Black People Don’t Care About Darfur: Note from PostSecret
by Racialicious special correspondent Latoya Peterson
(Special thanks to reader Ryan for sending this in!)
My first thought was, “I have no words.”
My second thought was, “Hell, I have a ton of words.”
But, why don’t you guys have at it first?
What do we think?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
lunanoire wrote:
(Middle class and wealthier) White privilege means you can pick the “hot cause of the week” b/c your life is comfortable and your survival is not at risk on a daily basis. See also: illusions of safety broken on 9/11 and after Columbine, extreme sports.
I have read news articles about African-Americans and wealth building. According to the studies they used, black ppl are more likely than whites to send $ to relatives in need. See also: African-Americans less likely to adopt b/c they often do it informally anyway for a relative who can’t take care of his/her kids.
There is more to say regarding the PostSecret submitter’s location and social circles.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 7:54 am ¶
Skye wrote:
Every Darfur activist I know is white - but just about everyone I know is white, and I haven’t met every Darfur activist, so I basically assumed that was about me and not about “black America.” Apparently the person who sent that postcard had some other assumptions.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 9:38 am ¶
Peter wrote:
where is the submitter’s location? and what are their social circles?
i’d be curious to know if the submitter is black?
other than that - i’m having a tough time getting fired up over this one. it’s not a complete ‘who cares?’, but i’m much more interested in the tiger lynching story.
also, this card is probably fake.
p.s. what’s up w/ postsecret not keeping archives?
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 9:48 am ¶
cough wrote:
The poster needs to come to my school then, a whole lot of black Darfur acivists
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 10:06 am ¶
cuppachica wrote:
Most black people that I know honestly feel that there are more problems going on here (within the US or related to the US) than we can handle. While the situation in Darfur, DRC, CAR, Kenya, and other places in Africa are heartbreaking, many American blacks feel that taking care of home comes first.
Also, why is this person resentful of black Americans for not helping in something that is not really related to them? Is this person resentful of Chinese Americans who do nothing to help the children in China who are forced to work in sweatshops? Is this person resentful of Indian Americans who do nothing to try to stop the horrible conditions that many Indian children have to live through? Does this person resent Arab Americans who don’t speak out on the brutality against women in certain segments of Middle Eastern Society?
People who volunteer for a cause usually do it because they believe in the cause, and they want to help improve society in someway; it is odd that this person has time in his/her busy life of crusading for the people of Darfur (among other obligations and activities) to feel resentment because he/she thinks that American blacks should be tied to a cause that might not rank very high on their list of priorities.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 10:07 am ¶
Colin wrote:
Yeah, but Post Secret specializes in racist sh…er *stuff*. It’s not unusual to see someone say something about why and how much they hate blacks there. Can’t get too riled up over each and every one.
If I wanted to talk about it I’d say this:
1) There’s a black person in the picture, but apparently the poster (on PS, not you Latoya) was unable to see that.
2) If we accept the notion that college students are more able and willing to be activists for a great many causes like this, then why should it not surprise one that whites dominate US activism, especially on issues that are basically not our own? White activism among college students is overflowing, and so there is more room for white activist growth in areas not really pertaining to white peoples’ issues. Black activism is prevalent, but with less educated and less middle-class and upper-class people, it’s tough to have the same percentage of college-age people marching and protesting and being for even issues that pertain to black people in America, much less issues that pertain to other nations.
3) It’s also true that these activists shown were pretty tame. “Save Darfur” and “Stop the Killing”? Lame ass signs. Really lame. I’m not saying, I’m just saying. If these are the sample of Darfur activists that represent the entirety for the PS poster, wow. I mean, WOW. That’s not the way to show someone what activism is all about. That rally or march just looks tired.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 11:11 am ¶
aka lynn wrote:
Some of us in the black community wonder how authentic the Darfur crisis really is, and whether or not it is another way for imperialist to once again get their hands on Africa for its natural resources.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 11:23 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
You might not see Chinese people doing anything about kids in sweatshops in China, but almost every Falun Gong protester I’ve come across is Asian.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 11:33 am ¶
ginag wrote:
If I don’t miss my guess, the PostSecreter is White, and participated in the Darfur Protest around October/November of last year in Columbia SC. (I know, because I was passing by, on the state house grounds — the shot is facing towards Gervais Street, and that’s the old AT&T Building in the background in Columbia).
