Black People Use Locals For Photo Opps, Too
By Sharelle Burt
Yesterday, TN reported on a disturbing story out of Cameroon. There was an instant backlash after a makeup artist posted Instagram photos of a white model dressed in beautiful dresses in the middle of a village. African residents were standing around her and viewers of the images called it “white savior BS.” While these images seem to be popping up more and more, one follower wanted to remind us that it isn’t just white people who use locals as photo opps, too.
Last week, photos of Gabonian model Scheena Donia made its way to Twitter. She was seen standing in a village Porto-Novo, Benin, smiling without a care in the world. But if viewers take a closer look, they can see that the people in the background, don’t seem to be too fond of Donia taking the pictures.
It has become apparent that there are black people who use other blacks and people of other cultures as travel props. Tanyka Renee is a model and influencer who is well-known for her gorgeous Instagram pictures. She travels the world and hosts a global citizen mentorship program where those she inspires can learn her ways on how to create content and get paid to travel the world. On her page, followers can see the countries she has visited like Jamaica, Korea and numerous countries in Africa.
However, there is one key denominator in many of her pictures. The backgrounds are staged with people as props and their faces say that they aren’t too happy about. When she was in Mexico City, the photo was staged as she stands in front of a mariachi band. The guitar player looks slightly confused as to why he was there to begin with.
Renee also took some pictures while visiting Kenya, standing with “kings” and taking a picture with a woman and her baby.
While all the pictures these professional models post look amazing, is it worth putting people in an uncomfortable position for likes? If so, then we really don’t have room to complain when our white counterparts do the exact same thing.
Black People Use Locals For Photo Opps, Too - Travel Noire
he starts the thread with a title and as soon as a job related post is posted he automatically edits it hitting you with the bait and switch 
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she's forgiven
. Nice to have a day off from work isn't it 
