Where are the Black Volunteers with Poor White Children?
Let’s ditch the White Savior trope once and for all
In the summer of 2000, just after I graduated from college, I became an International Rotary Volunteer. I taught English to children, teens, and adults in the far-flung capital of Kamchatka, Russia. The work was fun and challenging. Three months later, I returned to the US with a new perspective on the positive impact international aid can have on struggling communities.
Many years after my trip, I realized that we rarely see photos like the one I took with my students (above). In fact, I realized I had never seen a photo of people of color doing nonprofit work in White countries.
If you are old enough, like me, you will remember Sally Struthers’ infamous 1980s commercial for the Christian Children’s Fund. “For just 70 cents a day,” she says, walking around the ruins of a slum, “you can save one of these otherwise doomed children from their godawful misery.” This ad was one of the first images of the White Savior in Africa, and it stuck. In those days, if you didn’t finish your dinner, your parents would guilt you into eating it by reminding you…
