White Savior/Magic Negro

I lost my phone during our last hurricane. My battery was dead so I couldn't call my phone to hear the ringing and find it.

One day a white FedEx truck arrived with a package.

No, wait... it was a yellow DHL truck that came with the package.

You know... come to think of it, it was a brown UPS truck that brought the package.

It doesn't really matter what color the truck was that delivered the package. What was important was the package that the truck delivered (a new phone).

A recent comment to a post stated;

"I think it's ironic that you cite Scipio, a white dude that defeated the African Hannibal, to make your point. Because, of course, white folks have the solutions for the poor. ..."

I'm not trying to put foreword the idea of a "White Savior"

I'm not as concerned with the source of information as I am with the use of that information

Although it seems that the White Savior seems to have a more pivotal role in a situation's out come.

Michelle Pfeifer - Dangerous Minds

Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia

Keanu Reaves - The Matrix

The counter-image of the White-Savior is the current ideology of the "Magic(al) Negro"

Magic Negroes are those whose sole purpose is to somehow help whites (in a supporting role) with their somehow other-worldly talents or knowledge.

Will Smith - The Legend of Baggar Vance

Guy Torey - American History X

Lawrence Fishburn - The Matrix

Now I read stories about Barack Obama being portrayed as the newest example of the Magic Negro.

Why? Why the need to somehow make someone out to be more than just a man who is trying to influence his country in a more positive way when given the opportunity?

(Or Oprah being a "Mammy" character.)

The Bible says that a prophet has no honor in his own land - hence, the need for an outsider to come in and make the appropriate changes.

Throughout history, there have been myths, legends and religions based on this premise.

From the Magi in Genesis,

to the Egyptian mediator deity Thoth,

to Hermes/Mercury in classical mythology,

to Athene helping Odysseus in the Odyssey,

to Merlin in the Arthurian tales,

to Dante's use of Beatrice and Virgil,

to Mephistopheles in Faust.

(Although the Faustian "guide" is more in keeping with the popular understanding of Jinn as; Aliens, Poltergeist, Demons, Ghosts or Nephilim and not angelic)

Most people need an outsider to find their answers.

For others it's the Christian belief of the Holy Spirit being in each of us.

It's Siddhartha leaving his BFF Govinda and the structure of the Brahmas and the Samanas because they couldn't teach him his truth (Buddhism).

White Savior or Magic Negro?

Who cares?

What is important is what they bring