My current favorite show is Superstore. In one episode, Mateo, a Filipino character who’s having trouble finding a job because he’s undocumented, is interviewing with Dan, the white manager of the store’s vision center. Dan whispers that he’s going to hire Mateo even though he’s undocumented to help him out. “I was reading this magazine article about white saviors. And I thought, yep, that’s me, Dan the White Savior.” As Dan smiles admiringly at himself, Mateo mutters “did you finish the article?” while staring in disbelief.
I don’t want to raise a Dan the White Savior, or even a less exaggerated version of Dan. It’s all too easy for white people to let our desire to take antiracist action morph into seeing ourselves as saviors who know best. So, we need to start early in helping kids understand the difference between doing ally work and taking over.
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What is white saviorism?
White saviorism is rooted in the belief that white people know better how to solve problems than the people of color who actually live with those problems every single day do. It’s paternalistic, framing white outsiders as the ones who should be in control.
White saviors often swoop into a place, whether a poor neighborhood in the U.S. or in another country, for a limited amount of time. As they “help” the “less fortunate,” a white savior sometimes uses methods that would be considered unethical if done in their own communities. Consider the example of Renee Bach, a white American who’s accused of portraying herself as a doctor at a Ugandan clinic where 105 children died.
White saviorism also exaggerates the role white people played in struggles for civil rights and social justice. (If you have a tween or teen, you can show them this funny fake movie trailer for “White Savior” to introduce this concept.)
Five strategies to help kids understand they aren’t white saviors
1. Reframe community service
Adults often talk to children about giving drives or volunteering as “helping the less fortunate.” This is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, systemic injustice has more to do with who shows up in the soup kitchen line than luck does. Second, we’re teaching kids to look down on people who society has made poor.
Instead, we can talk about how all of us need help sometime. That’s why we take care of each other. Adults can share examples like a time when someone in the family was sick or injured. A parent losing a job or a new baby coming into the family are other times when help might have been needed.
Related Post: Do’s and don’ts for community service projects with kids
Taking part in volunteer or giving efforts that are organized by a mutual aid group teaches kids this principle even more. Mutual aid groups frame their efforts as solidarity, not charity. They’re focused on building community solutions.
2. Evaluate the books and media children are consuming
Sometimes white parents and teachers are so focused on getting white kids to understand racism that we end up sending the message that being a person of color is primarily about experiencing oppression. That starts a pattern of white children feeling sorry for kids of color.
Take a look at the children’s books in your home or classroom. Are most of the books that star characters of color about injustice? If so, add in more books that focus on Black joy and fantasy books by BIPOC authors.
Read through some of your children’s books that are about civil rights or other social justice issues. Do they position people of color as the leaders of these movements? Are white characters following the lead of people of color, or are they slipping into white savior behavior?
3. Give BIPOC students’ voices more space in classroom discussions
One of the best ways to prevent a child from acting like a white savior is to teach them to listen more often, and talk less. Society tells white kids early and often that their identities and ideas should be centered. Antiracist adults must deliberately interrupt these societal messages.
Antiracism educator Tiffany Jewell recently shared one of her classroom strategies in a workshop for the My Reflection Matters Village. When she read her class a book that starred a Black character or that discussed racism, she would sometimes ask if any of the Black students would like to speak first during the book discussion.
Jewell noticed how Black students were often surprised and relieved that they wouldn’t have to wait to talk, or that the discussion would move on before they could participate. They could focus on sharing their perspectives, instead of responding to what a white classmate had said. The white students also got to experience listening and de-centering themselves.
4. Teach kids to evaluate social justice actions, especially on social media
In the age of social media, we’re constantly being invited to change our profile pictures, participate in one day boycotts, or join a quickly organized protest.
In June of 2020, when protests against police brutality were at their height, Black organizer Leslie Mac shared this helpful graphic on Instagram. She offers several helpful questions to evaluate whether to join in an action promoted on social media. Who is organizing the event/effort? Have you heard of them before, and are they part of Black organizing efforts? Is there a particular target (corporate or political leader, etc) or if this just an action just performative?
While this is a lot to unpack with children, we can teach them one idea at a time, as we see things come up on our social media feeds.
5. Encourage white kids to speak up if their activism is being recognized more than their peers of color
Young white activists often get far more media attention (and more positive attention) than their fellow activists who are Black or people of color. Teen anti-gun violence activist Naomi Wadler, who is Black, talks about that problem in this video.
Especially if your child is dipping their toes into activism, encourage them to watch for this pattern. When they see people (whether it’s a reporter or the school principal) giving more praise and attention to white kids for their activism, they should speak up.
Related Post: 7 inspiring kid activists against racism
We can share examples of white activists using the attention they get to shine a light on activists of color. When Megan Rapinoe received a Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine, she thanked Colin Kaepernick. In her speech she said, “I don’t feel like I’d be here without him.” She drew attention to the fact that while her activism has led to some fans turning on her, Kaepernick lost his spot in the NFL after his activism.
Want to go further? My Nurturing Antiracist White Kids course shows you how to encourage antiracist antiracism without raising white saviors.
If you want to dive deep into doing antiracism work with white kids, my Nurturing Antiracist White Kids online course can help. We explore:
- examining our own racial identities as adults
- talking to kids about race in developmentally appropriate ways (toddlers through teens)
- correcting racism without shame
- understanding how whiteness shapes our homes and classrooms
- guiding children towards healthy racial identity development
- equipping kids for resistance and action
- creating your own antiracist support network
- special considerations for antiracism work in the classroom