What is the white saviour complex?
White saviour complex, also known as white saviour syndrome, is when white people consider themselves amazing helpers or saviours to the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) community, but aren’t helping for the right purpose or cause.
For example, this phenomenon usually occurs when a white person believes that it’s their job to help the BIPOC community since they “lack the resources and intellect” to do it without the white saviour’s “help”. They try to “help” them without understanding the history or the country’s state of affairs. Certain celebrities have been accused of using their status to uplift a charitable image of themselves when they pose with a child of colour.
Why is it wrong?
Even if in their eyes they are helping and saving the people of colour, they’re assuming that they are superior over the BIPOC community and that they’re making a big difference when in reality, they might not really be helping, but rather adding problems and negative effects to the communities.
White saviour complex may include having a different ideology of “helping” others, which can affect those in need of other methods of help. It can make the white person seem very heroic and supportive while in reality, it’s affecting the communities in negative ways.
Examples of the white saviour complex
This is also a recurring trope in movies or television films where a main white character, who is typically different and optimistic, tries to help a person of colour in a place with prejudiced people. The white character is typically the main focus, which can end up sidelining the character of colour. These movies and shows often have a happy ending with the white “saviour”, who can be viewed as the reason the racism in the show stopped.
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