The White Man's Burden Race Quotes

Sloths may be cute, but that's not what the speaker means here. He means laziness. And "heathen" means someone who is savage or uncivilized. The idea here is that, if the white men fail to take over a foreign people and convert them to their way of life, then it must be the fault of those lazy, good-for-nothing locals. That sounds racist to us.

The racism in these lines is actually pretty stunning, and it works on many levels. Firstly, although this refers to the biblical enslavement of the Jews at the hands of the Egyptians, we can't overlook the racist legacy of slavery in America and Europe. And yet, our speaker's racism doesn't stop there. Apparently, the native peoples actually like being slaves, which is why they are complaining that the White Man set them free (by… forcing them to adopt his way of life). These lines work like a racist layer cake, which nobody should want to eat.

Watch out, white men. Not only will you have a rough job, but you're going to be judged on how well you do it. This is an interesting dynamic, one that seems to suggest that the white men will have to make a good impression on the locals—presumably so that they can live up to the high regard our speaker has already bestowed upon them.