That said, I’m not at ALL surprised by the poster’s “secret”. First thing, he/she probably only knows white people, given the college culture (and the vast majority of the protesters were college students) here , and second, he/she is giving an excuse for inherent resentment — something that he/she felt the need to ‘excuse’ anyway. I’m sure if prodded, they’d give a whole list of other ‘reasons’, too.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 11:56 am ¶
dnA wrote:
I just got this postcard from Darfur! It reads:
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 11:56 am ¶
David Wynn wrote:
I agree with the sentiment above that the anonymity of PostSecret means that I can only get so worked up about anything up there. Also, I like pointing out the black guy in the picture.
However, I would disagree with the comment above about the strength of activism, white or black, in college youth today. I go to Duke, and where you might have expected to see a slew of events and programming around every sort of issue from local lacrosse to distant Darfur, you just don’t see it. People have attempted to tackle student apathy both from the individual group level and the administrative level, with articles in the school paper noting negative trends along the way.
Just thought I’d share that experience.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 12:14 pm ¶
Penni Brown wrote:
I have to agree with the commenters that suggest that AAs have alot of more pressing, immediate issues to deal with on a daily basis. Let’s take it to Maslowe’s hierarchy of needs, if you’re worrying about a roof over your head, food for your kids, where your next paycheck is going to come from, when do you have time to worry about people in a foreign land that have it bad. If you’ve never travelled outside of your neighborhood, a foreign country is just beyond comprehension.
As you move up in socio-economic class you have more time to worry about global issues.
And I agree with the person that stated that alot of AAs think there are enough problems here to deal with. I’m middle/upper class single black woman and I’m concerned about AA children first and foremost, my friends that are losing their houses, and building a legacy for my descendents.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 12:59 pm ¶
Nancy wrote:
I don’t think children of the upper middle class and affluent should resent others for not taking care of their “own.” While I was in college, I had bills. And I worked to pay those bills on top of school work. I didn’t have the time or resources to be an activist for the many causes that were promoted on campus, even if I did feel strongly about many of them.
And just because you are of the same color as people half a world away does not automatically make you obligated to sympathize with them. You should do so because it is the right thing to do. They are people that are in trouble and need your help. “You’re Asian therefore you should only care about this issue” or “You’re Black therefore you must only care about things that happen in Africa” makes it seem like those are the ONLY issues you SHOULD care about. And if you care about an issue that deal with people that aren’t the same color as you? YOU GET A GOLD STAR! No. That doesn’t get you extra points. You only did what was right.
And before you try to stop injustice in your neighbor’s yard, you should take care of the wrongs and inequalities in your own home first.
Postsecret has posted many racist postcards before. Funny how Frank Warren never publishes comments against such postcards.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 1:20 pm ¶
Jorge wrote:
Postsecret does not know what he is talking about! Joe Madison, who has radio show on WOL (Black station) in Washington DC, has been talking about Darfur for at least the last two years.
He has organized along with Dick Gregory at least a dozen protests (which were attended almost exclusively by Blacks) in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC. He has organized a campaign to divest various state funds from Sudan. He has been and reported from Sudan at least three times!!
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been arrested for protesting at the Sudan embassy.
Of course, little of this, has been mentioned in the mainstream media!!
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 1:34 pm ¶
Colin wrote:
David,
I see ya bruh, but I just don’t see ya, heh. I know the strength of college activism itself can ebb and flow, and it’s dependent on the usual college environment as well, but I think 1) college activism was part of the thrust of the OP, and 2) that it is a major source of any such disparity in activism between the races.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 3:22 pm ¶
diablaazul wrote:
There is a lot of racist and sexist stuff on PostSecret, and they are posted without comment from Frank (like everything else he posts, as far as I’ve seen). But I’ve always seen it more as an exposure of hateful sentiments that are generally invisible, rather than acceptance of those sentiments. It makes it harder to pretend that racism and sexism are a thing of the past.
