About 25 years ago, while waiting for an infrequent bus in a rural area of northern India, I became surrounded by a group of children who were intrigued by the camera-toting foreigner. I talked to them for a long time, as they wanted to practice their rudimentary English, and I even pretended that my name was Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed deity that I love. I can still remember one of the kids saying, “Ganesha? You are a GOD!!!” (I eventually told them my real name.) They were really sweet kids and eventually I asked my companion to take a picture of me with the group.
I didn’t post that picture on Facebook or anything, but I might have had those venues existed then. But of course I would have been accused, as was Stacey Dooley, of evincing a “white savior” mentality. (Maybe you have to actually pick up a kid to be a white savior.) For that is what VICE did in the annoying, hectoring, and Dooley-demonizing article below (click on screenshot):
Stacey Dooley is no random “savior tourist”, but an English television presenter who has done investigative reports on sex trafficking and on the disappearance of indigenous women in Canada. In other words, she’s woke, but in a good way. And apparently she was in Africa to film for Comic Relief, an organization that tries to relieve poverty throughout the world. In other words, Dooley was there to help Africans. Granted, part of African poverty is due to the continent’s history of colonialism, but Dooley wasn’t a colonizer. Her crime was being white and picking up a black child. The dissemination of that photograph, moreover, can only help the charity, as we all know that pictures of specific individuals, especially children, bring in more money than just a general un-illustrated appeal for funds.
Here’s her Instagram post. 
And here’s VICE kvetching about it:
But “white saviors” does not refer to that. It refers to a very specific need for the West to portray Africa as a crumbling place of red soil, flies, and kids who don’t know it’s Christmas time at all. It reinforces the view that Africans can never be the solution, that they are helpless without any agency of their own, and that sunshine and hope only comes when cradled in the warm, bright embrace of whiteness. It centers the celebrity over and above those whose lives they’re supposedly trying to change. The young man in Dooley’s post is not a prop and should not be treated as such.
Imagery is extremely important. It’s something we all get wrong; VICE fucked up literally this morning. There are serious challenges facing Africa as a continent. Many of those challenges are universal because of the ramifications of colonialism and the way it divvied up the fruitful and fertile land, and forced grossly different cultures to form singular nations against their will. It’s something that a majority of nations are still trying to come to terms with. In that is space for anyone of good mind and spirit to do their bit where needed, hopefully directed by people on the ground.
(For more predictable kvetching, see the related Guardian article.) Yes, of course Africa faces challenges, some of them stemming from a history of European exploitation. And yes, some tourists may pick up black kids as a sort of authenticating experience, or as proof of their non-racism. That is not a good thing to do. But I doubt that Dooley was doing that. She probably liked the kid, and when you like a small kid, your first impulse is to pick it up. (nb: I did not pick up any Indian children.)
But in the end, what VICE is after is for white people to stop helping Africans, for how can you even do that without the possibility of being accused as a “white savior”? You are white and you’re trying to help people of other colors. “White saviorism” does not refer to a specific need to denigrate Africa, or to say that Africans can’t help themselves (many aid workers from Europe and the U.S. work hand in hand with Africans).
Dooley’s more or less poleaxed, as you can tell from her tweet below.
https://twitter.com/StaceyDooley/status/1100825979981889536
This whole policing of “optics” makes me ill. Now, when your impulse is to cuddle or pick up a child, you must consider the difference in pigmentation. Yes, of course you should ponder whether you’re being paternalistic or condescending, but how about extending some charity to people like Stacey Dooley? And now she has to suffer being demonized so that writers at VICE, who do not help people in Africa, can feel morally superior.
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Keyboard warriors thinking they’re helping by harassing those who are actually helping. It pretty much typifies the general problem with a politics that cares more about appearance than doing something.
Ah, that explains “Titania”‘s ironic tweet.
My sister did charity work for youth around the world, including in South Africa. The kids were constantly spontaneously holding her hand, hugging her, climbing into her lap, playing with her hair, etc.
Dipo Faloyin can go engage in an auto-erotic exercise.
This is (obviously) ridiculous.
I follow Stacey Dooley on YouTube. If I remember her story correctly, the gist is that she was this fashionista who became some sort of activist/documentarian after being shown how awful the conditions are at some clothing factories.
I would *think* she should be praised for her subsequent activism and documentary making.
If I’m not mistaken, she even did a film about the situation of homeless people in Detroit.
I originally read that as “northern Indiana,” and figured you must’ve been somewhere between Elkhart and South Bend. I thought, sure, Hoosiers are a bit backward, but unfamiliar with cameras? 🙂
Pure evil. We have to feel guilt and shame for being human. I doubt the kids suffering neglect give an ‘F’ what color a human is if they are there to help. Time to burn the witch hunters.
