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A review by cebolla
No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality by Jordan Flaherty
5.0
I was expecting this to be another book about the movement written by an over-analyzing intellectual who has never seen the front lines of anything. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a thoughtful series of essays written by an activist with actual life experience. Flaherty has published a number of books and articles, was the first reporter to bring the Jena Six case to a national audience, and is the only journalist identified as a subject in the NYPD's spying programs. It's obvious from his writing that he has more at stake than just the prospect of a nice paycheck.
No More Heroes, using many examples from around the world, breaks down and dissects the savior mentality, a problem committed disproportionately, or almost exclusively, by white people in activist communities. Flaherty drives home the point that white people, when joining a cause, need to learn how to be a part of something and take our cues from people whose lives are being directly affected, without the declawing that comes with white guilt. As he says it: “The prototypical savior is a person who has been raised in privilege and taught implicity or explicitly (or both) that they possess the answers and skills needed to rescue others, no matter the situation.”
Brandon Darby in New Orleans is used as one of the multiple, concrete examples of the white savior complex. Darby is someone who wasn't from New Orleans, but went to help after Katrina. Although providing necessary resources, he thought he was there to teach people who had grown up in the struggle how to get shit done. He was made such a hero by his fellow white people that the allegations of him sexually assaulting multiple women were able to be swept under the rug.
Among the many other examples, the one that stands out the most to me is when Mario Van Peebles was attempting to make the movie “Panther.” He was told by studio executive after studio executive that he needed a white lead. One exec even suggested that he focus on a white person who would meet some black youth and teach them to stand up for themselves. These men would later become the Black Panthers. The importance of having a white lead (even if the main character was a person of color in real life) plays right into creating and maintaining the white savior complex.
The last few essays focused more on what white people can do to be good accomplices. The main idea I drew from this portion of the book is that “Support means using whatever privilege and access you have to influence the systems that have power over the lives of others.”
No More Heroes, using many examples from around the world, breaks down and dissects the savior mentality, a problem committed disproportionately, or almost exclusively, by white people in activist communities. Flaherty drives home the point that white people, when joining a cause, need to learn how to be a part of something and take our cues from people whose lives are being directly affected, without the declawing that comes with white guilt. As he says it: “The prototypical savior is a person who has been raised in privilege and taught implicity or explicitly (or both) that they possess the answers and skills needed to rescue others, no matter the situation.”
Brandon Darby in New Orleans is used as one of the multiple, concrete examples of the white savior complex. Darby is someone who wasn't from New Orleans, but went to help after Katrina. Although providing necessary resources, he thought he was there to teach people who had grown up in the struggle how to get shit done. He was made such a hero by his fellow white people that the allegations of him sexually assaulting multiple women were able to be swept under the rug.
Among the many other examples, the one that stands out the most to me is when Mario Van Peebles was attempting to make the movie “Panther.” He was told by studio executive after studio executive that he needed a white lead. One exec even suggested that he focus on a white person who would meet some black youth and teach them to stand up for themselves. These men would later become the Black Panthers. The importance of having a white lead (even if the main character was a person of color in real life) plays right into creating and maintaining the white savior complex.
The last few essays focused more on what white people can do to be good accomplices. The main idea I drew from this portion of the book is that “Support means using whatever privilege and access you have to influence the systems that have power over the lives of others.”