As for this particular card, I have to say it left me pretty speechless as well. It’s patronizing, presumptuous, and to top it off has a nice “White Man’s Burden” air about it (I assume the sender is white, though I suppose it’s possible s/he is not). It’s just so typical of white Westerners who take an interest in the problems of the developing world to feel superior because (it’s implied) they care about people who don’t belong to their “tribe.” And of course, brown people are the same everywhere, so shame on black Americans if they don’t care as much as s/he does about Darfur. Bleh!
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 4:14 pm ¶
gandalf mantooth wrote:
The post is accurate. From this person’s view, middle to upper middle class white liberal most likely, this is the picture he/she sees on his/her campus. It was the same during the era of the anti-aparthied protests on college campuses, where my White brothers and sisters in the struggle wondered why more black people weren’t participating. Obviously the “they have more important things to do, like graduating” retort is valid, the reasons are more complicated. Black students clearly cared about the issue, they just didn’t, for whatever reason, want to march, do sit-ins, and play hacky-sack.
What’s funny is the assumption implied by the post and complaints about it is that Black Americans are somehow not in touch by not “caring” about Darfur (or Kenya, can we add?) or protesting about it. There may not be many Black protesters, but there ain’t a whole lot of White, Asian, or whatevz.
Reminds me of the time Cusack complained because I wasn’t stage diving when Fishbone was on. “Your brothers are on stage, man!”
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 4:46 pm ¶
roamingknowmad wrote:
Well, one of the finest gifts of PostSecret is that the secrets posted there generate discussion and thought. Seems to be doing just that here, and probably among the site’s millions of other viewers as well.
And I’d like to add a couple of other well-known Black Darfur activists to the list:
Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, a Boston pediatrician who went far beyond waving a sign - she actually visited the front lines of the genocide in Sudan. She also serves as chairwoman of the national Million Voices for Darfur campaign, which aims to send a million postcards to George W. Bush urging him to intervene. Oh yeah, and the genesis of her involvement in the cause was when she took a trip with her husband to the region in 2001 as part of work for an antislavery campaign, later returning to found a nonprofit that provides educational resources and grinding mills for poor women in the villages.
Liz Walker, a Black reporter for one of the Boston TV stations, has made a documentary about Hammond-White and her work in Darfur and has also done much to raise awareness of what’s happening there.
And don’t forget about many of the Sudanese refugees and “lost boys and girls” who arrived here as a result of the country’s earlier civil war(s), who are doing quite a bit for the folks back home, too.
So it’s clear that there ARE Black people working to end the genocide in Darfur. It’s just that the PostSecret poster, I would assume, is judging by a skewed, small sample consisting mostly of college students who are white.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 6:46 pm ¶
Ashley wrote:
Well, just because someone is black doesn’t necessarily mean they feel some duty to “Mother Africa”. The cultures and people of Africa are so far-removed from the lives of Black Americans (not all of whom are actually descendants from Africa, but maybe the Caribbean, or someplace else). I also agree that generally, Black Americans have a lot more to worry about in their own lives as far as poverty goes to really invest in an activist cause.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 9:08 pm ¶
Diza wrote:
As a black teenager living in England I do notice that it is mainly my upper middle class white friends who go to anti racism concerts and “protest” against darfur and other like injustices but the thing is I see situations like this as extensions of problems I and I’m sure many ethnic minorities experience in everyday life. What good is a bunch of teenage kids protesting against Racism when they don’t take time to fight social injustices right in front of them and also don’t take any actual steps to prevent these problems. My same white middle class friends who rallied against racism also are keen to see a racist Boris Johnson as the Mayor of London.
