“It Started a Long Time Ago”: Woman Explains America’s Interest in Mzansi After White Degeneration

• A researcher shared historical facts about how American corporations funded studies in South Africa
• The Carnegie Commission's Poor White Study aimed to uplift poor white communities while creating more restrictive laws against black South Africans
• The educational video revealed how this collaboration laid the foundation for apartheid policies

A researcher has shed light on the historical roots of America's interest in South Africa, revealing connections that date back nearly a century. The educational content went viral as South Africans learned about collaborations that helped shape the country's racial policies.

Content creator @DebunkingWhiteGenocideSA, who runs a page dedicated to addressing myths about white genocide in South Africa, shared the video on 22nd July with a detailed caption about welfare systems from the 1930s.

According to the researcher, American and South African collaboration focused on what was known as "the poor white problem" during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Poor White Study was conducted between the 1920s and 1930s in South Africa but was primarily funded by the American Carnegie Corporation, founded by steel industry titan Andrew Carnegie. The foundation was involved in what researchers call "segregationist philanthropic projects" both in the US and former British colonies across Africa.

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There was genuine fear of "white degeneration" - that poor white communities were "going native" because of shared living and working conditions with people of colour. The commission blamed black South Africans for white poverty, recommending even more restrictive laws around employment, housing, and land ownership.

The study served to consolidate ideas about whiteness itself, as upper-class white South Africans didn't even consider poor whites as truly "white." Through photography and awareness campaigns, they tried to generate sympathy for these communities, showing them as innocent and deserving of help.

Ultimately, it was all about money and controlling how wealth was distributed, creating an academic framework to justify keeping economic power in white hands while further excluding black South Africans from opportunities.

This historical connection may explain why America continues to show such interest in South African affairs today. Allegedly, according to many people who commented on the video, this is why the refugee programme may have started up; as a different method of controlling certain entities and maintaining influence in the country's economic and political landscape.

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Mzansi reacts to historical revelations

South Africans responded with interest and understanding to the historical information:

@mukelo_ncube connected the dots:

"Now it makes sense, when Verwoerd spoke about Afrikaner Upliftment, now the dots connects."

@liz_vanderau_kruger noted:

"Colonists in the Cape didn't have race but class lines. The English started the race thing."

@mary_ann_rodrigues shared a personal story:

"Yet people have the gall to claim 'hard work' got them to where they are in modern South Africa. My father who passed at 73 told me how he was tasked to upskill a homeless white man, and his company turned around to make that dude his boss."

@janette_stepanik questioned:

"What is the purpose of your message here? Have you ever lived in South Africa?"

@beulah_mosupye added:

"SOEs even provided housing for the clerks to middle management at low rental."

@dumisane_mangwane appreciated:

"It's so informative. Now I have the background. Thanks!"

Watch the Facebook video below:

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More on South Africa-America connections

• Briefly News recently reported on young activist Pieter Kriel's shocking confession about losing family members after his controversial comments, but what he said about Afrikaner refugees surprised everyone.
• An American couple went viral for claiming they're living their dream life in South Africa, but their real reasons for relocating reveal something deeper about life in America.
• A hardworking Afrikaner farmer in America shared his December plans after months of physical labour, but his H-2A visa status tells a different story about opportunity.

Source: Briefly News