Let’s Unpack This

Racist White Gamers Came For This Black Woman Writer. Here’s What Happened.

I spoke with Ash Parrish, a former Kotaku employee, about what it’s like to be a Black woman at one of the world’s most popular gaming sites.

A Black family of gamers sits on the couch and plays. Image: Getty.

Being a Black writer online can be a tough road to travel. It can be doubly true if you’re a Black woman writing in a space where people think you don’t belong. Enter Ash Parrish, a Black woman who covered gaming at one of the biggest gaming sites on the internet: Kotaku.

Ash wrote an article about a Black woman named Linda Guillory. Guillory recently won two Guinness Book of World Records for her uber impressive gaming collection. The report, to my mind, was an easy thing to celebrate since it shined a positive light on being a gamer while also championing an extreme minority within the culture. Only 41% of gamers identify as female, and I’d be shocked if Black women accounted for even half that number since White males have almost always dominated gaming circles.

But, the comments told another story.

When I happened upon the article, there were 375+ comments. Many were upset the title of the report specified the woman was Black. Some asked why it was so…