Posted 09 Jan 2008 at 9:33 pm ¶
new reader wrote:
i’m confused. this is my first visit to this site and i clicked to find out what “new demograohic” and racialicious” are about, and they seemed to suggest a goal of ravcial understanding? or diversity training (don;t know what that is as i have not held an office job). yet what i’m reading does seem more than a little racist. both the op and respondants are either “pro- or anti one race or another.
where is the progress in this? the assumptions implicit in the first post (black students don’t protest…”
and the comments that white students protest to feel good about themselves.
i think the underlying goals of this site are not very successful if people’s minds are locked in “us and them.”
Posted 10 Jan 2008 at 7:48 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Welcome New -
New Demographic is a diversity training company. Racialicious is the blog about pop culture. Both of these together promote understanding and change through dialogue.
So, in essence, we have to talk through things in order to get an understanding of them, even if the talk sometimes diverges into one camp vs. another.
Though I must say, you should probably start with some of our top posts and our classic posts.
These kind of quick posts (like post secret stuff, the myspace stuff) are ones that encourage knee jerk reactions. If you check out the other posts that are highlighted, you’ll get a better sense of what this site is about.
Posted 10 Jan 2008 at 8:23 pm ¶
new reader wrote:
thank you for your fast response. tomorrow i’ll look for those. and sorry for my knee jerk response!
Posted 10 Jan 2008 at 8:49 pm ¶
Black Canseco wrote:
Yeah, yeah, I know this is from PostSecret; but that’s precisely why I’m giving it so much validity and attention. PS allows people to say what they really think and present truly provocative arguments (hypothetical, metaphorical or other wise) with zero fear of being confronted directly. So the chances for being more honest–provide you’ve got some PhotoShop software, goes way up.
With that said, this is still a steaming pile of B.S.
Why? Because as an activist, there remains a hierarchy in our acknowledgment of “legitimate” activists and valid causes “worthy” of news.
When blacks rally and are active about issues such as Darfur, Katrina, prison reform, police brutality, political corruption, etc. the mainstream media brushes them aside as whiners or “race-baiting hustlers” who would never speak out if the victims or those affected were white.
But when white media figures, celebrities or college kids stand up and scream over an issue, it’s accompanied by a collective sense that (a) the issue is now legitimate and worthy of outrage, addressing. (why else would whites pay attention to it?) There’s also a sense of White Man’s Burden Complex that creeps in. It’s as if let’s celebrate all these noble white people “looking beyond themselves” to embrace issues that are clearly not of their own creation.
How heroic… How mighty white of ‘em.
There are and have been plenty of blacks in America and Europe championing Darfur, blood diamonds, corrupt leadership and the cyphoning of natural resources at the hands of conglomerates though out Africa. There are countless Black Americans fighting in the trenches of America on behalf of everything from mental health to education reform to gun violence to you-name-it.
But outside of the whipping boys that are Jesse and Al who are held up by many condescending whites as victimhood peddlers, the next time we acknowledge other black activists will be the first.
Because let’s face it; the moment we get honest about the scope of work blacks are putting into help their own communities others is the moment we have to ask ourselves one painful question:
With all these people fighting to solve these problems, why aren’t the problems getting solved yet?
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 12:03 am ¶
Seattle Slim wrote:
This one here is interesting and I’ve got to say it kind of hit home. I am not getting fired up about it because the person said resented the majority. I’m thinking the “majority” that this person sees via the media.
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 8:22 pm ¶
brandnew wrote:
White supremecy rears its ugly head yet again.
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 10:25 pm ¶
RandallJones wrote:
There is a hypocrisy and fraud amongst the “Save Darfur” activists because they call for the United States to do something about Darfur but have nothing to say about the U.S. role in the genocide of Iraq. The United States helped Saddam Hussein into power and supported him, strategically and financially, when he was committing his worst atrocities. The Iraqis are the scapegoats for U.S. foreign policy.
