One of the greatest gifts I ever received was working with radical women of color in Washington D.C. when I was learning how to be an activisit. They helped me understand the role of my own white male privilege in the oppression of others. When we try to rescue others, but are unwilling to leave our own privilege, we set up a drama that puts us at the center of someone else’s story. From time to time they would roll their eyes and say I was being a “SWG” (sensitive white guy). It stung at the time, but I will be in their debt for the rest of my life.
In that same spirit, I saw some “tweets” that express one person’s frustration with what he calls the “white savior complex”. It’s insightful stuff in the spirit of La Rochefoucauld.
1- From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
2- The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
3- The banality of evil transmutes into the banality of sentimentality. The world is nothing but a problem to be solved by enthusiasm.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
4- This world exists simply to satisfy the needs–including, importantly, the sentimental needs–of white people and Oprah.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
5- The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
6- Feverish worry over that awful African warlord. But close to 1.5 million Iraqis died from an American war of choice. Worry about that.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
7- I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know it is deadly.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
Brings to mind the success of the movie The Help. The last tweet #7 is the most poignant to me