The White Savior Complex

Yesterday I wrote about the little boy we are sponsoring in Ghana, Felix Kusi, and it got me thinking about this concept that I have become more and more familiar with in the past month or so, The White Savior Industrial Complex.
Basically, and I am sure I am oversimplifying this, the White Savior Complex is the idea that as White, Western, Americans we are "heroes" or "saviors" to the rest of the world, primarily non-white, impoverished peoples in Africa and the like. It is viewed as a very negative thing, with many asserting that those with this "complex" simply ride in on a white horse to make themselves feel and look good, but don't actually accomplish anything to alleviate real problems, and are insulting and belittling to the people they "help" by either implying or directly stating that they have no power to help themselves. Essentially, they are "saviors" who are rescuing the pitiful masses who can't do anything for themselves. At least that is the portrayal and generally what is meant when someone talks about the "White Savior."

Recently, Invisible Children has been accused of this, especially with the KONY 2012 campaign. Being that I am a ssupporter of that campaign, and that I am sponsoring a black child in Africa I thought it would be relevant to write a bit about this "complex."

I'm not going to write pages about this, afterall, it is a very complex issue, and I can see the point behind those that taut that this "White Savior Complex" is a very bad thing, but I tend to disagree, and here's why.

1. While there are definitely deeper rooted problems behind much of the poverty, hunger, sickness, etc... around the world, it doesn't change the fact that there are still these problems, and for many "white saviors" who are sending money/contributing to humanitarian efforts the desire is not to make themselves feel good, but to help those who are in need. Many individuals cannot change the governments that are contributing to these problems, and even many organizations cannot change these governments. They can contribute to helping the relieve the effects of these governments, and as such, is what they do. However, this is not to say that there can be nothing done. If anything, I think that the KONY 2012 campaign has shown that people can get active about causes, and influence their governments to take action. It is in this sort of campaign, one that involves governments, that change can be made to the causes behind the situations around the world.
2. The fact of the matter is that, in America, no matter who you are, you are riduclously rich and powerful compared to a lot of the rest of the world. What you spend on a coffee or burger in the course of an hour or so on any given day is probably more than the monthly income for many families around the world. To quote SpiderMan "With great power comes great responsibility" and to quote Jesus "Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more." -- Luke 12:48b  In America, as well as in many European countries, we have been given much, we have abundant blessings in food, money, shelter, health, rights, etc..., and therefore, much is expected from us. It is our duty to help provide for those who do not have, not as some "savior," but as fellow human beings.
3. The argument has been made that before trying to "fix" the situations of others we should fix our own country's foreign policies, etc... many of which may contribute to the poverty in Third World countries. I agree that we have an obligation to try and change these things as well. If there is a hole in your boat you eventually have to plug the hole, not just keep throwing buckets of water out of your boat. If you don't plug the hole, eventually you will sink, BUT if you are working on plugging the hole, you still have to throw the buckets of water out or you will sink. We need to fix foreign policies, etc... that contribute to corrupt governments and Third World poverty, but while working on that, we cannot ignore the fact that there are millions of men, women, and children dying of sickness and starvation.

So, there may be some who only want to help in order to give themselves a good feeling and a "hero" status, but I believe that this is not the case for the majority of those who help. The fact is that there are people who need help, and there are many ways to help, and many things that need to be done, but to essentially discount any assistance as a "White Savior Complex" is misguided in my opinion. Should we be seeking to fix underlying issues of corrupt and evil societies and governments? Of course! Should we be seeking to fix the corruption and greed in our own governments that contribute to this? Of course! Should we be giving money/assistance to help provide food, health, shelter, education to the people in need? Of course! Are we in America and other First World countries blessed beyond belief? Of course! Do we have a responsibility to use what we have been given to help those in need, whether in our own country or around the world? Of course! Are we saviors? Absolutely not! However, we are to show the love of the Savior to those around us!

To close this out I thought I would post some pictures that I found when I do a Google image search for White Savior Complex, just for fun. What do you think?

KONY 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous

It's only 20 minutes. Watch it. Get involved. Stay involved.

From Passion to Action

This whole Invisible Children #Kony2012 campaign has kinda blown up, and it's been really awesome to see Twitter, Facebook, and everything else flooded with news about the campaign over the last couple days. The video on YouTube has received over 52.5 million views since 03/05, and the White House has responded to the campaign.

In case you haven't watched the KONY 2012 Trailer, here it is. Watch it...but don't stop there.
 

