What a viral video does — and doesn't — reveal about China's relationship with Africa

A blurry video surfaces on the r/trashy subreddit of what appears to be a work dispute in an unspecified African country. A Chinese man slaps a clipboard out of a Black worker's hands, then leaves the frame for a moment, before coming back with a large metal pole. There's no context provided with the video, but most of the commenters seem to know what's happening — seem being the operative word. They're just making assumptions, grounded in a complicated geopolitical relationship that's changing everyday life across the African continent.

In pursuit of context for this video, Endless Thread explores the knotty geopolitical relationship between China and Africa, and hears from Henry Mhango, a Malawian journalist who hunted down the context for another viral video, exposing racism and exploitation in the process.