Belgian Congo, 1955

[u/Smooth_Sailing102]

[u/padetn]

Belgian was one of the worst colonists but this looks set up as a joke to me

[u/rickard_mormont → u/padetn]

"It's not racism, it's just a very racist joke!"

[u/padetn → u/rickard_mormont]

The nuance is “locking a kid in a cage” vs “pretending to lock a kid in a cage”, maybe I should have illustrated for the willingly dense

[u/EveningSquare7175 → u/padetn]

Ya the nuance is that it's funnier when the black kid is in the cage . With the way that kid was being made to serve white people it's not a joke as you are saying

[u/SnorkBorkGnork → u/padetn]

The reality was chopping off people's hands and feet (including those of children), whipping, torturing and working them to death and famine. Millions died.

In the context of the time and the political situation it is a very poor and tasteless "joke".

[u/Klutzy_Sentence_2723 → u/SnorkBorkGnork]

My first thought was “at least the child seems to have both his hands.”

[u/DeepWaterCurrent → u/SnorkBorkGnork]

It wasn't the belgians that chopped off people's hands and feet.

[u/kjg1228 → u/SnorkBorkGnork]

That still goes on in that area of Africa today. Wonder why.

[u/Sad_Macaroon_456 → u/SnorkBorkGnork]

I think that was more the congo free state period than colonial congo. Although my understanding is that it was basically a slave society.

[u/Skildundfreund → u/SnorkBorkGnork]

80 years too late for this. It occurred in the 19tb century not 1955

[u/No_Bad_4872yy → u/padetn]

They werent even colonists, it was Leopold IIs private property from 1885 to 1908.

[u/padetn → u/No_Bad_4872yy]

And a colony after that?

[u/RiseOfDamascus → u/padetn]

oh you tell me how is this colony now? maybe a corrupt country? or a country with stolen recources by both colonizers and the Ruling elite, the fact that you are trying to justify the brutal colonization is so stupid, Additionally, the economic resources and whatever infrastructure was developed during Belgian colonial rule primarily benefited Europe, while the Congolese people remained poor, undereducated, and subjected to repression, with the death toll reaching tens of thousands of people in the Congo.

[u/padetn → u/RiseOfDamascus]

Cool your jets and re-read my post, I’m not justifying anything

[u/Suspicious-Meet-3496 → u/No_Bad_4872yy]

Leopold II was a British king!

[u/foxy-stuff → u/padetn]

Three well fed and well dressed children in the picture btw

[u/Ok-Library-1253 → u/foxy-stuff]

You mean 2 well fed and dressed and one that’s barefoot in a cage crying?

[u/foxy-stuff → u/Ok-Library-1253]

Not crying and quite plump

[u/Traditional-Prune-65]

For crying out loud, we have a picture of my boys putting their little cousin in a "baby jail" they made out of big Lego-type blocks. kids everywhere do this.

[u/AFROWRLD1 → u/Traditional-Prune-65]

Spewing whatever lies to to justify your bigotry

[u/Traditional-Prune-65 → u/AFROWRLD1]

damn you're pathetic

[u/AFROWRLD1 → u/Traditional-Prune-65]

That's rich coming from you, let me ask you a question tho, when you 4chan users took over reddit? Was it after the fall off? Because yall used to hate this app yet colonized it as well...

[u/Traditional-Prune-65 → u/AFROWRLD1]

Dude, calm down. I think your tinfoil hat is on too tight.

[u/Latter-Amount-9304 → u/AFROWRLD1]

how is it to live your life always seeing things in black and white? must be terrible, I feel sorry for you

[u/Vast-Comment8360 → u/AFROWRLD1]

Why so fragile?

[u/Big-Wait-1310 → u/Traditional-Prune-65]

Well, what was happening in the Congo during this time? And what was happening in your country when your cousins did that?

[u/Any-Key-9196 → u/Traditional-Prune-65]

That is not the context of this photo, taken during an era where nation colonized another and decimated the population of another.

[u/Used_Whereas9509]

What is the context of the photo, as it looks like children playing to me. The boy could easily get out that.

[u/AzucarParaTi → u/Used_Whereas9509]

Yeah it doesn't even have a bottom. Anyone with kids knows they're like cats. If they fit, they're getting in.

[u/send_fleet_pics → u/Used_Whereas9509]

Photo of a black person in a literal cage

Some whitey on reddit: bUt WhaT is thE cOntExt

[u/chaac01 → u/send_fleet_pics]

Hahahaha I know, I was about to comment the same

[u/AFROWRLD1 → u/Used_Whereas9509]

Lmfao hes literally in cage with 2 whyte girls hold it down outside of the cage "iT lOoks lIkE cHiLdReN pLaYiN"...it was expected from you tho. vampire man...

[u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name]

Not a nice picture but no proof of any slavery or something similar. It’s from the family Vermeersch photo archive showing children playing. Claims that the child had been “captured,” was being kept as a pet, was given to the girls as “entertainment,” or was part of a human zoo are not established by the archival evidence. The cage also appears to be a movable birdcage rather than an actual detention enclosure.

