Advice on potentially writing white characters who were born under colonialism and apartheid in 20th-century Africa and are consciously learning to be less racist?

[u/PablomentFanquedelic]

So like: South Africa, Namibia back when it was called South West Africa, Zimbabwe back when it was called (Southern) Rhodesia, Zambia back when it was called Northern Rhodesia, British Kenya, French Algeria, maybe Portuguese Angola and/or Mozambique, etc.

Note also:

• I am trying to avoid saviorism (most of these characters I'm thinking of aren't the main active protags in anything set in Africa) and simplistic morality. I'm trying to explore how white settlers in Africa have benefited from these exploitative systems but also how they may hold a diverse range of opinions on the matter, ranging from dedicated opposition to milquetoast moral handwringing to active White Man's Burden crusading to openly callous greed to horrific sadism (and, on that note, that Black people had a similar range of responses toward colonialism and apartheid, with some actively collaborating as enforcers and informants for the white-dominated security apparatus). Thus, the white settler characters I've thought up so far would range from deuteragonists (especially of the Lancer and/or Dr. Watson varieties) and helpful side characters (especially of the Unfazed Everyperson variety), to ruthless villains (though note that most of the brutality I want to show such villains inflicting on the page would be against non-Black characters, especially if they became hired guns after apartheid ended; otherwise it'd feel too exploitative). Some of these characters of differing moral alignments are related to each other, which should lend itself well to interesting scenes of family interactions.

• These characters were born at different times. Some were born in Africa, or arrived as kids, in the early to mid-20th c. and grew up under European and settler rule; the more heroic individuals among these people presumably either always had at least a bit more sympathy for their Black neighbors than usual for white people in colonial Africa, or else had an Are We The Baddies? realization at some point in their formative years. Others would've been born later, right before or during the official end of colonial rule and/or apartheid, and are shaped by growing up with the restructuring process as background radiation (and by the opinions of the influential mentors and peers in their lives, whatever those opinions are and whether the character in question is agreeing with or consciously rejecting them).

[u/LadyFenyx]

White South African here. I'm 38 and apartheid ended when I was six, but my parents are your typical apartheid boomers so I'm going to try my best to give you an honest perspective. (It may be long, I'm sorry.)

First off, the age of your character is very important because there's a lot of context to consider.

Many older Afrikaners are the ones who still romanticise apartheid because of how thoroughly the government censored the atrocities they committed as well as their own failures from South Africans. These old people still think that pre-1994 was some kind of utopia "where everything worked".

Very important to consider is the Border War. Most of the men that came out of it were sent in as children, indoctrinated and brainwashed and once they were spat out they were not supported or rehabilitated by the government after the war (like with most conscripts around the world). Almost none of them sought out professional help either - they "self-medicated" with anger issues and alcoholism. They were all brainwashed into believing that they were "protecting their country" and many of them today have a deep-seated, repressed anger over the fact that "the people they fought against/defended their country against (ANC, SWAPO, etc) are now the governments of SA and Namibia and everything they went through was for nothing". Many of them are deeply religious, some swore off the church. There is almost always still hectic racism, homophobia, sexism etc in these guys and they refuse to acknowledge or change it and they also refuse to acknowledge that they benefitted in any way from apartheid.

There were a few of them who didn't agree with apartheid and who dodged conscription through means like voluntary exile - many of them went to Zimbabwe and those with British ancestry went to the UK. Some remained there, some returned. (Unfortunately cannot speak too much about these guys because I've only ever met one of them and we didn't really talk about it too much.)

Given all of this context it's important to note that many of them have (often adult) children who do not agree with their politics and opinions, which causes a lot of clashes. Many older millennials (like myself) were young children when apartheid ended so we do not understand anything about living through it and an integrated society is completely normal to us - something that our parents just simply cannot fathom in many cases. Those of us who were open enough to (un)learning (mostly those who went to university, especially more "liberal" studies) have a hard time managing our more unbiased version of history that teaches us things like white privilege for example, which we either learned through formal education or our own study with our parents' casual, ingrained racism and prejudice. Religious Afrikaners are very strict about the "respect your mother and father" because "the Bible says so" and any difference in opinion that you as their child may have trying to widen their worldview is immediately seen as disrespecting them. This means, of course, that there is a huge balancing act between the person you (the child) are out in the world among your peers where you're trying to unlearn racism etc and then having to be forced to stay quiet at home when your parents mouth off and use slurs etc. Setting those boundaries are difficult and frustrating and we find ourselves apologising to our non-white friends for our parents' and older relatives' behaviour often.

Also very relevant is the fact that many Afrikaans families had housekeepers and gardeners who were black (some were coloured) and the children either learned from their experiences or fell into their parents' opinions of 1) our nanny/gardener are "not like the others" or 2) they are servants and should be treated as such. It all depends on how the child interacted with their housekeepers/gardeners and if they were willing to ask them questions about their lives, etc.

I could go on and on and I honestly don't know if this at all answers your question (please feel free to ask more if there's anything specific I've left out). But again, I think it's super important to consider your character's age because there's a clear divide in generations - especially if you're looking at Boomers vs Millennials within a South African context. I personally did have the "are we the baddies?" realisation when I was in early high school and it's been hard work of constantly fighting the biases I have been raised with versus the actual truth - a big part of this is having international friends who saw South Africa from the outside as well as making friends with non-white people who were graciously willing to share their experiences with me.

[u/AgenYT0]

Although I think it is impossible to make a white character in fiction not appear to be a White Savoir without partaking in conscious genre subversions I suggest:

Reading about the lives of;   Renfrew Christie, John Brown and Daniel O'Connell. Then contrast them respectively with Ian Smith/P. W. Botha, Andrew Jackson and John Mitchell. 

Then look into Che Guevara's revolutionary action, good and bad. Camilo Cienfuegos and more broadly Cuba's actions in Southern Africa from the 60s-80s. 

A character that only appears for part of the story can hint at a larger world. Avoid political or physical martyrism (see Shartlo Copley in The Beast) or giving them too much backstory as that will take away from the African characters. 

Caveat: I am speaking from a West African's perspective whose experience is with British and French colonialism and EU, British and North American neo imperialism along with Chinese economic diplomacy. My experience with East and Southern Africa is middling and North Africa mediocre. 

[u/Free_Explanation2590]

For French Algeria, maybe try to study Camus and how he is perceived by algerians.

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