Thursday, May 5, 2011

Poor black kids

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel a weird vibe every time see happy white American folks doing mission trips to African villages and coming back with a photo album full of themselves hugging poor little black kids? It’s almost like the act itself and the visuals are of a token value. These missionaries feel so good about showing up in a foreign country, dressing the kids up in what always seem like private school uniforms, teaching them about Jesus, taking lots of happy photos, then coming home and sharing it with their church amidst crying squeals of cuteness from the congregation. It almost has the air of visiting a bunch of cute little abandoned puppies.

Or like it’s some kind of rite of passage as a Christian. You may already love Jesus, and you may help out in your local soup kitchen, but you’ve reached the ultimate state of showing God’s love when you visit Uganda and hug a village of poor black children for a month and post all the pictures on your Facebook.

I’ve never been on one of these mission trips, so I don’t know exactly what goes on over there. I don’t know the state these villages are in, nor these children, so I don’t claim to know anything about the work they’re doing there. I’m sure they provide food and medicine and clothes and hope and all that wonderful stuff. I’m just relaying the tone of the act itself as I perceive it. It seems so… stereotypical.

In America, right here within our own borders, about 50% of the impoverished and destitute people are white. They’re human beings, and they may not even be Christians yet (and hence in need of being “saved” like the African children), but they’re starving. And neglected. And maybe fatherless. And living in the same set of clothes for years at a time. And they’re not a 15 hour flight away to the Sudan. I wonder why you don’t see many Facebook photos of college students taking a mission trip to Kentucky and hugging lots of poor dirty white kids? Or what would be even more ironic, to see photos of a cleanly-dressed black man during his mission trip to Tennessee with 8 raggedy, dirty white kids grabbing on his leg and smiling.

Celebrities aren’t helping the stereotypical sense of this foreign aid either. How many African kids has Angelina Jolie adopted? Like 800? Madonna tried to start a private school for African impoverished girls (only to have the designated $3.8 million vanish into thin air, as well as the hopes for the school itself). And every time I see a gossip magazine in a grocery store checkout line, it’s Sandra Bullock and her little African adopted baby, fresh from the village with a necklace of colorful wooden beads around the boy’s neck, as if to make sure to say, “Just in case you didn’t get it, MY NEW BABY IS FROM AFRICA!” Hell, judging by the look on the baby’s face, even HE seems to be growing tired of the stereotype.

Let’s also not forget some big reasons why many countries in Africa are so freakin’ destitute and volatile to begin with. Residual effects of colonialism (usually by European countries) created many unstable tribal relationships, causing constant civil violence and unrest (anybody watch Hotel Rwanda?). The World Bank has caused much governmental restructuring by the incessant amount of loans to African countries and the financial slavery that inevitably results. And the abundantly valuable natural resources such as oil and diamonds are exploited by other wealthy nations, which drives a lot of the African working class into slave labor and war (a big reason why many including myself hate and boycott the diamond industry).

So instead of showing up to help in the African villages stamped into poverty by other parts of the world, maybe the entire world should just leave Africa alone for a few decades and let them be a nation by themselves. I think the African people are more apt to cope alone than any other country. They were, after all, the first modern humans on this planet capable of rational thought, and their ingenuities enabled them to survive the worst of odds and spread across the globe over the last 150,000 years. If they can do that, surely they can sort out their own tribal differences, establish their own sovereign forms of government, clean up their own drinking water, sell their own diamonds and maybe become a first world continent. So maybe the whole world should help by just chillin’ on Africa. Perhaps then there won’t be as many poor villages in such desperate need of happy white missionaries.

3 comments:

  1. Update: As my friend pointed out, I am mistaken in the ethnicity of Sandra Bullock's adopted baby. He was born in the US. My response to this comment was: "You know you're absolutely right.
    Apparently the baby was born in New Orleans. I wonder then if the photo shoot with the baby wearing the tribal-looking necklace was just to conform with the foreign baby adoption trend. Like it's a fashion statement or something. Why didn't they put the kid in a New Orleans Saints t-shirt with 'Who Dat??' written on it. Would have been more appropriate then a colorful beaded necklace."

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    1. Hello Mr. Clark,

      I am working on an assignment for my AP English 11 class and i am supposed to analyze an article but i have to know about the author. I would like to know what is your profession? And a little bit about your background. If you could please email me at lizpaniagua42@gmail.com i would greatly appreciate it.

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  2. I think you express a real problem that mission trips are often "for" the white kids going rather than in service of the actual people being served. Youth pastors know that their kids will love Jesus more if they serve the poor and don't give a whole lot of thought to whether or not the poor will actually be delivered from poverty permanently or just until their next meal. I've written more about it here: http://voicesfromthemargin.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/stay-out-of-mexico/


    There are many reasons for poverty. One of them is colonialism. Another one is bad ideas. If people think spirits live in their water, so they better not boil it, you can rest assured that they are going to die from disease. In that instance the negative aspects of their culture NEED to be directly attacked. (and we have plenty of negative aspects of our own culture that need to be attacked as well) I encourage you to check this out "Why people Stay Poor" http://povertyunlocked.com/2007/09/14/pu-006-why-people-stay-poor-sep-14-2007/

    Christians are called to serve the poor both locally and globally. I can assure you much more is being done in America by Americans than in the rest of the world. Check out your local Rescue Mission or Salvation Army if you're unaware of the great many things Christians are doing to help the poor in their own communities.

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