The Dutch vlogging family The Bellingas recently sparked a firestorm of controversy for disseminating dangerous and historically illiterate misinformation regarding South Africa’s Apartheid. In a recent video, one of the children claimed that white people established their own communities because "dark people were stealing and robbing," and that is how Apartheid began. Instead of correcting this, the mother, Fara, doubled down, stating that white people simply wanted to live "separately" and even claimed that some Black South Africans told her life was "nicer" under the regime.
This isn't just bad history. It's racism wrapped in ‘family-friendly’ content. And we’re done silently consuming it.
Let’s break down exactly why this narrative is so harmful;
1. Your travel adventure is someone’s trauma
When you treat colonized lands as adventure destinations, you're not just being disrespectful—you're re-living the very systems that destroyed communities. These countries aren't your playgrounds for colonial nostalgia. They're places where people still live with the generational trauma of extraction and oppression. If you come from a colonizing nation, you have a responsibility to learn, not to romanticize.
2. Apartheid wasn’t "choice", it was systematic theft
The Bellingas’ narrative frames Apartheid as a response to crime. The historical reality is the exact opposite, Colonialism and Apartheid was deliberate systematic oppression to exploit and keep Black and Indigenous South Africans as labourers. Laws such as:
3. Let’s not act like it was that long ago
We need to stop acting like racism is a relic of the past. Apartheid was only abolished in the early 1990s. The generational trauma and economic fallout are active, living issues. Today, the concentration of land and wealth remains largely in the hands of the white minority, perpetuating massive socio-economic inequality. When we treat this like ancient history, we ignore the present-day consequences.
4. The utter ignorance
As adults with massive audiences, The Bellingas have a responsibility to "de-code" their own biases. Instead, they're teaching their children and millions of viewers that racism is acceptable. Racism is a taught disease, and they're guilty of spreading it.
5. The psychology of our complicity
Why do we tolerate this? Why do we keep watching, sharing (and some even defending) this content? Cognitive dissonance makes us uncomfortable confronting that our privilege was built on injustice. We rewrite history to feel better about benefiting from oppression. This romanticization serves as a defense mechanism against guilt and responsibility. But here's the truth: When we watch this content, we're not just passive observers. We're active participants in normalizing racism
Educate yourself. De-colonize your views. Unsubscribe. Report. And be mindful of the content you and your children consume.
