Neither tanning nor a mud bath will make a kid black.

This one is almost funny. UNICEF has a campaign in Germany urging people to donate to "Africa"--you know, that continent/country where all the people look the same, speak the same black language, and are equally in desperate need of our white money. Accepting the white man’s burden is so much easier, though, when you’re being pleaded with by an adorable, mud-covered blonde munchkin.

Imagine a grinning Shirley Temple in self-applied blackface telling you how much it “sucks” that none of the kids in Africa have schools, then asking you to donate money so African lives don’t “suck” so much. That’s right, according to this campaign Africa, as a cohesive whole, has neither functional schools nor its own ability to speak up about its problems. Luckily, rather than consulting real Africans, UNICEF can just speak through these smiling white kids, whose blonde pigtails and pouting faces tug at your heartstrings way stronger than any African could.

Right.

I won't say any more on this; just look at the pictures. Oh wait, UNICEF took them down in embarrassment. Such is the magic of caching: see them all here.



Translations via Black Women in Europe:

The first kid says:

"I'm waiting for my last day in school, the children in africa still for their first one."

second kid:

"in africa, many kids would be glad to worry about school"

third kid:

"in africa, kids don't come to school late, but not at all" (!)

fourth kid:

"some teachers suck. no teachers sucks even more."

And the latest in Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't logic is this response to a criticism of the campaign on the Women of Color blog.

Finally, a little history to put it in context.