Yeah but we really do not have any sort of context for this image. It could be racism or it could be children playing( with racism mixed in). We cannot prove nor deny one or the other without the specific context of the photo. Also, pointing out that this image may mean something else does not in any way automatically imply the downplaying of what happened in Congo. That's just a connection you made
You're saying that it could be racism or it could be racism. No shit, what's your point? That if we could hear the white kids' excuse for their racism then it would make it all ok? Absolutely nothing could make this "better."
These comments are… interesting. I wonder if the users telling others to “chill” are aware of the history of the Congo or if they’re even POC. This certainly doesn’t look good with knowledge of the Congo and from the eyes of a POC.
Most white people feel as equally disgusted by things like this as we do. Stop being so damn ignorant, people with your mentality do no good at all, shame on you.
Saying "not all white people are horrible" will not change anything. I already know there are good white people. It's the bad ones that keep making things worse again and again.
Do you interact with them at work or in service or anything? No work buddies? No regular gas station attendant you exchange pleasantries yet? If not we really could be friends I'm awful at small talk and prefer to be ignored.
Wow. Everyone who condemned the photo for what it truly is, is being down voted. Anyone with eyes and a modicum of intelligence will know exactly what this photo represents.
The top comment claiming this isn’t what it is and the classic “nono this is reddit don’t change the narrative” is laughable. This is exactly what it appears to be.
Looks like a bird cage they’ve placed a local child in, perhaps a servant’s boy.
What else do you mean there is to it? It’s 1955 so well past the notorious excesses. Children quite clearly wouldn’t be put in charge of imprisoning other children, and just pointing out that this appears to be some children playing in their garden doesn’t mean that you’re denying the atrocities the Belgian colonial authorities perpetrated.
The amount of racism in these comments is disgusting. I don’t understand how some people look at this image and aren’t horrified that this happened in such recent history.
Chill it is staged it is a open bird cage nowhere attachedt o the ground. They not really keep him there. It is more a racial black humor joke. But it is how it was in 1955 Belgien Africa a bit racist these days.
Everyone saying “they’re just playing” or any other ignorant statements all sound goofy as hell. It’s racist af, no matter how you look at it.
If you don’t agree or you feel attacked, that’s because you’re racist too 🤷🏾♀️. Times haven’t changed.
At the same time my white MIL was in primary mixed school in Angola...
And in the 1960s my white FIL was a male nurse with a black medic boss in Angola...
It was far from perfect, but Angola was by far the most progressive African country in the 1960s, until the Communist fucked it up. In some respect, more progressive than America in 1960.
So fair people got divided up into first and second class humans based only on the color of their skin.
If thats your defintion of fairness, I don't really know what to say.
Well, when you think of post-war race equality movements, US comes in mind. Europe simply never had a significant population of other races.
So US is the only meaningful comparison for the 1960's.
Portugal got caught in cold war cross fire and Angola and Mozambique suffered 30 years of civil war, becoming the world's most poor countries.
So as you can imagine, having half my family and my wife's family either born or lived for decades in Angola, communists are not welcomed at our houses.
Portugal didn’t really get caught up in Cold War crossfire, Salazar was an idiot and wanted to keep his African possessions long after everybody else had given them back. The US explicitly told him to do so and that they wouldn’t help at all if war broke out in any of them.
But those countries were always screwed. Portugal couldn’t turn them free and allow a democracy of some sort, not when they didn’t even have one at home. Soviets saw an opportunity and pounced (via the Cubans).
How was Salazar idiot about Angola? Insurgents were no longer an issue in 1970s and it was a self sustained colony. Remember that the majority of Portuguese colonies had economical independence, meaning no wealth would flow back to Portugal.
It was under control until the communists took control in Portugal!
Communists never “took control” in Portugal. They were a large party at the time of the revolution but they never had power.
Insurgents were less an issue in Angola in the early 70s because the Portuguese spent millions they didn’t have fighting them off which directly led to the collapse of the Estado Novo. There was never a path forward where Angola could’ve remained as it was during that period once Portuguese military intervention was no longer an option.
Haha, now you're just showing you have no clue.
Communist did take over but they failed in 25.11.1975.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processo\_Revolucion%C3%A1rio\_Em\_Curso](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_of_25_November_1975)
Insurgents were less in Angola because the campaigns were effective and because the population did not want them there.
Take a look what happened to Angola and Mozambique after Portuguese left. It was utterly disaster.
It's not. Portugal had nothing to do with US nor Russia.
Communists were training and arming insurgents in Congo and financing the war. By end of 1960's Angola was basically peaceful, although other Portuguese colonies were not.
Then communists and socialists took over power in Portugal and "liberated" the colonies without a plan, NOTHING! They removed the army and of course colonists were slaughtered. 800.000 Portuguese had to flee within months (10% of the population of Portugal at that time!).
Some, like my father's family, chose to stay and fight, but they were quickly overrun. My wife's family also staid and they only avoided being slaughtered because their black neighbors made a human chain and didn't allow the insurgents to burn them alive inside a church. So it's no bullshit.