My question is: Who or what is VICE and who appointed it spokesperson for the people of Africa?
Or all white people and their motives.
Yeah, I know of the HBO Vice produced by Maher, but what is this VICE? Maybe it’s a web newspaper or something. Either way, if this article is any indication of what they produce- no thanks.
Ironically enough, one of the founders of VICE. Gavin McInnes, is now an alt-lite/alt-right figure.
When I see someone refer to it, I keep thinking that they’re SUDDENLY SHOUTING!
-Ryan
By scolding a ‘white savior’, VICE is now playing the ‘savior’. Dammit, now I’m being the savior!
My lips are sealed. Makes me a demon, I suppose.
It’s saviours all the way down.
And I am sure that any whites REFUSING to pick up black kids will be immediately branded racists.
Interestingly, when Dooley suggested that David Lammy, the black British Member of Parliament who had publicly criticized her, could go to Africa himself to raise charitable funds it turned out that he had previously been invited to by Comic Relief, but had turned the opportunity down.
Meant to add the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47400300
I actually do agree (after having been severely stink eyed by a Greek mother and reprimanded about it by friends a few times,) that one should not take pictures / post pictures of children who are not your own to social media without permission. I totally understand the instinct – they’re adorable and it seems harmless. But, I get that everyone feels differently when it’s their child, so the Golden Rule applies.
That said, I do think VICE is saying the right thing for the wrong reasons here. And it doesn’t really convey copious concern to refer to children as “Random African Children”.
I was in the Peace Corps in Africa-when I’ve mentioned this in front of SJW’s, I’ve been accused of cultural imperialism, and once of “volunteerism”(which sounds like it should be a positive, but was not presented that way)and yes kids would clamor to have their pictures taken whenever they saw my camera. Once developed; I’d take the photos to the gare-where the buses and taxis gather-and give them to a bus driver going to that village. Often, they would know who the people in the photo were and would see that they got them.
An SJW once flipped out on me when I told her I’d had a job helping immigrant mothers learn English, foster family literacy, and navigate the US school system. “Assimilation!” I’m like, “No, helping people be good parents in a tough situation.”
Wonder what Dr. Schweitzer would’ve made of all this. Probably he’d’ve been too busy healing the sick and comforting the dying to give a good goddamn.
Or how about those white saviors Bill and Melinda Gates? They should shove the $5 billion they are spending helping the people of Africa and go home.
I think the irony in all this is that the ‘Woke’ constantly go on about the collective racial guilt of the White race, how they are all damned for the crimes of their ancestors and must repent and atone for them.
Then when someone actually tries to do something, what do they get from the ‘Woke’, abuse, jeers and condemnation.
The Woke create those lose-lose outcomes on purpose. That way, they win.
Since the report hasn’t been shown yet, I can’t see how Vice can know this child was ‘random’. The Mirror story on this has another Instagram picture (on Dooley’s page, I presume) of her chatting with a woman outside an operating theatre (and I presume she works there, since there’s a logo of some sort on her shirt). This would seem to be the point – showing the things that local organisations do, and that the charity supports.
There’s no reason to suppose the boy is ‘random’ (or that this was done without a parent or gaurdian’s permission); perhaps he’s been operated on in the past, or is waiting to be. It’d be no different from a photo with a child from one of the projects in Britain that Comic Relief also supports. By objecting to the picture without any background, it really has to come down to objecting to her colour, not how she did teh report.
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“Dooley’s more or less poleaxed, as you can tell from her tweet below.”
Hardly. That tweet looked like a spirited and snarky (and thoroughly well-merited) riposte, to me:
“David, is the issue with me being white? (Genuine question) …because if that’s the case, you could always go over there and try raise awareness? Comic relief have raised over 1 billion pounds since they started. ”
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While I agree with everything you say here, it does remind me of arguments against helping Africa. It tends to reinforce and persist corrupt governments. Here’s one article on the subject:
https://www.lejournalinternational.fr/Foreign-aid-is-hurting-not-helping-Sub-Saharan-Africa_a2085.html
Clearly how one helps matters a lot.
The article has some good points, but some debatable ones as well. For example: “An analysis of the economic growth in Asia over the past decades, which has received little foreign aid in comparison to Africa, is a good starting point. Reports from the World Bank show that out of the 700 million people who were pulled out of poverty between 1981 and 2010, 627 million of them were in China.” This is a poor comparison because China was not colonized, so managed to escape the looting of their country. Also: “Another consequence is aid dependence. These countries have become used to receiving such large sums of money that they don’t promote local business because they have “free” money at their disposal instead.” This ignores the fact that so-called “Free-Trade” agreements meant that new industries were left to compete with large, well-established monopolistic corporations that worked to destroy any foreign companies that were competing with them. It was hardly a level playing field.
