So hold on a minute - "reinforces outdated stereotypes about “white saviours”.Comic Relief stops sending celebrities to African countries
Move follows criticism that its promotional films reinforced ‘white saviour’ stereotypeswww.theguardian.com
View attachment 515719
And Africa dances in joy.
The utter, utter shíts.
Comic Relief has raised over £1.4bn since 1985.
That's £1.4bn that the people of this country have given to charitable causes - a majority white country, giving to a cause which gives significant amounts of money to majority black countries in Africa. A majority white country giving to a cause knowing that a large number of the people it will be helping are black.
Turn the "white saviours" line around. All white people in this country are racists, under the current mantra, therefore they can't be good, right? Or, we can't let people know in Africa that white people are any good. Is it about un-reinforcing stereotypes, or is it about reinforcing the "white man bad" stereotype?
There's another thing here: connecting with the people making the donations, as distinct from the beneficiaries.
There's a line in that Guardian story about donor fatigue. The actions of BLM, aided by such as the BBC, have also given people in this country race fatigue.
There's a lot to be said for having familiar, home-grown white faces presenting to camera on what's happening in Africa. There's an awful lot of inter-ethnic positivity there - empathy, and the realisation that some issues transcend skin colour. You lose some of that connection if you use the home-grown talent from Africa.
Not because of 'racism'; for reasons beyond race, I can connect more with someone that I know telling me what's going on. There's also a lot of impact gained by having the entertainment faces we're used to seeing smiling and laughing turned serious. I can still remember watching Mike Smith crying during Live Aid. I trust the (white, Cambridge-educated and therefore elite) Griff Rhys Jones to do an intelligent, serious piece to camera. I 'know' those people.
More cynically, one could turn round and say that Africa should only have got 3 percent of Comic Relief's donations over the years - in line with fairness and proportionality.
More purging, and more reinforcement of some nasty little ideologies.
Comic Relief has had its last penny from me. If, as Lammy notes, Africa is a positive, vibrant, multicultural continent on which nothing but good is happening, Comic Relief doesn't need my money. I'll cherry-pick our domestic charities and support them directly.