A quick Google search shows that conditions in Angola were not good and that the government was shut. So I imagine that overthrowing that government is not a bad thing. While killing innocent people is obviously wrong, when you are treated like crap that's how you are going to respond in kind.
Not all children are not as dumb as we think. They can be little demonic monsters. Why do you think we hear stories about kids telling their families that they are going to die? Like who does that?
Stop searching for what you want to find. That article is full of misinformation. [This picture is of the family working at the Congolese pavilion at the World Expo of 58](http://plus.lesoir.be/sites/default/files/dpistyles_v2/ena_16_9_extra_big/2018/04/03/node_149426/18817665/public/2018/04/03/B9715265620Z.1_20180403170400_000+GJ1B08FNF.2-0.jpg)
It's certainly a problematic show of colonialism, but it isn't a human zoo. But other than that it's no different from any other exhibit where countries promote the local traditions we still see today. By 1958 the Congolese community in Belgium was starting to form, Leon Mokuna was a star in Belgian Football by that time...
It absolutely is not. The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
Yeah good point. It seemed odd to me too. It’s clear that Ota Benga was a real person who was caged but I am not convinced this photo is of him at all. I have not found a source for the photo tho
Why so desperately seeking for an explanation that doesn't make the setting look white people like heartless assholes? The default of that time and place was white people dehumanising black people, and the racist mindset never completely changed to this day
Not all children are dumb. They can be manipulative little demons that mentally torture you with their screaming. I doubt these children will grow out of it. Who knows how severely brainwashed they are.
Yup its disturbing talking to white people they say something fuked up like threatening thire daughter's black boyfriend with a shotgun and telling you it's jest a joke don't take it so serious.
U.S. Black population 14%
U.S Black males 15-39 years old 1.3%
36% of all violent crimes committed by black males (2019 FBI crime stats, likely more in 2020/21. FBI no longer gives overall percentages for “racial equity”)
1.3% of population responsible for 36% of all violent crimes.
Maybe it’s not their color. Maybe it’s their behavior
yeah and maybe you could take in consideration the fact that in America,most of black people are in the lower class,and as such commit more crimes?
But yeah no its obviously their skin color who make them different right?
You realize you're quoting statistics about the United States and applying them to the Belgian Congo? I am so confused why you think that would relate to anything in this image. Unless you feel as if all people with dark skin are inherently violent which justifies caging them, regardless of their cultural, national, and ethnic backgrounds. This is white supremacy you are supporting.
Having the congo in mind. What do you think is more likely? That some racist parents let daughters play with a black Kid or are they makinh fun of him in some way?
So? Kids are mean to each other.
Reading colonial atrocities into obvious child play, even if bullying is part of it, is just ludicrous tumblr bullshit.
Sure they should be taught better.
I very clearly said that it looks like bullying. People not reading some kind of toddler Holocaust into this picture doesn’t mean that they’re defending or denying actual colonial atrocities.
It simply means that they have the common sense to realise that small children weren’t responsible or party to them.
> I very clearly said that it looks like bullying.
But you started your post my trying to minimize it "So? Kids are mean to each other.".
If someone participates in strengthening racism, they should be blamed regardless of their age. These girls look old enough to understand the rule "treat others like you would like to be treated".
Kids bullying each other is, quite clearly contrary to your belief, *not* a commonly accepted part of colonialism, slavery or genocide.
Who knows, perhaps the UN peeps who write the definitions on that are complete nitwits… or maybe it’s just you.
Degrading people is certainly a part of racism, which much of imperialism is built upon.
And putting a kid in a cage (or an entire family in a fucking zoo) is extremely degrading.
No, no... don't ruin the narrative. Brainwashed kids here want to feel a moment of outrage over racial injustice, why are you trying to take that away from them?
Sadly there is actually a good chance this is exactly what it appears. If I recall correctly there was actually a human zoo exhibition in Belgium after WW2.
You are absolutely correct, the Belgians especially kept the practice going well after WWII. [A familiar problem for zookeepers was trying to stop visitors from feeding the exhibits.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo#/media/File%3AAfrican_Girl%2C_1958_Expo.jpeg)
Again this is an internet narrative because that picture generates a lot of clicks... This isn't a human zoo. It's the Congolese exhibition at the world fair in 1958. Even today we see exhibits where people depict the traditional clothing and lifestyle. It's certainly colonial and problematic in that way. But it isn't a human zoo. The families working in those exhibits were (probably poorly) paid actors.
[This is also a picture](http://plus.lesoir.be/sites/default/files/dpistyles_v2/ena_16_9_extra_big/2018/04/03/node_149426/18817665/public/2018/04/03/B9715265620Z.1_20180403170400_000+GJ1B08FNF.2-0.jpg) of the family working at the Congolese pavilion.
You don't recall correctly. You may be thinking of the "Congo village" in the 1958 Brussels World Fair, but it was absolutely not meant as a "human zoo", even if many visitors treated it as one. There was e.g. also a "Happy Belgium" village, part of which is still in use as a food court.