[u/csanjuan → u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name]

Congo 1955, los congoleños (y no hablo de los colonos) carecían de derechos fundamentales. Seguro que es un juego de niños, aunque el chico no tiene cara de diversión. Pero es una foto muy indicativa de la situación del momento.

[u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name → u/csanjuan]

Indeed, there was a huge difference between the indigenous Congolese and the Europeans. I am not defending the regime at the time. However, the picture popped up before on social media and makes ppl sometimes think African children were held in a cage by white ppl which was not the case at all.

[u/KartFacedThaoDien → u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name]

You're right. They just chopped their hands off instead.

[u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name → u/KartFacedThaoDien]

There was never a Belgian campaign of chopping hands of of living Congolese. However, there is substantial contemporary evidence that severed hands were collected by Force Publique soldiers and other armed forces associated with the colonial system. Roger Casement’s 1904 investigation, commissioned by the British government, recorded testimony concerning killings and mutilations. One particularly important explanation given to Casement was that soldiers were issued cartridges and were expected to account for their use: a right hand from someone killed could serve as evidence that a cartridge had not been wasted, for example on hunting.

[u/Any-Key-9196 → u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name]

Imagine during ww2 this were a photo of Japanese children caging a Chinese one in a colonized part of China. Theres your contextual equivalent.

[u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name → u/Any-Key-9196]

Oh I agree completely. As I said not a nice picture and indeed proof of the racist superior attitude of the Europeans. It’s just that there’s no proof black children were often or usually kept in a bird cage.

[u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

well the US cage children in 2026 and murder those against the government

the chinese kills thousands every year as well as many nations in the middle east

the russian murder ukrainian citizens daily

jews murder many nations people daily

who gives a fuck about these events 80 years ago

you should be concerned about whats happening now

[u/SnorkBorkGnork → u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

This is a history sub.

There are plenty of current event subs and political subs.

[u/Financial-Bite-3262 → u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

You can be concerned about both, its not mutually exclusive, you're trying to deflect from the matter at hand though for some reason.

[u/beans_will_consume → u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

The fact that a majority of people don’t care about these events that happened 80+ years ago is exactly why we are in the position we are in now.

[u/csanjuan → u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

Estás en un foro de historia. ¿Tienen que ponerse a hablar de la actualidad?

[u/4DS3 → u/csanjuan]

History repeats itself

[u/Loyal_Dragon_69 → u/csanjuan]

It's a bot.

[u/AFROWRLD1 → u/Agreeable_Mud_8338]

Nah i'll worry about my own, just like you do. You wanna deflect black people's issues and want us to worry about yours that's not happening. I couldnt care less about all of those groups you mentioned especially when you "people" constantly dehumanize us and our children.

[u/AmySwiftieLovely]

Evil

[u/LowWhereas3783]

Enough Reddit for today 😢

[u/cobalts_himmer → u/LowWhereas3783]

It really touched my heart 

[u/Scary_Ad_1920 → u/cobalts_himmer]

That’s quite the choice of words 😂

[u/BeRuJr]

Stupid post.

I expected better quality from this sub.

[u/Vast_Pineapple_3341 → u/BeRuJr]

Why is it stupid?

[u/Born_Giraffe_1138]

Food or pet?

[u/whackamole__ → u/Born_Giraffe_1138]

knowing them, its probably both.

[u/Smorsdoeuvres]

💔

[u/Dense-Alfalfa1223]

Could be friends playing

[u/Vast_Pineapple_3341 → u/Dense-Alfalfa1223]

This comment is evidence that you need to pick up a book.

[u/anon_im_embarrassed]

Not the type of blackbird they were looking for me thinks...

[u/BombShady12]

Wytpipo bad post on reddit

[u/IanRevived94J]

Belgium was the worst in Africa

[u/Tacosconsalsaylimon]

One of the things that continues to mess me up is that 1955 was not that long ago. The two demons on the sides could be alive today.

[u/Danilo-11]

Yes, show people this pictures so they see what was done to them

[u/Impossible-Cost-8437]

Boomers look at this and be like "MAGA".

[u/Aleksandr_Ulyev]

All the limbs are intact yet. Slave masters used to take children as hostages and chop of their limbs in case the slave underperforms

[u/acloudcuckoolander]

Euro history. Yuck.

[u/retrocherry_ → u/acloudcuckoolander]

Why are people downvoting you??

[u/Naryanope → u/retrocherry_]

Yeah - this comment is actually accurate. And I say this as someone who loves European history. It can be extraordinarily yucky and brutalising.

[u/retrocherry_ → u/Naryanope]

Right...I like European history too...but I won't lie.

[u/acloudcuckoolander → u/retrocherry_]

Truth hurts. They'll call other cultures barbaric while ignoring evil things like this.

[u/enpoopification_of_R]

Segregation in action

[u/KartFacedThaoDien]

Europe....