It’s a complex subject. My take is that aid given directly to those that need help is more reliable than giving it to their so-called leaders. Of course, that is much more work and will often be met by local governmental resistance.
Yes Paul, I’ll second that. Money given from govt to govt rarely pans out well, and tends to fuel corruption.
Some well targeted projects, such as eg. the micro-loans by Grameen bank, can work wonders though.
This VICE kvetching is, of course, ridiculous, looking for a stick to whip the cat. 🙂
Also (purely on the giving front), giving money to organizations that help to inform the public about our responsibility for what goes on elsewhere so that we can fix it is also useful.
I know several people who had the experience when helping in both South America and Africa of children regularly coming up to them and holding their hands, or wanting to be picked up, or wanting piggyback rides.
Those damn white savior friends of mine. They never should have gone over there to help, and they certainly never should have let any of those children climb up in their arms and then have the picture taken so they could remember how good it felt to help those children and the work they did when they were there. Those friends of mine are terrible racists! I can’t believe I didn’t see that until now.
The situation in Africa is a real problem. I have so far worked in 16 African countries, primarily related to humanitarian missions. I really don’t know if we are helping, or just causing more prolonged suffering. Between the first time I visited Somalia and the most recent visit, about ten years have elapsed. Conditions are no less dysfunctional, agriculture and industry are tenuous at best. The only real difference in those ten years is that the population doubled. Pretty much the same goes for Zaire, Mozambique and Angola.
This is not sustainable. The food aid we deliver is only possible in such quantities because of farm subsidies, record high crop yields, and the low price of fuel for transport. Any change in those, or some unexpected other element, and it just stops.
But as to the subject of the article, I cannot see any of the African countries I have worked in being able to sort themselves out, unless there are large cultural changes. Africa can absorb almost any amount of direct aid, economic assistance, or good intentions with few positive lasting effects.
And the dedicated people who are trying to help are not just doing photo ops. Most of them love Africa and Africans, and are totally sincere and making real sacrifices to help. Even I take pictures of the kids, and I am a jaded cynic. When you are in a place full of real suffering, children’s joy and happiness really stand out.
I do see some African countries sorting themselves out, Botswana comes to mind , or Rwanda.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the picture, but I also think her critics may be pointing out a way the optics can be improved. For example, in this case how about a picture of the Ms. Dooley with the Ugandan adults who are there helping the kids 24/7/365?
It’s great that comic relief is raising money to help with poverty in Uganda. But let’s give credit (via pictures) of the folks ‘on the ground’ actually doing the charity work day in and day out – not just the kids.
My gut feeling is that an Ugandan adult on the photo might be better received by the chronically indignant, but would do a worse job in raising charity. Particularly if the adult is male.
If one wants to get people to open their wallets to support another group of people who NEED HELP a picture of someone who looks a bit like them in close contact with a particularly vulnerable representative of the group that NEEDS HELP really gets the job done. Perhaps we shouldn’t need this manipulation, but it works so VICE and Lammy can take their ‘white saviour’ concerns and shove them up each others backsides while Miss Dooley carries raising awareness of the real issues in the world.
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Here’s an article with a more detailed reply from her: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/stacey-dooley-comic-relief-uganda-david-lammy-white-saviour-a8800761.html
“We have verbal and written consent from their guardians to use their images and only if we’ve spent time filming with them do we ask. The Ugandan families also asked to take pictures with us.”
The reporter went on to say that the suggestion she would approach a child she did not have an existing relationship with and ask them to have a selfie was “ridiculous”.
“I’ve been working in Africa for nearly 12 years, I ask the locals and NGOs how I should behave. None of them here are upset with this photo,” she added.
“The little lad was perfectly happy. His grandad joked he’s often grumpy.”
Dooley represents virtue. Vice, maybe not so much…
People choosing to rebuke others for a living: pretty sad.
Should I feel guilty that I sponsor a child’s education at the Ugandan Humanist school? Unlike some sponsorships I get nothing back from the pupils – they don’t have to write thank you letters to make me feel good. I just get a general report about the school and a summary of the progress ghat the the child is making.
I guess that school teaches evil white Western science, so you are alienating the child from his roots and performing an act of cultural imperialism. Mean joke, of course :-). Congratulations for the good work!