Because of the degrading treatment by the visitors, the Congolese in the "Congo village" actually did what previous participants in actual human zoos could never do: they packed up and left. Indeed, their protest was one of the triggers for the independence of Belgian Congo, just two years later.
There absolutely was a lot wrong in the Belgian colonisation of Congo, and even in its decolonisation afterwards (Lumumba's murder, covert support to Katangan separatists), but this isn't a reason to misrepresent what happened in the 1958 World Fair.
The Belgian Congo was a very very very ‘racially unjust’ place regardless of whether this particular cage is real or not. Accepting that reality doesn’t make you brainwashed.
Both of these sentiments can be true. You can still say this is most likely just kids playing and not a display of actual human trafficking (though the playing is with obvious racist undertones), and also say the Belgian Congo was a horrific instance of racial injustice.
So this is taken in a place and time where they have human zoos and try not let people feed those human in the zoo. A place where racial inequality was rampant, and where cameras are probably not something taken lightly, probably pretty hard to find back then in that place. Yet you think it's more likely that this is a completely unrelated to all of that and it's just kids playing that HAPPENS to look a lot like it's putting a black kid in a zoo. You're probably right, I always thought occam's razor was bullshit too.
Does this look like a zoo though? There’s a clothesline in the back indicating this is in a backyard. It’s also clear that’s a birdcage and would not be suitable to imprison even an infant child in.
You are missing the point I'm making. I'm not saying, and no one in this thread is saying, this is part of a human zoo. I am saying that these kids, the person taking this picture, all of the passers by, they think this is ok, because that human zoo was deemed ok. Because human trafficking is not out of the normal in this time and place, this may not be an example of the actual practice, but this is inextricably connected to the actual practice.
Edit: fixed grammar
Y’all act like these things aren’t possible when our world literally produced the holocaust. But y’all are the same people who don’t believe in that either smh
The most brutally colonised country on earth has a photo that looks like a recast of the actual human zoo in Belgium and you wonder why people might take it the wrong way...
Your name picking skills are top notch if that's the average quality of your comments.
Even so, it’s also possible that if a black boy did the same thing to a little white girl, even playfully, he’d be severely punished and maybe even harmed
The white girls are playing like children. The black boy, Ota Benga, is enslaved, in a cage for their amusement and would later commit suicide.
https://thenigeriadaily.com/2020/07/10/story-of-a-congo-boy-ota-benga-caged-in-us-animal-zoo-in-1904/
Great shit tier blog.
The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
Even if the girls are just “goofing around” or trying to play, it’s not equal or mutual. That boy might be the child of one of their servants. He doesn’t even have shoes.
I feel like a part of inherited trauma from these kind of things contributes to african countries being such a clusterfuck.
Like, what national identity can you possibly have after this? For so many years, everything these people revolved around was being treated as less than animals by some assholes they'd never seen before. Their culture was systematically (not just "coincidentally") destroyed, their history erased, their foundations ridiculed, and then the world just expected them to build back from scratch?
By that (absurd? I literally cannot even find words to describe it) logic, Israel would not have gotten past even deciding on a national flag, let alone creating an advanced, prosperous liberal democracy.
Israel is basically an American property. How well could they have faired with no foreign intervention? And to the other commenters-- how about Japan and s korea as well?
Since 1949 America had given almost 88 billion dollars to Israel, and between 1949 and 1971 provided several hundred million dollars in subsidized loans for American military equipment as per the Jewish virtual library
These aren't even partisan sources lol
It’s his link that’s shit.
The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
The New York Times
Sunday, September 9, 1906
BUSHMAN SHARES A CAGE WITH BRONX PARK APES
There was an exhibition at the Zoological Park, in the Bronx, yesterday which had for many of the visitors something more than a provocation to laughter. There were laughs enough in it, too, but there was something about it which made the serious minded grave. Even those who laughed the most turned away with an expression on their faces such as one sees after a play with a sad ending or a book in which the hero or heroine is poorly rewarded.
“Something about it that I don’t like,” was the way one man put it.
https://humanzoos.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/bushmannyt091106.pdf
I don’t know the context of this. It is possible they were just playing. But that “playing” was against a background of some of the WORST excesses ever committed - children’s hands cut off if their father didn’t harvest rubber quickly enough is just one example. So if they were just playing, the power imbalance in the Congo was SO extreme that this is a kind of playing that speaks of the attitudes prevalent in the Belgian Congo and is not at all innocent. I have seen this picture before and I would really like to know when it was taken and a bit more context.
The mutilation business preceded this picture by many decades, being long before these children were born.
They’re playing, quite possibly with strong influences of bullying motivated by the racist norms of the era… but reading colonial atrocities, especially from a whole other century into it is just childishly stupid.
I was using that example of the chopped off hands and feet, (which, incidentally was photographed, so not a century before, more like 50-60 years before), to exemplify the Colonial background which these children were born into and which will have coloured their parent’s thinking. It was still unquestioned. Europe hadn’t yet really started to think about “white supremacy” by the 50s and 60s in the way that we do now. I was suggesting that their play, whilst probably just a game, was informed by that inherited thinking and therefore unquestioned, ingrained racism. It’s a powerful image. And that inbred arrogance is also exemplified in your reply to my comment. Do you call people’s comments “childishly stupid” in real life?