Its strange that these “Save Darfur” activists have nothing to say about the Congo, the region where the most killings and rapes are occurring. Its because the United States, Israel and Europe benefit from the diamonds, other natural resources, slave labor, and the sale of weapons that the lives of these black Africans doesn’t matter.
Posted 12 Jan 2008 at 12:06 am ¶
Naija chica wrote:
Many African-Americans I met in my racially diverse New England college really could not care less. The black activists I’ve met for Darfur (and I attended a rally in DC so I had a large sample) are 1st or 2nd generations Africans and West Indians in America.
Having lived in a pretty impoverished area of Nigeria (and an urban center no less) for a few years and also visiting NOLA, there is no comparison. The schools in urban areas in America are mediocre at best. For the years I lived there attending private school, those who depend on public school probably attended their school 10% of the time that they should have been open due to teachers’ strikes, riots and coups. Several of my classmates died of common and easily treatable disease. The people attending said school probably were at thet top 5% of the earnings brackets.
I do resent my classmates who aren’t involved at all and Darfur is not a cause du jour. It’s a genocide and in a few years, after all the people are dead, for yet another time post Holocaust, we’ll say “never again!’ I would be less resentful if people were doing more to help the African-American community but that isn’t the case. I teach “at risk” (=urban girls of color being raised by working single mothers) teens about sex, sexual responsibility, self-respect, domestic violence, etc. I’ve also volunteered in NOLA. Of course my people have issues of their own and I help were I can, but I’m not goin to pretend that I live in some bubble and only “my people’s” problems matter. The majority of people who live in my own ancestral village have limited electricity, no clean water, no education. I’m not going to stay in that bubble and pretend that somehow other Nigerians, Africans, blacks, people of color, etc. don’t matter. The idea that the African-American community is overwhelmed is absurd.
Every time I go to visit, the lack of infrastructure in some areas is maddening. The level of poverty shocks and saddens me every time without fail. Many Americans (not just African-Americans) have no idea how relatively good they have it in spite of their many troubles. It’s those who have come to the realization that most people are far worse off are the ones volunteering.
Posted 12 Jan 2008 at 5:05 pm ¶
mel wrote:
wow! a girl and her family i went to highschool with, was from sudan. and her family was stuck dead in the darfur conflict. ummm the whole philly-especiallly the “educated” cared. Anyway, a White women who looked “rich” asked me what genocide was!!!!
Posted 14 Jan 2008 at 11:45 pm ¶
ddsharper wrote:
No one knows what black people care or don’t care about as visibility of such things is nonexistent and therefore any conclusions misguided and out of ignorance. Several posters are dead on about other races and the lack of attention as to whether or not they care about the problems indigenous to their respective countries. The fact is, black americans are just that, americans. They have no language ties, clothing ties, tribal ties, way-of-life ties, memory ties, family ties, origin-of-birth ties to Africa, unless they are truly African Americans. Black Americans are without a country for the one from which they are from singles them out with constant and relentless generalizations, stereotypes and criticisms, with impunity and they themselves do the same. So who cares what they are perceived as doing or not doing, thinking or not thinking, feeling or not feeling? No one.
Quit generalizing and read Malcolm X and Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun by the late Reginald Lewis and leave black people alone. Jesus!!
Posted 07 Apr 2008 at 7:28 pm ¶
Brendan! wrote:
I really like this comment thread. A topic with blatant racism make people go crazy on most sites, but there were some really insightful things written here.
The postcard is obviously racist and ignores the situation of race and class in America. We probably agree on this.
The second thing it says, though, is that the people who sit still about Darfur are people worth hating. And that’s probably true. Looking at what happens in Darfur, how many people it happens to, and how easy it would be to prevent, I don’t really have an excuse for the way I live.
Should I feel connected this kind of tragedy, because people from my race occupied Africa and probably caused the mess? I don’t know.
Should black Americans feel connected, because people from their race are the victims? I don’t know that either.
All of us are human, and that’s probably enough of a connection that we should do something.
Posted 29 Jun 2008 at 12:35 am ¶