How the white savior complex hurts non-white business owners
Well meaning white entrepreneurs are doing harm to non-white students, clients, and peers with racist messages rooted in colonial history.
Political cartoon by Victor Gillam depicting Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man's Burden
I’ve been debating whether or not to share this post, because I can already imagine how some people will respond:
You’re overreacting.
That’s not what they meant.
You’re reading too much into it.
You should be more understanding.
But as I spend more of my time helping my clients run globally inclusive businesses, this feels too important an issue to avoid just because it’s uncomfortable to bring out into the open. White saviors exist, whether or not we talk about them. They’re doing harm while meaning to do good, and as a result non-white people suffer — often in silence.
What is the white savior complex?
Someone with a white savior complex believes that white people (like them) must save non-white people.
The white savior complex is tied to the colonial history of Western countries conquering and exploiting other countries. Part of the justification for colonialism was the “need” to bring civilization and modernization to non-white people.
The white savior complex can show up as:
Volunteering (or rather, voluntouring) in low-income countries, doing work without appropriate skills or qualifications while exploiting local communities and resources
Adopting orphans (who most likely aren’t orphans and are in fact being trafficked) from abroad and building instagrammable mixed race families
Raising funds by using images of people in need, objectifying them in order to trigger an emotional response from donors (also called poverty porn).
Ed Sheeran’s 2017 Comic Relief campaign was criticized for white saviorism
It also shows up in everyday interactions in the online business space when white saviors set out to “educate” and “empower” non-white students, clients, and peers without understanding them as individuals.
They usually mean well, but their unconscious bias leads them to actions that signal, “You’re not good enough to belong here but that’s okay, I can improve you.”
How do you spot a white savior?
You can identify white saviors by analyzing their behavior. You might see them:
Leap into action, believing they have all the answers. Non-white people are less capable, so white people must guide them, even if it involves making personal sacrifices.
See problems that they want to fix, but fail to acknowledge that they’re part of the system that created those problems in the first place.
Put themselves at the center of attention because they are more valuable than the people they help. White experiences are more valid and white stories are more important.
Prioritize creating an emotional experience that makes them feel good about themselves and their privilege. They focus on showing that they’re compassionate, that they’re making a difference, and that they deserve recognition.
What’s the story here?
I’m talking about white saviors because a white American business owner sent me a message that was so full of white saviorism, it took me weeks to control my anger and begin to process what they had said.
Here’s their message, shortened and lightly paraphrased:
Hi Danbee! I just finished reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and I just felt called to message you. I don't know if you've read it but it was an eye opener for me. I love to read because it gives me a chance to see into cultures that I likely will never experience first hand. I guess it's the lifetime learner in me.
This is a story about a young Korean girl who moves to Japan in the early 1900s and the story of her life and those of her children and her grandchildren. It touched me in unexpected ways and made me think that the world could use a lot more of recognizing the humanity of others without putting them in a box.
I admit that the only thing I knew about Korea was that my grandpa was in a war there. He was dishonorably discharged for stealing for a Korean girl he was in love with. It's a family scandal. Lol. Granny was back home raising his kids.
I'm not sure why I'm sharing this with you, but the thought came to me and so I’m trusting my intuition.
I knew from the beginning that this message was sent with only the best intentions. They meant well.
But impact matters more than intent and I was deeply offended by the multiple layers of white savior messages.
Here are 4 problematic themes that stood out for me.
One
“I know better than you do, so I must help you by educating you.”
They assume I haven’t read the book, even though Pachinko is a critically acclaimed bestseller being adapted into an Apple TV+ series.
New York Times Bestseller Pachinko
Author Min Jin Lee
They describe in detail the plot, the characters, the lessons, and their personal reflections. They assume they know more than I do and it’s like they’ve sent this message to teach me something I don’t know.
Two
“I’m helping you, but I have nothing to do with your circumstances.”
They’re unaware of their connection to the system that makes them think of me as someone they must help.
They mention “a war” without naming it. They mean the Korean War. The war that started after the US divided Korea along an arbitrary line and then occupied the South with a military government.