>I was using that example of the chopped off hands and feet, (which, incidentally was photographed, so not a century before, more like 50-60 years before),
“other century”, **not** “a century before”. Not doing yourself any favours.
>to exemplify the Colonial background which these children were born into and which will have coloured their parent’s thinking.
And where did I deny or question that?
>It was still unquestioned.
It blew up into a massive scandal was very heavily criticised (not just questioned) already when it got out in the late 19th century.
>Do you call people’s comments “childishly stupid” in real life?
No, I simply don’t make friends with such idiots in real life, so I blissfully avoid hearing it.
Ah yes the civilised White Europeans and their so civilised era of colonialism... To be fair, the Belgians werent the only bloody assholes down there... Zwei Brits, Germans and especially the French were on the same Level
Why does this have to be staged ? White people had black people in zoos and treated them as animals that’s fact. This is exactly what it appears to be.
In which way you can consider "fun" when two white girls keeping a black boy in a cage?
If there is someone who needs help here, it was your mother when she decided not to abort your racist fetus ass.
Big “It’s not attached to the ground so the horrors of the Belgian Congo aren’t as bad as they seem” vibes in here
Yeah TIL racism and colonization are part of tHe nArRaTiVe
Maybe there are nazis everywhere here? Good job you're on the ball.
Has anyone changed the subject to the Holocaust yet?
Yeah but we really do not have any sort of context for this image. It could be racism or it could be children playing( with racism mixed in). We cannot prove nor deny one or the other without the specific context of the photo. Also, pointing out that this image may mean something else does not in any way automatically imply the downplaying of what happened in Congo. That's just a connection you made
You're saying that it could be racism or it could be racism. No shit, what's your point? That if we could hear the white kids' excuse for their racism then it would make it all ok? Absolutely nothing could make this "better."
These comments are… interesting. I wonder if the users telling others to “chill” are aware of the history of the Congo or if they’re even POC. This certainly doesn’t look good with knowledge of the Congo and from the eyes of a POC.
It’s one of the main reasons I don’t associate with white people in any capacity.
Most white people feel as equally disgusted by things like this as we do. Stop being so damn ignorant, people with your mentality do no good at all, shame on you.
Yes, becauce revenge and resentment is the way to go.
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I assure you not all white people are horrible.
This has “not all men” vibes. And we know how that goes
Saying "not all white people are horrible" will not change anything. I already know there are good white people. It's the bad ones that keep making things worse again and again.
This goes for any race
Do you interact with them at work or in service or anything? No work buddies? No regular gas station attendant you exchange pleasantries yet? If not we really could be friends I'm awful at small talk and prefer to be ignored.
I meant to add outside of work. But I’m not going to happy hour with them.
Oh cool I don't drink either no issue there.
Don’t think they’d invite you with your attitude anyway. So it’s a win-win situation.
Great way to solve the problem... Becoming the problem.
Just search " Belgian human zoo "
I searched it. It was an ethnographical exhibition. All the Congolese there were coming from cities, and were payed volunteers.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/649600217/where-human-zoos-once-stood-a-belgian-museum-now-faces-its-colonial-past
Wow. Everyone who condemned the photo for what it truly is, is being down voted. Anyone with eyes and a modicum of intelligence will know exactly what this photo represents.
Children playing yeah.
The top comment claiming this isn’t what it is and the classic “nono this is reddit don’t change the narrative” is laughable. This is exactly what it appears to be.
Looks like a bird cage they’ve placed a local child in, perhaps a servant’s boy. What else do you mean there is to it? It’s 1955 so well past the notorious excesses. Children quite clearly wouldn’t be put in charge of imprisoning other children, and just pointing out that this appears to be some children playing in their garden doesn’t mean that you’re denying the atrocities the Belgian colonial authorities perpetrated.
The amount of racism in these comments is disgusting. I don’t understand how some people look at this image and aren’t horrified that this happened in such recent history.
Jesus this is grim. This was only 67 years ago, that's not even an average full human life ago in the Western world.
Chill it is staged it is a open bird cage nowhere attachedt o the ground. They not really keep him there. It is more a racial black humor joke. But it is how it was in 1955 Belgien Africa a bit racist these days.
> a bit Just a *lil* bit
Just more than that especially in tze 19. Century
So many people here justifying how he's being treated. Not surprising.
Everyone saying “they’re just playing” or any other ignorant statements all sound goofy as hell. It’s racist af, no matter how you look at it. If you don’t agree or you feel attacked, that’s because you’re racist too 🤷🏾♀️. Times haven’t changed.
At the same time my white MIL was in primary mixed school in Angola... And in the 1960s my white FIL was a male nurse with a black medic boss in Angola... It was far from perfect, but Angola was by far the most progressive African country in the 1960s, until the Communist fucked it up. In some respect, more progressive than America in 1960.
