Social media unhappy with 'white boy' gifting petrol attendant bicycle

Social media unhappy with 'white boy' gifting petrol attendant bicycle

Last week a story went viral of a young boy who gifted his 'favourite' petrol attendant a new bicycle.

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On Friday, Briefly.co.za reported about a young boy who befriended a petrol attendant and decided he wanted to gift his new friend a bicycle.

The 10-year-old boy was allegedly saving up for a holiday with his mother but instead used the funds to purchase a bicycle for the petrol attendant.

The story was mostly received positively in South Africa and people were inspired by their friendship.

However, not everyone saw the kind gesture in a positive light and some social media users slammed it online.

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A Twitter user, who was identified as @_BlackProtector, slammed the story and said the boy can keep his bicycle.

"Is this really the South Africa we want? Where black people are permanently disempowered. A grown black man must accept gifts from a young white boy who has never worked a day in his life but is already wealthier than him. Keep the bicycle, Give us our land," she wrote.

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She went on to add: "Some people refuse to acknowledge that our past of colonialism, apartheid & dispossession informs everything about our present condition. You cannot view SA society in isolation of its past, Properly analysed. You will then see how power & privilege has manifested itself in a gift."

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Maryn Blignaut avatar

Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za