I've read the whole goddamn Wikipedia page on the Congo War, and I still don't know if Roland the Thompson Gunner is problematic or not.
I've read the whole goddamn Wikipedia page on the Congo War, and I still don't know if Roland the Thompson Gunner is problematic or not.
The song is a weird hodgepodge of references to a number of conflicts that was going on in Africa, like he says he goes to Biafra which seceded from Nigeria in '67 but that conflict didn't really involve Congo. He also says he was fighting in the Congo War, but the Congo Crisis ended with Mobutu taking power in '65. Then he talks about battling Bantu people while helping the Congolese, but like ~90% of Congolese belong to a Bantu ethnic group. So it's extremely unclear what side Roland was actually fighting for. But as a white mercenary in Congo or Nigeria, he was either helping Belgium do ethnic cleansing/helping the British do ethnic cleansing/helping Mobutu do ethnic cleansing/just doing some freelance ethnic cleansing.
So Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner is CANCELLED.