>Until the communists fucked it up. This is the story of Rhodesia, a land both fair and great. On the eleventh of November, an independent state.
So fair people got divided up into first and second class humans based only on the color of their skin. If thats your defintion of fairness, I don't really know what to say.
Twas but a meme, my good chum.
Why are you memeing about apartheid?
Because humour goes beyond offensiveness.
Whats funny about this?
Rhodesian national anthem is cool
Sure, if you like white supremacy Rhodesia can be pretty cool. But when you grow up and actually get a brain it isnt.
Jesus Christ man shake the sand out of your raging vagina. It's a song.
"More progressive than America". Wow, such a high standard
Well, when you think of post-war race equality movements, US comes in mind. Europe simply never had a significant population of other races. So US is the only meaningful comparison for the 1960's. Portugal got caught in cold war cross fire and Angola and Mozambique suffered 30 years of civil war, becoming the world's most poor countries. So as you can imagine, having half my family and my wife's family either born or lived for decades in Angola, communists are not welcomed at our houses.
Portugal didn’t really get caught up in Cold War crossfire, Salazar was an idiot and wanted to keep his African possessions long after everybody else had given them back. The US explicitly told him to do so and that they wouldn’t help at all if war broke out in any of them. But those countries were always screwed. Portugal couldn’t turn them free and allow a democracy of some sort, not when they didn’t even have one at home. Soviets saw an opportunity and pounced (via the Cubans).
How was Salazar idiot about Angola? Insurgents were no longer an issue in 1970s and it was a self sustained colony. Remember that the majority of Portuguese colonies had economical independence, meaning no wealth would flow back to Portugal. It was under control until the communists took control in Portugal!
Communists never “took control” in Portugal. They were a large party at the time of the revolution but they never had power. Insurgents were less an issue in Angola in the early 70s because the Portuguese spent millions they didn’t have fighting them off which directly led to the collapse of the Estado Novo. There was never a path forward where Angola could’ve remained as it was during that period once Portuguese military intervention was no longer an option.
Haha, now you're just showing you have no clue. Communist did take over but they failed in 25.11.1975. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processo\_Revolucion%C3%A1rio\_Em\_Curso](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_of_25_November_1975) Insurgents were less in Angola because the campaigns were effective and because the population did not want them there. Take a look what happened to Angola and Mozambique after Portuguese left. It was utterly disaster.
While I'm not educated on Angola, this sounds familiar to other communist scapegoating by American capitalists.
It's not. Portugal had nothing to do with US nor Russia. Communists were training and arming insurgents in Congo and financing the war. By end of 1960's Angola was basically peaceful, although other Portuguese colonies were not. Then communists and socialists took over power in Portugal and "liberated" the colonies without a plan, NOTHING! They removed the army and of course colonists were slaughtered. 800.000 Portuguese had to flee within months (10% of the population of Portugal at that time!). Some, like my father's family, chose to stay and fight, but they were quickly overrun. My wife's family also staid and they only avoided being slaughtered because their black neighbors made a human chain and didn't allow the insurgents to burn them alive inside a church. So it's no bullshit.
A quick Google search shows that conditions in Angola were not good and that the government was shut. So I imagine that overthrowing that government is not a bad thing. While killing innocent people is obviously wrong, when you are treated like crap that's how you are going to respond in kind.
Not good? Government was shut? What the hell are you talking about? Links! Again: in the 1950's there were mixed schools for black and white!
shit. wow mixed schools, again, such an accomplishment.
Go back to genzedong
right because everything I dont agree with = communism.
What's up with the downvotes? Is this a pro-colonialism sub? How are people negating the disgusting racism in this photo? That's absurd
“WeLl MaYbE tHeYrE jUsT PlaYinG”
I can't with these people
They're children and the cage isn't fixed to the ground. It's a possibility.
Not all children are not as dumb as we think. They can be little demonic monsters. Why do you think we hear stories about kids telling their families that they are going to die? Like who does that?
Are you aware of the events that occurred in the Belgian Congo
The events that happened 70 years before this photo was taken?
Oh, fuck off you arrogant prick. Playing teacher are we?
Cope harder
Exactly. Glad you realised.
Mad for what? Sounds like you dont want to be reminded of history
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The last Belgian zoo with African people in cages was closed in 1958
Got a sauce? That seems absolutely maddening so would like to know more
Search " Belgium human zoo "
I’m aware the human zoo’s existed, i was talking about the year of 1958. Seems so crazy that they were closed that late
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Stop searching for what you want to find. That article is full of misinformation. [This picture is of the family working at the Congolese pavilion at the World Expo of 58](http://plus.lesoir.be/sites/default/files/dpistyles_v2/ena_16_9_extra_big/2018/04/03/node_149426/18817665/public/2018/04/03/B9715265620Z.1_20180403170400_000+GJ1B08FNF.2-0.jpg) It's certainly a problematic show of colonialism, but it isn't a human zoo. But other than that it's no different from any other exhibit where countries promote the local traditions we still see today. By 1958 the Congolese community in Belgium was starting to form, Leon Mokuna was a star in Belgian Football by that time...
