'The White Man's Burden' was the title of a poem by Rudyard Kipling in the context of the US take over of the Philippines after the Spanish American War in 1899.
The burden related to an obligation to rule over and encourage the development of people from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they could take their place in the world, economically and socially. It didn't really have anything to do with color so much as it did with subsidization. The closest parallel today might possibly be the European Union or indeed in any other situation where one element of the population is supported by the endeavors of another. One that is usually numerically smaller but more economically productive.
Last edited by cavortingcheetah; 7th Aug 2012 at 15:54.