, and schooling is obsolete, very mediocre equipment. The financial struggles made it difficult to stream consistently. I’m hoping that by moving to a better environment like ATL and making some extra cash, I can purchase better equipment that promotes longevity and consistency as a streamer.

MG: Yeah, no, I get that for sure. You mentioned being a representative; what does representation mean to you? How important is that?

PG: Oh, representation is critical to me, ya know. Representation is something that matters, especially in gaming, because you get to see yourself in games, streams, and various spaces that maybe you never thought of before. For me, being a Black woman from the Caribbean… There’s not too many characters who fall in that realm of identification, that community. When I say I’m from the Caribbean regarding the Virgin Islands, people automatically assume I mean Jamaica or Puerto Rico or something like that. I feel like having more representation from the Caribbean community could change that. The closest thing to a big-time level example of representation that I can identify with in the past couple of years is Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Having something like that for people who come from the Virgin Islands would be great. I champion my identities with my platform, whether it be Black, Woman, or the Caribbean. Your identity matters, and your voice matters; there is power in that. 

MG: Well said, one last question, could you let the good folks at Uppercut and beyond know what your schedule is looking like for streaming and content creation?

PG: Of course! I stream almost every day of the week, but to be more specific, I stream on YouTube on Mondays and Fridays, and I’m on Twitch on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Usually, I don’t stream on Sundays, but I’ll let people know via Twitter and my Discord if I do. Right now, I maintain a viewership of around 5-15 people as we try to find a sense of consistency in my streaming schedule. Since I’m an official Twitch Ambassador for Pokémon Masters and Ninjala, you can expect to see those games. As I mentioned earlier, I have been streaming A LOT of Apex Legends as I want to get better at that game and become a member of that streaming community. 

Be sure to check her YouTube an Twitch channels! 

Streamer Spotlight: DataDave

Marc Griffin: Nice to have you, Dave; please go ahead and introduce yourself and explain your origin story. How you got into gaming. 

DataDave: Alright, cool, my name is David Cherry, aka DataDave. I was born on the Southside of Chicago, and when I was 13 years old, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia. I first got into gaming with the OG Gameboy and Gen 1 Pokémon. My first console had to be the Sega Genesis. I remember being young and playing Toe Jam Earl with my aunt. We were determined to beat that game, lol, and once we did, my aunt looked at me and said, “this is your game now; the Genesis is all yours.” Pretty cool way of getting my first console. Yeah, Sega Genesis was my first home console. And actually going back to Pokémon, once I started streaming, I was streaming Pokémon, and that’s what got me my consistent following, that and FF14 are sort of what I’m known for. 

MG: Pokémon was one of my first games as well as a kid lol You brought up streaming; could you elaborate on how you started streaming?

DD: Yeah, so the funny thing is it happened by chance. I was in Grad school at Clemson University at the time, and I was a Teacher’s Assistant. And I was playing Overwatch with a friend of mine and his Coworker was online. We joined him and my friend told me he was streaming on Twitch and he sent me his link so I could watch him while we played. At the time, I had no idea what Twitch was, I heard about it maybe once or twice, but I hadn’t been on the site. So I watched my friend’s coworker play and interact with the chat, which blew me away. The most beautiful part about it was how engaging he was with his chat; I was inspired to do something similar. It was the Summer of 2016, I had this cheap laptop, and I figured I’d use that to begin my streaming journey. I couldn’t play many games on my laptop because of how weak it was, so I got a recommendation from one of my students one day. He told me about this game called Undertale, and he said it was fantastic. I had never heard of Undertale, so I checked it out and figured it could be the first game I stream. So that’s what I did. Well, I streamed the game, and only one person was watching me the whole time, lol, and I didn’t know what I was doing, so he helped me out. It was a great first experience. So I continued streaming the next day and the next day and the next day and so on. That’s actually where my slogan “Day to Day with Data Dave” comes from.

MG: Oh, wow, that’s awesome! So in regards to streaming, do you feel that you have faced some struggles along the way? Especially as a Black person?

DD: Most definitely. That’s going to sound super depressing when you write this up, lol, but it’s almost expected, ya know, being Black and being Gay, I’m not sure if you were aware of that, but I definitely identify with the LGBT community.

MG: Nah, I didn’t know that actually, sorry for interrupting, lol go on

DD: It’s all good, man lol; but yeah, being a Black Gay man, the hatred flows in naturally from random trolls when I’m streaming. For example, I was streaming in the “Just Chatting” category one day, and out of nowhere, this troll comes in and just types the N-Word. Unprovoked, totally unprovoked. And, of course, it hurt, but I had a relatively calm and chill stream going on, and I didn’t want to disrupt that, so I swiftly blocked him, banned him, and moved on. Nobody in the chat didn’t notice a thing because I didn’t draw everyone’s attention to it and create a ruckus. But there’s a more meaningful conversation to be had about the protocols and guidelines that Twitch needs to implement for this because it just happens way too much. While we are on this topic, I feel that Twitch doing the “Black Excellence” category on the front page is cool, but it’s not enough, honestly. It provides visibility to select channels, but it’s not enough. Black Excellence exists in February, yes. But it also exists in January, March, April, and so on and so on. I just wish that this energy existed for us when it wasn’t February. It always makes me feel like when February is gone, will you still care?

MG: Great answer, so with that why does representation matter so much to you? And is there an example you can give me showing how having representation helped or could’ve helped?

DD: Thanks, man. Representation is my whole thing, honestly. My channel suffers from visibility issues, so I understand firsthand how much impact is made when people can see someone who looks like them and can’t see that person, especially in gaming. Certain things happen in our Black experiences that differ from those of someone who is white, or in the gay experience that differs from one that is straight. This would help eradicate racist dialogue in movies, sexist office rhetoric, etc. For example, since the pandemic started, I had some free time and decided to go further in voice acting. Ya know, I got a coach and started practicing to get better and nail down some gigs. But in doing my research on these various voice acting companies and agencies, I noticed a glaring weakness in their staffing; there were a lot of white people, even when voicing the Black characters. It’s those moments where representation could most definitely go a long way, especially in showing that people from these minority communities can do it too, whatever it may be. I utilize my platform as a streamer to spread this word every day just by being myself, unapologetically. I belong to a stream team called the Rainbow Arcade that houses LGBT streamers, and it’s a community that sticks together; I’m proud to be who I am.

MG: Beautiful stuff; I honestly couldn’t agree more. The impact of seeing yourself in those spaces that you one day want to be in can go a long way for sure; I’m glad that I got to spotlight you for this, very insightful. Go ahead and tell the folks over at Uppercut Crit what they can expect from your stream regarding games and your schedule.

DD: Well, as the slogan says, I stream day to day , so every day from 7 pm-12 am EST. The games that I am most known for playing are FF14 and Pokémon, and I’ve been huge fans of those properties for years. We play a lot of Nintendo on our channel in general, and actually, right now, we’re playing Super Mario World strictly with voice commands; I use Voice Attack software with Super Mario World. It turns the classic game into a puzzle game almost; I love finding new ways to play classic games, which has definitely got my attention. We just beat the first world using voice commands only, so it’s going well so far. I don’t wanna jinx it. And you can find my portfolio for voice acting and a link to my Twitch channel on my website: DataDave.tv

MG: Thanks for doing this interview man, I thoroughly appreciated it.

DD: No, thank you, man. It was an honor, thank you.

Check out DataDave on Twitch every day from 7 pm EST-12am EST. 

Happy Black History Always!