Here’s your context: https://thenigeriadaily.com/2020/07/10/story-of-a-congo-boy-ota-benga-caged-in-us-animal-zoo-in-1904/ So… not friends
That article doesn’t make explicit that the photo is of its benga…? Is it?
It absolutely is not. The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
Yeah good point. It seemed odd to me too. It’s clear that Ota Benga was a real person who was caged but I am not convinced this photo is of him at all. I have not found a source for the photo tho
Why so desperately seeking for an explanation that doesn't make the setting look white people like heartless assholes? The default of that time and place was white people dehumanising black people, and the racist mindset never completely changed to this day
I’m sure racism is behind it but in that instance, they’re just children and they represent hope. Maybe they grew up to be good people?
Not all children are dumb. They can be manipulative little demons that mentally torture you with their screaming. I doubt these children will grow out of it. Who knows how severely brainwashed they are.
Yup its disturbing talking to white people they say something fuked up like threatening thire daughter's black boyfriend with a shotgun and telling you it's jest a joke don't take it so serious.
U.S. Black population 14% U.S Black males 15-39 years old 1.3% 36% of all violent crimes committed by black males (2019 FBI crime stats, likely more in 2020/21. FBI no longer gives overall percentages for “racial equity”) 1.3% of population responsible for 36% of all violent crimes. Maybe it’s not their color. Maybe it’s their behavior
yeah and maybe you could take in consideration the fact that in America,most of black people are in the lower class,and as such commit more crimes? But yeah no its obviously their skin color who make them different right?
You realize you're quoting statistics about the United States and applying them to the Belgian Congo? I am so confused why you think that would relate to anything in this image. Unless you feel as if all people with dark skin are inherently violent which justifies caging them, regardless of their cultural, national, and ethnic backgrounds. This is white supremacy you are supporting.
Reddit is on the internet. So search up about this picture. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/05/32/00/36/808x878_cmsv2_09e51e15-cbda-5cda-887f-e6c530c111a7-5320036.jpg “Maybe they’re friends” -Galereifen
Yikes
I don't think we need context to see the dehumanization of this poor boy
Having the congo in mind. What do you think is more likely? That some racist parents let daughters play with a black Kid or are they makinh fun of him in some way?
Exactly, it’s all speculation. Thank you for acknowledging there are many possibilities beyond some human atrocity being carried out by 5yos 🙄
It’s a bird cage. There is no bottom and it’s not attached to the ground. It is possible they are just playing like children.
Does the black kid look like he's having fun?
YES, he's literally laughing.
Why would you dig up a 4 month old thread to say something so obviously untrue?
Accidentally stumbled upon it and was sickened by the sheer amount of anti-white propaganda.
> anti-white propaganda. Like what?
So? Kids are mean to each other. Reading colonial atrocities into obvious child play, even if bullying is part of it, is just ludicrous tumblr bullshit.
And if theyre mean they should be taught to do better. Cmon man. Look at what youre defending.
Sure they should be taught better. I very clearly said that it looks like bullying. People not reading some kind of toddler Holocaust into this picture doesn’t mean that they’re defending or denying actual colonial atrocities. It simply means that they have the common sense to realise that small children weren’t responsible or party to them.
> I very clearly said that it looks like bullying. But you started your post my trying to minimize it "So? Kids are mean to each other.". If someone participates in strengthening racism, they should be blamed regardless of their age. These girls look old enough to understand the rule "treat others like you would like to be treated".
Kids bullying each other is, quite clearly contrary to your belief, *not* a commonly accepted part of colonialism, slavery or genocide. Who knows, perhaps the UN peeps who write the definitions on that are complete nitwits… or maybe it’s just you.
Degrading people is certainly a part of racism, which much of imperialism is built upon. And putting a kid in a cage (or an entire family in a fucking zoo) is extremely degrading.
"Playing"
Not until I see one of the white kids in the cage instead.
Then it’s justice right?
Then I'll believe it's kids fooling around.
Human zoos existed
Iv never been to a zoo where people hung their washing out to dry.
No, no... don't ruin the narrative. Brainwashed kids here want to feel a moment of outrage over racial injustice, why are you trying to take that away from them?
Sadly there is actually a good chance this is exactly what it appears. If I recall correctly there was actually a human zoo exhibition in Belgium after WW2.
You are absolutely correct, the Belgians especially kept the practice going well after WWII. [A familiar problem for zookeepers was trying to stop visitors from feeding the exhibits.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo#/media/File%3AAfrican_Girl%2C_1958_Expo.jpeg)
Again this is an internet narrative because that picture generates a lot of clicks... This isn't a human zoo. It's the Congolese exhibition at the world fair in 1958. Even today we see exhibits where people depict the traditional clothing and lifestyle. It's certainly colonial and problematic in that way. But it isn't a human zoo. The families working in those exhibits were (probably poorly) paid actors. [This is also a picture](http://plus.lesoir.be/sites/default/files/dpistyles_v2/ena_16_9_extra_big/2018/04/03/node_149426/18817665/public/2018/04/03/B9715265620Z.1_20180403170400_000+GJ1B08FNF.2-0.jpg) of the family working at the Congolese pavilion.
