While white saviors may have good intentions, their presence may actually be harmful.
Helping people is a good thing, right?
Not always.
The white savior complex is a term that’s used to describe white people who consider themselves wonderful helpers to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) — but they “help” for the wrong reasons (and sometimes end up doing more to hurt than help).
Keep in mind that this doesn’t refer to all white people. White savior complex, sometimes called white savior syndrome or white saviorism, refers to those who work from the assumption that they know best what BIPOC folks need.
They believe it’s their responsibility to support and uplift communities of color — in their own country or somewhere else — because people of color lack the resources, willpower, and intelligence to do it themselves.
In short, white saviors consider themselves superior, whether they realize it or not. They swoop in to “make a difference” without stopping to consider whether that difference might not, in fact, have more negative effects than positive ones.
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