The documentary by Runako Celina and Henry Mhango aims to create awareness of the exploitation of African children Photo BBC
Africa – Back in February 2020 a video began to circulate on Chinese social media site that would shock not only the nation but the world. The video showed a group of African children being instructed, by a voice off-camera, to chant phrases in Chinese. The children happily chanted the phrases which translated to “I am a black monster, and my IQ is low.” This video was the start to uncovering the racists acts taking place across Africa.
The clip rightfully caused anger across the world. While many were pained, few asked the crucial questions about where, why and how these videos came to be. This sent BBC Journalists, Runako Celina, and Henry Mhango, on a mission to answer these questions. They created the documentary called Africa Eye: Racism for sale.
Her experiences with racism being an African in China
Celina was previously based in Beijing. Moving there in 2013 and staying there for seven years before moving back to the UK when Covid hit. She was amazing at the “massive African diaspora and thriving community”. Showcasing this to the world was her first steps into the world of journalism.
Living in China as a black individual proved to be good and bad. There was a huge fascination about her from locals which was to be expected. While some wanted to learn more about her out of curiosity, others had different intentions, said Celina.
“There’s a lot of curiosity. People often will not have had a chance to interact with someone who is black, who is of African heritage … There’s lots of innocent questions. Equally though there is racism too. I think that sometimes it’s very difficult to engage honestly about those issues. It’s definitely a mixed bag. Lots of positive memories. I always tell people I was there for so long for a reason.”
The reason for the investigation and creating the documentary
According to Celina the industry of making these videos has existed since 2015. The industry has been around almost for as long as she has been in the country. For Celina, seeing these videos raised a number of concerns about the children who were part of them.
“I remember very early on seeing these videos and wondering. Number one, did the children understand what’s going on? Number two, have their parents consented to their presence in these videos? What’s going on behind the scenes? How many videos like this are floating around? When an industry, such as this one, which is powered by social media exists for so long, it is powered by innovation. These content creators start off doing something very simple and eventually it becomes what we see in our investigation. Kids insulting themselves on the basis of their race, on camera for an audience far far away. I think that was ultimately the catalyst to say no. Enough is enough.”
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The blame cannot be placed at the feet of the parents
Every parent wants to keep their child out of danger. Protect them from the evils of the world. It is almost as if this instinct is instilled in every parent. Some may ask where were the parents of these children? Why and how did they let this happen? For Celina, it would be wrong to place the blame on these parents who were simply none the wiser of what was going on.
“Power is very interesting and the power dynamic that was at play in this industry was very evident throughout the whole process. Number one language. Most of the parents that we interacted with would have had no means to understand what was being said in these videos. They were understanding this as an educational, charitable, and not as something that was profitable at all. There was no understanding from any parent that we spoke that this was a business. That these videos could earn money. That really takes that responsibility away from the parents.”
What Celina also found was a power dynamic that ensured those who made these videos could do as they wanted. The economical situation in these villages allowed these people to take advantage of the kids. Whether the parents wanted or did not want their children in these videos was of no importance.
“On camera we speak to the mother of a young boy who became almost like the poster child of this industry. In hindsight she wishes that she had done more. She even tells us on camera that she did try to remove her child and every single time that she did, he was taken again. I think that language that she used in that moment was really important because it shows the power dynamic. Imagine someone swanning into a very remote that naturally is economically less stable than somewhere in the capital. Wielding their economic privilege so much that they can just swoop in and take your children to do whatever they will. That was kind of the dynamic that was at play in the village.”
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The reason for exploiting African children
The exploitation of Africans is not something. Throughout history Africans have been exploited in one way or another. However, as time progressed, one would hope it would not be happening anymore. Celina believes the exploitation takes place because of the curiosity people have about Africans.
“There is this kind of ongoing curiosity. Curiosity around Africans, around blackness and kind of an exoticization of what it means to be from somewhere so far flung. You’ve got to remember the majority of people who will watch this content will never set foot in the African continent anywhere. I think there is this element of curiosity. I do want to highlight to a Chinese audience, many will not have realised what was going on behind the scenes. They too will buy into this idea of ‘this is charitable, this is actually helping local people’.”
The driving force behind this market
While Celina pointed that many may not have realised what was going on, there still had to be those who knew about it all. Those who know about it and paid for such type of content. It is through them this industry continues to grow and more forward. According to Celina, the industry started off with people paying for innocent things. Congratulatory messages and the likes before it took a dark turn.
“The industry starts off with people holding placards or even white paper initially saying celebratory messages … very innocent in nature but it then kind of transitions toward this really dark and problematic content that we see in the film … Our undercover journalist engaged with the man who filmed this content, and he had no problem filming other videos that had derogatory messages and were making the children say these evil things. For that category of content, I think it comes back to this idea of racism and ideas about blackness that are held among some in Chinese society.”
The problem is spread across the African continent
Although the video in question was filmed in Malawi, Celina’s investigation revealed the problem is spread across Africa. It is not only children who are being exploited but also young adults.
“Very early on in the investigation we show a map of the African continent, and we show the different operations that we found in different countries. Ethiopia, Egypt, and Zambia, which was the home of the industry for a very long time … Although children are used in this instance we’re talking about, men and young women also appearing in these videos. While there’s a kind of a power play between children and adults, there’s also this economic exploitation that is happening with adults appearing in videos like this as well.”
Curbing the spread of these videos and putting a stop to it
The longer something like this is left unbothered, the quicker it will spread and normalised in a way. The one way to put a stop to it is by creating local awareness of what is happening. Educating young adults and kids that not everyone who points a camera at you means well. It has to be forth both locally and internationally, explained Celina.
“We’re focusing on a Chinese filmmaker but there have been people of many different nationalities swarming into villages across the African continent and thinking that it’s appropriate to stick cameras in the faces of children and everyone else. I think we have to challenge those behaviours in general and wonder why it’s perceived as appropriate in an African context when you wouldn’t do that in Europe … In local communities there needs to be awareness spread that actually not everyone who comes and says can you sing or dance or can I film you has your best intentions in mind.”
Abroad people need to be educated about the rights and wrongs before leaving their country and visiting the African continent. There needs to be this education that reinforces that this is not okay, and consequences need to be laid out, said Celina.
According to Celina, the Chinese man who was responsible for filming the video tried to cross the border into Zambia before the documentary was released. He was captured and extradited to Malawi. He now is being charged but due process is being followed. Mhango has been getting praised by the African community for shedding light on such incidents. Celina hopes this documentary will help spread awareness of the problem at hand and hopefully be the start to the end of it all.
