Aiding the Helpless African and a Culture of Insecurity
Growing up in the U.S. children are always told to eat their food “because there are starving children in African [or Asia]”, and I never questioned the validity of this statement until I realized how many starving children there were also in the United States. It seemed that many in the U.S. preferred to use poorer nations as a scapegoat to scare their children into being thankful for their excesses – while neglecting their internal problems. As I grew older and began to become more conscious of the ways of the U.S., I rather foolishly thought that the phenomenon of scapegoating other nations would be limited to the West, but my time in Asia has proven me incorrect.
When I first told one of my older family members that I intended to spend a semester in China in 2012, I was met with a bit of confusion. “Why would I want to go to China,” they asked. “Do they have food, yet?” “How would I get on the internet?” Now I think to an average Millennial, these questions seem rather silly. China obviously has internet and of course it has food. These questions were clearly from a place of ignorance, and ignorance should never be encouraged. I’ve faced similar questions when telling people that I plan on visiting Korea and parts of Southeast Asia. In the minds of many Americans, these countries synonymous with poverty and a diminished quality of life.
When I first got to Seoul, one thing that I quickly noticed on the train ride in from the airport was an image of a starving, generic, “African”, who was being aided by a fair skinned South Korean woman. The ad was in both Korean and English, and it urged help for the less fortunate. Initially I shrugged it off as South Korea using its newfound wealth to build improve less fortunate countries as they had been less fortunate not too long ago (Korea was poorer than many parts of Sub-Saharan African a generation or two ago), but after traveling through Seoul and inquiring about these posters that I noticed around town, I realized that the intent of these charity signs were not to improve said nameless African country, but rather to virtue signal to the South Korean populace that South Korea was officially rich enough to offer “aid” to poorer nations. South Korea had made something of itself, while the nameless African still toiled in poverty.
And then there was China. I’ve said many times that China has treated me rather well. Yes, my treatment in the more cosmopolitan cities was more preferential to the stares I got in the countryside, but I’m the sure can be said for the United States. That being said, I am an American, and while I’m not the lightest black person, I certainly am not the darkest and I’m sure this may have a lot to do with my palatability to many. China’s growing presence in Africa has not gone unnoticed by those that watch international relations and while extending investments to the Continent is a strong move for the Chinese economy, I believe that China, like Korea and America before it, is using Africa as both a scapegoat for its internal problems and to help bolster the Community Party by proving to the Chinese people that China is becoming more European like by also subjugating Africa like it had been subjugated a century before.
As a visitor to this part of the world, I don’t understand why China and South Korea feel the need to use their newfound world position to treat and speak of Africa in a similar vain to their treatment from the West and Japan, respectively. East Asia’s transformation over the past 30 years is absolutely astounding in almost ever respect. From education, to life expectancy; from infrastructure, to their staggering economies, East Asia as it stands today is a bastion of technological growth while continuing to push human potential to the next level. I just wish they could find comfort in their own successes without using it as a leverage to diminish any past insecurities.
Then again, parents in the U.S. will still warn their kids of literal and metaphorical starving children in the 2nd largest continent, 2nd most populous landmass, most biological diverse region on Earth, and the birthplace of humanity while ignoring the starving children that live five miles away. I suppose it may just be human nature.
