"The White Man's Burden"- Moving Forward

As we close a chapter in class of the Haitian Revolution and start a new one we are constantly reminded that racism now more than ever is being up rooted, slaves have taken a stance and revolted, which is making the racism line much deeper and defined, in regards to the spectrum of their freedom. Since expressing their voice they have at the same time created a deeper, darker one for the whites.

Looking at “The White Man’s Burden” poem and cartoon I was curious to do more research into the poem and fully understand it, after reading it several times this is what I was able to dissect from it.

Europe is trying to justify coming into Africa and taking over, the white man’s burden has a duty to send “the best of their country to dark, uncivilized places of the earth.”  His view proposes that white people have an obligation to take over, and show Africans the Western ways.

 Through my research I found there is an argument whether “The White Man's burden" can be interpreted as racist, or taken as a metaphor view of non-Western national culture and economic traditions. Giving the Eurocentric   a “meaningful” purpose coming into Africa because they felt an obligation to help them “better” themselves whether they want to or not.  One could argue that they used the Christian missionary movement, which was active at the time in Africa to give a more religious meaning to what they were doing.

 Written in response to Kipling’s poem in April 1899 H.T. Johnson wrote and published “The Black Man’s Burden.”  . A “Black Man’s Burden Association” was even organized with the goal of demonstrating the mistreatment of brown people in the Philippines as an extension of the mistreatment of black Americans at home.

Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.

'Tis nearest at your door;

Why heed long bleeding Cuba,

or dark Hawaii’s shore?

Hail ye your fearless armies,

Which menace feeble folks

Who fight with clubs and arrows

and brook your rifle’s smoke.

Pile on the Black Man’s Burden

His wail with laughter drown

You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem,

And will take up the Brown,

In vain ye seek to end it,

With bullets, blood or death

Better by far defend it

With honor’s holy breath.

 If not for the Haitian Revolution and the voice of Toussiant Loverture,  I believe that  African slaves and freed ones during this time  would have been too scared to express their voice. Since TS had paved the way   both groups were not afraid to talk back. Whether it was the revolt or the educated African man talking a stand through writing their voice had been heard and was going to continue to be from now until their freedom.