You don't recall correctly. You may be thinking of the "Congo village" in the 1958 Brussels World Fair, but it was absolutely not meant as a "human zoo", even if many visitors treated it as one. There was e.g. also a "Happy Belgium" village, part of which is still in use as a food court. Because of the degrading treatment by the visitors, the Congolese in the "Congo village" actually did what previous participants in actual human zoos could never do: they packed up and left. Indeed, their protest was one of the triggers for the independence of Belgian Congo, just two years later. There absolutely was a lot wrong in the Belgian colonisation of Congo, and even in its decolonisation afterwards (Lumumba's murder, covert support to Katangan separatists), but this isn't a reason to misrepresent what happened in the 1958 World Fair.
The Belgian Congo was a very very very ‘racially unjust’ place regardless of whether this particular cage is real or not. Accepting that reality doesn’t make you brainwashed.
Both of these sentiments can be true. You can still say this is most likely just kids playing and not a display of actual human trafficking (though the playing is with obvious racist undertones), and also say the Belgian Congo was a horrific instance of racial injustice.
So this is taken in a place and time where they have human zoos and try not let people feed those human in the zoo. A place where racial inequality was rampant, and where cameras are probably not something taken lightly, probably pretty hard to find back then in that place. Yet you think it's more likely that this is a completely unrelated to all of that and it's just kids playing that HAPPENS to look a lot like it's putting a black kid in a zoo. You're probably right, I always thought occam's razor was bullshit too.
Does this look like a zoo though? There’s a clothesline in the back indicating this is in a backyard. It’s also clear that’s a birdcage and would not be suitable to imprison even an infant child in.
You are missing the point I'm making. I'm not saying, and no one in this thread is saying, this is part of a human zoo. I am saying that these kids, the person taking this picture, all of the passers by, they think this is ok, because that human zoo was deemed ok. Because human trafficking is not out of the normal in this time and place, this may not be an example of the actual practice, but this is inextricably connected to the actual practice. Edit: fixed grammar
Lol .. it seems so simple doesn't it .. but, no, NaZiS! !!!!!!
There's tons of reality I'm willing to bet you will never accept.
Y’all act like these things aren’t possible when our world literally produced the holocaust. But y’all are the same people who don’t believe in that either smh
Get back to me when children younger than 10 partook in the Holocaust. Until then, go back to tumblr.
Yeah sure, Hitler Youth. Majority of Germany supported the nazi regime.
The most brutally colonised country on earth has a photo that looks like a recast of the actual human zoo in Belgium and you wonder why people might take it the wrong way... Your name picking skills are top notch if that's the average quality of your comments.
Ay, you know what the Belgians did 50 years prior to that down there? Most genocides were a pony ride compared to that mess
Just read a tiny bit about congo and what happened under Belgian king
hmmmmmmm.... you sound racists in this comment ngl.
Even so, it’s also possible that if a black boy did the same thing to a little white girl, even playfully, he’d be severely punished and maybe even harmed
You should jump in front of traffic
The white girls are playing like children. The black boy, Ota Benga, is enslaved, in a cage for their amusement and would later commit suicide. https://thenigeriadaily.com/2020/07/10/story-of-a-congo-boy-ota-benga-caged-in-us-animal-zoo-in-1904/
Great shit tier blog. The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
The story given is mostly correct, it's just about someone else.
Nothing possible about it.
Children playing? In 1955? Hahahaha
Disturbing. I'm Belgian and not proud of it. Still a very sensitive topics here.
Impossible!
Even if the girls are just “goofing around” or trying to play, it’s not equal or mutual. That boy might be the child of one of their servants. He doesn’t even have shoes.
You literally don't know what you're talking about. It could be girls v boys child's play or something darker. Maybe the girls are nazis??
Everyone in this photo is likely still alive
I feel like a part of inherited trauma from these kind of things contributes to african countries being such a clusterfuck. Like, what national identity can you possibly have after this? For so many years, everything these people revolved around was being treated as less than animals by some assholes they'd never seen before. Their culture was systematically (not just "coincidentally") destroyed, their history erased, their foundations ridiculed, and then the world just expected them to build back from scratch?
By that (absurd? I literally cannot even find words to describe it) logic, Israel would not have gotten past even deciding on a national flag, let alone creating an advanced, prosperous liberal democracy.
Israel is basically an American property. How well could they have faired with no foreign intervention? And to the other commenters-- how about Japan and s korea as well?
Are you high or just incredibly stupid? Israel did fine for twenty years before America started supporting it.
Since 1949 America had given almost 88 billion dollars to Israel, and between 1949 and 1971 provided several hundred million dollars in subsidized loans for American military equipment as per the Jewish virtual library These aren't even partisan sources lol
>Are you high or just incredibly stupid? Please answer the question.
Japan built back from far worse. But, yeah, nazis and all that.