The war that’s technically still ongoing, giving the US a plausible excuse for maintaining their third largest overseas military presence in South Korea. In the event of actual war, the US would take over operational control of of the South Korean military (this still boggles my mind).
For Koreans, the US military is associated with immeasurable pain and humiliation, caused by everything from loss of property (never returned after the Japanese occupation) to sex trafficking and rape and murder (perpetrators are never held accountable because the US retains jurisdiction over military personnel).
Three
“My story is more important than yours and deserves more attention.”
Even though they’re presumably telling me about the book because it’s about my home country, they completely disregard my personal connection to the topics in the book.
Instead, they focus on their own understanding of Korea. They share their favorite line from the book and explain why it touched their heart. They tell me that what they know about Korea is limited to a family scandal (a complete white savior story in itself).
Was I supposed to affirm they’d done a good thing by reading this book, and say “thank you” for sharing their story?
Four
“I’m a good person. I’m following the calling to act in service to others.”
They trust their intuition and share their thoughts in a message 10 paragraphs long, saying that they don’t actually know why they’re doing this.
I believe in following your intuition. But I also believe that you have a responsibility to consider the consequences of your actions on other people.
They think they’re doing good. But that doesn’t change the fact that they delivered a long and painful message, and then left me to deal with it. It is incredibly unfair that I have to spend the time and energy to work through the hurt.
3 ways to challenge white savior assumptions
Here are 3 things that I wish they’d done instead of sending me this message.
One
Think hard about why they’re reaching out
“Because I feel called to” isn’t good enough.
I understand the sentiment behind this line of thinking because I grew up in a Protestant family — a direct result of American Christian missionaries in Korea. My grandfather was a pastor. My mom graduated from a university founded by an American missionary, and her sister has built her entire career at the university hospital. I went to church every Sunday for the first 16 years of my life, and a big part of my religious education focused on being a missionary.
So while I can relate to the desire to help the less fortunate (it’s trained into us), I also know how much harm acting from this place of “doing God’s will” can do.
Consequences matter. Impact is more important than intent.
Two
Educate themselves
If they’d taken 5 minutes to learn about the Korean War and US-Korea relations, they may have saved me the heartache.
I’ve sprinkled links to supporting information throughout this blog post. If you’re curious about Korea and how the US came to be so deeply involved in this part of the world, I recommend starting with these resources.
Three
Start a conversation with me
I wish they had simply asked me if I’ve read the book. Pachinko is one of my favorites and I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the book and the author. (If you’d also like to read it, buy a copy through one of the links listed on Min Jin Lee’s website.)
They said in their original message:
“I think the world could use a lot more of exactly that. Recognizing the humanity of others without putting them in a box or judging them for life circumstances.”
Recognizing the humanity in other people literally means understanding them as individual human beings. Opening up the conversation instead of writing a monologue would have helped them give the world what they themselves say we need: thinking of me as an individual with valuable experiences and opinions instead of putting me in a box labeled “Korean”.
These are reminders for myself as well. White people are not the only ones who are susceptible to white savior mentality. I’ve spent most of my life aligning myself with my white friends, teachers, and employers. I recognize that in the process, I’ve also internalized that desire to “do good work” so I can feel good about myself. It’s one of the many things I’m unlearning.
How this affected my business
In the end, this person and I had an open (and very uncomfortable) conversation about why their message was offensive. They gave me a genuine apology, which I happily accepted. I felt much lighter afterwards.
But there’s never a neat resolution to incidents like this. Although I’m glad we were able to have this difficult conversation, it doesn’t change the hurt.
It also doesn’t change the fact the emotional and psychological burden of dealing with this Facebook message affected my ability to work. That’s a problem because I’m the only person running my business and generally, if I’m not working, I’m not making enough money to support myself.
I’m sharing this personal story in hopes that it’ll start conversations and prevent similar mistakes. If you have questions about anything I’ve discussed here, please ask. If you’ve experienced something similar and want to talk about it, please reach out. You can always get in touch with me on Instagram or via email.
And if this post helped you learn something new, please share it with the people around you.