So you've watched the video, and probably shared the video, but what now? It is so easy to get passionate about something, to feel it tug at your heartstrings, to get fired up about something and speak loudly about it, but at some point, that passion that you feel has to transform into action.

In the case of KONY 2012, that action needs to be in the form of writing/calling your Representatives and Senators, encouraging them to continue in this effort to bring Joseph Kony down, because it doesn't matter how many times the video is shown if the ones who have the power to enforce/enact law are not behind it.

Here is a link where you can find contact info for your elected officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

This concept is true, however, of not just this campaign. Think about it. How many movements, campaigns, organizations, ideas have you come across that you support, are passionate about? Maybe you feel very strongly about it or talk to those around you about how great it is, but then you stop there. Your emotional passion stays just that and is never transformed into action.

I've seen and felt this many times myself. It is easy to feel the passion, but the action takes a bit or a lot more work. It takes sacrifice of time, money, security, status, etc... and for many, myself included, the action is not worth the sacrifice, or at the very least, the sacrifice scares us unto inaction.

I, sadly, see this all too often with Christians. We are loud to speak out about issues, or invite people to come to church as long as we are online, but if we are asked to give up an afternoon to go feed the homeless, some money every month to support an orphan, or our sense of security to actually talk to someone about Christ or simply get to know, and show God's love to, our neighbors we shy away. What we become so passionate about in theory we shy away from in action because of the work and sacrifice it involves.

So I encourage you today, stand up for your convictions, whether they be political, religious, social, etc... Turn your passion into action. If you believe something enough to talk about it constantly online, stand convicted in it enough to act on it offline.

Child Soldiers & Sex Slaves -- Stop at Nothing

Last night I attended a screen filming, at which I learned about a man who has been abducting children out of their homes and villages for the past 26 years and forcing the boys to become child soldiers, killing their own parents and mutilating the faces of other people/children, and the girls to become sex slaves. In the past 26 years he has abducted over 30,000 children and forced them to join his army, an army that is not fighting for any real goal or purpose.

This man's name is Joseph Kony. He is the #1 indicted war criminal for the International Criminal Court, and he was indicted 7 years ago, yet, a lot of people do not know who he is. The purpose of the film last night was to bring awareness of who this man is and the atrocities that he has committed. The organization behind this film is Invisible Children, seeking to make the plight of these "Invisible" Children in Africa "Visible" to the entire world so that something will finally be done to stop Joseph Kony.

The film, entitled Kony 2012, makes the plea that this year, 2012, needs to be the year to finally arrest Kony. There has been momentum in getting the US Government/military to assist the Ugandan government/military in finding Kony and bringing him to justice, but it needs to happen soon, this year, before interest and concern wanes, because when that happens, when people stop caring, the US Government/military will pull out, and w/o their help, the Ugandan government/military will have a very difficult time finding Kony.

Invisible Children has done a ton of good to help these children, to warn families when the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), Joseph Kony's army is coming, to let people in the LRA know that they can leave, and now they are reaching out to the world. They are reaching out to politicians, celebrities, athletes, talk show hosts, and every one of you, the general public, to band together and stand against the terror that is happening every day in Africa, to demand that governments do something, stop Kony.

Here's what you can do:

1. Sign a pledge of support to arrest Kony and disarm the LRA: http://www.kony2012.com/
2. Share the video Kony 2012, which goes live to everyone on March 5
3. Message the specific Culturemakers that Invisible Children has targeted. Ask them to get involved.
4. Message the specific Policy Makers that Invisible Children has targeted. Ask them to get involved.
5. Post posters and stickers, post Status updates and Twitter updates, talk to people, do whatever you can to make Joseph Kony famous, or infamous as the case may be. Make sure that there is no one who doesn't know who Joseph Kony is and what he has done! 

I had heard about Invisible Children in passing, kinda knew what they stood for, but didn't really have any idea what was going on until last night, when I saw the film and I heard a woman speak, a woman from Uganda, who grew up in the midst of these horrors, whose family and friends have been taken by Joseph Kony, some to escape and others never to be heard from again.

So, I urge you to get involved, make your voice loud so that those who have the power to capture this man know that the people demand it, and so that Joseph Kony is finally arrested and brought to justice this year, 2012.

For more info check out http://invisiblechildren.com/; http://www.kony2012.com; Follow Invisible Children on Twitter: @Invisible and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/invisiblechildren

Also, check out my cousin, Danny Porter's Facebook page, as he is the one who brought this to my knowledge, and he is dedicated to helping. https://www.facebook.com/sylvesterstallone