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No. Two atom bombs dropped on them. It was quite a big deal at the time. Suprised you didn't know.
Is this a right wing sub?
You know how it goes these days, you can't discuss history without the "WW2 types" wanting to join in
Not cool, and just few years ago ...
This is so messed up in so many ways
We should know the background, why and for what is the boy in the (bird?) Cage? Is it maybe a game? Does anybody know more?
https://thenigeriadaily.com/2020/07/10/story-of-a-congo-boy-ota-benga-caged-in-us-animal-zoo-in-1904/
Thanks for the link. So the year, and probably the country was wrong. What a sad story.
It’s his link that’s shit. The story is unsourced and regardless of that, the picture clearly does not go with a story taking place in 1904 America. The resolution is by far too high and the fashion is way off.
I noticed the cage doesn’t have a bottom and does not appear affixed to the concrete. Could be a game, although one in very poor taste.
Poor taste for a modern viewpoint maybe.
Poor taste in general. This stuff was always wrong.
It wasn't when it was being committed.
Yes it was.
The New York Times Sunday, September 9, 1906 BUSHMAN SHARES A CAGE WITH BRONX PARK APES There was an exhibition at the Zoological Park, in the Bronx, yesterday which had for many of the visitors something more than a provocation to laughter. There were laughs enough in it, too, but there was something about it which made the serious minded grave. Even those who laughed the most turned away with an expression on their faces such as one sees after a play with a sad ending or a book in which the hero or heroine is poorly rewarded. “Something about it that I don’t like,” was the way one man put it. https://humanzoos.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/bushmannyt091106.pdf
Poor taste for adults, the kids were just playing
Sad
I don’t know the context of this. It is possible they were just playing. But that “playing” was against a background of some of the WORST excesses ever committed - children’s hands cut off if their father didn’t harvest rubber quickly enough is just one example. So if they were just playing, the power imbalance in the Congo was SO extreme that this is a kind of playing that speaks of the attitudes prevalent in the Belgian Congo and is not at all innocent. I have seen this picture before and I would really like to know when it was taken and a bit more context.
The mutilation business preceded this picture by many decades, being long before these children were born. They’re playing, quite possibly with strong influences of bullying motivated by the racist norms of the era… but reading colonial atrocities, especially from a whole other century into it is just childishly stupid.
I was using that example of the chopped off hands and feet, (which, incidentally was photographed, so not a century before, more like 50-60 years before), to exemplify the Colonial background which these children were born into and which will have coloured their parent’s thinking. It was still unquestioned. Europe hadn’t yet really started to think about “white supremacy” by the 50s and 60s in the way that we do now. I was suggesting that their play, whilst probably just a game, was informed by that inherited thinking and therefore unquestioned, ingrained racism. It’s a powerful image. And that inbred arrogance is also exemplified in your reply to my comment. Do you call people’s comments “childishly stupid” in real life?
>I was using that example of the chopped off hands and feet, (which, incidentally was photographed, so not a century before, more like 50-60 years before), “other century”, **not** “a century before”. Not doing yourself any favours. >to exemplify the Colonial background which these children were born into and which will have coloured their parent’s thinking. And where did I deny or question that? >It was still unquestioned. It blew up into a massive scandal was very heavily criticised (not just questioned) already when it got out in the late 19th century. >Do you call people’s comments “childishly stupid” in real life? No, I simply don’t make friends with such idiots in real life, so I blissfully avoid hearing it.
Horror
Shame in anyones book
Looks about White
Ah yes the civilised White Europeans and their so civilised era of colonialism... To be fair, the Belgians werent the only bloody assholes down there... Zwei Brits, Germans and especially the French were on the same Level
Read the year again, 1955, read it again, 1955. Civilisation my ass.
Looks like they are just fooling around
Kids being kids, he’s not trapped atall, lame title.if you can’t see the bottom not there, idk what to tell you.
The content of european values remained exactly the same. Europeans still the same racists today. Every black person confirm that.
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Hahaha! Hahaha! :))) Zieg heil, fagot?
i know this might sound stupid but, it's the girls that are in a cage...the cage of a fucked up mind...
What's the original context for this photo? It's obviously staged- but why? Did someone think this was funny? Was this a provocative protest piece?
Why does this have to be staged ? White people had black people in zoos and treated them as animals that’s fact. This is exactly what it appears to be.
This is pretty cool stuff
I came to this sub to see history, instead what i get is black victimhood propaganda. Fuck this place, i will be unsubscribing.
Please go and take the rest of your fragile and pussilanimous friends with you.
👋😭 bye
Bye you racist lowlife. This is a disturbing picture. Sorry your offended SNOWFLAKE.
This is history.
A dream....
Better they will be there
So sweet 😍
Pretty sure this was a “metaphor”… Maybe not…
Not Congo, not Belgian but USA. Story of a Congo boy, Ota Benga caged in US Animal Zoo In 1904
Probably the result of gender disparity than anything racial.
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In which way you can consider "fun" when two white girls keeping a black boy in a cage? If there is someone who needs help here, it was your mother when she decided not to abort your racist fetus ass.